Darren Baxter (born 19 March 1965) 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
Footscray and
Hawthorn
Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to:
Plants
* '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae
* ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...
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).
The son of former Footscray footballer
Ray Baxter
Ray Baxter (born 24 February 1940) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Footscray in the Victorian Football League (VFL)
Recruited locally, from Kingsville, Baxter was a follower and key position player. He topped Footscra ...
, he could play a variety of roles but was used initially as a tagger before developing into a ruck-rover. It wasn't until 1987, when he played every game, that he cemented his spot in the team and he gave the club good service for the rest of the decade.
In both the 1991 and 1992 seasons, Baxter was Footscray's top kick getter and in the latter of those years came fourth in the league. He averaged 22.52 disposals a game in 1991 and the following season had 114 marks and 521 disposals from 25 appearances. In the 1992 Qualifying Final he had 25 disposals in a loss to Geelong and he played two further finals that year.
In the
1992 AFL draft, Baxter was surprisingly traded to Hawthorn in return for two late draft picks and played 19 games in his first season, including an elimination final.
References
1965 births
Western Bulldogs players
Hawthorn Football Club players
Sandringham Football Club players
Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia)
Living people
{{AFL-bio-1960s-stub