Daniel Venables (born 19 November 1998) is a former professional

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 for the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL). He was the youngest member of the Eagles 2018 premiership side.

Junior career

Venables originally represented

Keilor Football Club The Keilor Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is an Australian rules football club located in Keilor, Victoria, north west of Melbourne. The club originated in 1877, formed at a general meeting at the Waggoner's Arms Hotel. In 1926, the club b ...

and his school Penleigh and Essendon Grammar. Throughout his junior career, he mainly played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. In 2015, he played for Vic Metro in the 2015 under-16 national championships, breaking his leg against

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

in the opening game after landing awkwardly in a marking contest. The same year, Venables had surgery on his

shoulder The human shoulder is made up of three bones: the clavicle (collarbone), the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone) as well as associated muscles, ligaments and tendons. The articulations between the bones of the shoulder mak ...

. In 2016, he was named in the under-18 All-Australian side after a strong performance for Vic Metro in the

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

. Venables kicked six goals over four matches while averaging 13 disposals, 5.5 tackles and 6.3 contested possessions. He played three

TAC Cup The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Victo ...

games for the

Western Jets The Western Jets is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Victorian premier U19 competition, the NAB League, since its inception in 1992. The club have developmental squads in the U16, however much of the attention is towards its U ...

, limited by school football duties. Venables was unable to test at the

AFL Draft Combine The AFL Draft Combine, formerly known as the AFL Draft Camp, is a gathering of prospective talent, where selected potential draftees display their athletic prowess and relevant Australian rules football skills. Over four days participants are re ...

due to a foot injury, but was still considered a likely first-round pick at the upcoming 2016 national draft.

AFL career

Venables was drafted by West Coast with their first selection and thirteenth overall in the 2016 national draft. His foot injury prevented him from participating in the 2017 preseason, but he recovered in time for a March reserves match with West Coast's

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September, ...

(WAFL) affiliate

East Perth East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sunrise, Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from ...

. At the start of the

2017 WAFL season The 2017 WAFL season was the 133rd season of the various incarnations of the West Australian Football League (WAFL). The season commenced on 18 March 2017 and concluded with the 2017 WAFL Grand Final The West Australian Football League holds ...

, Venables was restricted to reserves matches on limited minutes, but built up form and played eight league games, averaging over one goal and 13 disposals. He was about to play his first AFL match against the

Geelong Cats The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition, and are the 2022 ...

in round 13, but suffered

turf toe A metatarsophalangeal joint sprain is an injury to the connective tissue between the foot and a toe (at a metatarsophalangeal joint, one of the joints in the ball of the foot). When the big toe is involved, it is known as "turf toe". Causes Turf ...

in training, ruling him out for the season. Nevertheless, Venables extended his contract in July by two years (until 2020). He made his debut in the opening round of the

2018 AFL season The 2018 AFL season was the 122nd season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season feature ...

in a twenty-nine point loss to at

Perth Stadium Perth Stadium, currently known as Optus Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in A ...

. Venables played four games before injuring his

ankle The ankle, or the talocrural region, or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular join ...

against

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

. He was kept out for two months, and played another eight games before his first AFL final against Collingwood, where he recorded seven tackles. Venables impressed against

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in the preliminary final, accumulating 17 disposals and kicking a goal. He was part of West Coast's premiership side, but had little impact on the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

, recording only three disposals. During Round 9 of the 2019 season, Venables suffered a severe

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include loss of consciousness (LOC); memory loss; headaches; difficulty with thinking, concentration, ...

in the match versus Melbourne in which his head hit the hip of opponent

Tim Smith Tim, Timothy or Timmy Smith may refer to: Musicians *T. V. Smith (born 1956), British singer and songwriter *Tim Smith (Cardiacs) (1961–2020), English singer-songwriter and frontman of Cardiacs *Timmy Trumpet (born 1982), Australian DJ and produ ...

during a marking contest, and despite being on the clubs list for both the 2020 and 2021 season, he formally announced his retirement due to the ongoing symptoms.

Statistics

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2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

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2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

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Personal life

Venables is the grandson of

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at the ...

footballer Fred Robinson and the great-grandson of

Australian Football Hall of Fame The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the Centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, coa ...

inductee

Johnny Lewis Jonathan Kendrick Lewis (October 29, 1983 – September 26, 2012), also credited as Johnny K. Lewis, was an American film and television actor. He played Kip "Half-Sack" Epps in the first two seasons of the FX (TV channel), FX series ''Sons of A ...

. Venables became engaged to Nine News Perth weather presenter

Scherri-Lee Biggs Scherri-Lee Biggs is a South African-Australian TV host, dancer, model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universe Australia, Miss Universe Australia 2011 and represented Australia at Miss Universe 2011 and placed Top 10. Biggs ...

in December 2022.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Venables, Daniel 1998 births Living people West Coast Eagles players West Coast Eagles premiership players Western Jets players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Keilor Football Club players West Coast Eagles (WAFL) players East Perth Football Club players People educated at Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School VFL/AFL premiership players