Carl Dilena (born 17 March 1967) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played with Fitzroy and North Melbourne in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/AFL). Dilena started his career at South Australian National Football League (SANFL) club Sturt and was involved in a controversial incident late in the 1988 SANFL season when he was knocked unconscious from a charge by Russell Johnston. The Port Adelaide captain was suspended for five weeks and as a result missed playing in their premiership winning team. He was selected by Fitzroy with the club's first pick, and third overall, in the

1988 VFL Draft The 1988 VFL draft, held on the 9th of November 1988, was the third annual national draft held by the VFL/AFL, Victorian Football League (now known as the Australian Football League). It consisted of a pre-season draft and a national draft. In 1 ...

. After appearing in the first seven rounds of the

1989 VFL season The 1989 VFL season was the 93rd season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition and administrative body in Victoria and, by reason of it featuring clubs from New South Wales, Queensl ...

, he played just four more games for the rest of the year and another 12 in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

.AFL Tables: Carl Dilena
/ref> North Melbourne then secured Dilena in the 1991 Pre-season draft, with pick 15. He performed well initially and in just his second game for his new club, against Adelaide, Dilena was influential with 39 disposals, with the next best North Melbourne player having just 20 disposals. In 1992, his final season, Dilena played just twice, but put in another good effort against Adelaide when he kicked a career high four goals. Dilena is currently CEO of the North Melbourne Football Club. Dilena was also a talented junior

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er, representing South Australia at the 1981/82 National Under 16 Australian Cricket Championships.S.A.C.A., p. 23.

References

Sources

* South Australian Cricket Association (S.A.C.A.) ''Annual Report 1981-82'', S.A.C.A.: Adelaide. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dilena, Carl 1967 births Australian rules footballers from South Australia Fitzroy Football Club players North Melbourne Football Club players Sturt Football Club players Living people