Ian Prendergast (born 2 September 1980) is an

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 senior professional football with the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Mel ...

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 ...

, and currently serves as the club's Chief Commercial Officer and General Counsel.

Playing career

Prendergast was recruited as the number 58 draft pick in the 1998 AFL draft from the Kerang Rovers. He was elevated to the

Senior list in 2001 and made his debut in Round 17, 2001 against

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 ...

. Prendergast earned semi-regular selection throughout his career at Carlton, typically playing about half of the season with Carlton and half with

Northern Bullants The Preston Football Club, which trades and plays as the Northern Bullants, is a long-established Australian rules football club based in Preston that plays in the Victorian Football League (VFL). It plays its home games at the Preston City Ov ...

. 2004 was his strongest season for selection, playing the first seventeen games of the year. The 2005 season saw Prendergast play just 13 games but there was an early high as he was part of the club's preseason premiership win over

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

. Perhaps his most memorable moment in a Carlton guernsey came in this game as he booted a nine-point super goal in the final quarter to effectively seal the win for the Blues. They ran out 27-point winners. Prendergast played only three games for Carlton in 2006, partly because the club was adopting a youth policy. He spent most of the year as one of the

' best players. He was delisted by Carlton at the end of 2006. After being delisted, Prendergast moved to South Australia, where he played for the

South Adelaide The South Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club that competes in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Known as the ''Panthers'', their home ground is Flinders University Stadium SANFL The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

in 2007 and 2008. He moved back to Melbourne in 2009, and played with the

Balwyn Football Club The Balwyn Football Club is an Australian rules football club located in the eastern Melbourne suburb of Balwyn. Known as the "Tigers", the club fields senior teams in the Eastern Football League which it joined in 2007. It fields junior teams ...

in the Eastern Football League until 2011; he also served as assistant coach in 2011. In 2012, he was a playing assistant coach with the

University Blues Melbourne University Football Club, often known simply as University, is an Australian rules football club based at the University of Melbourne. The club fields two teams, known as the "Blacks" and "Blues", who both compete in the Victorian Ama ...

in the

Victorian Amateur Football Association The Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) is the largest senior community Australian rules football competition in Victoria. It consists of seven senior men's and women's divisions ranging from Premier to Division 4. In addition there ...

Professional career

Prendergast studied a Bachelor of Laws at Monash University during his AFL career. Since the end of his AFL playing career, he has worked as a lawyer, both in Adelaide and in Melbourne. Throughout his playing and non-playing career, he has been heavily involved in football workplace relations. He served as Carlton's

AFL Players Association The AFL Players Association (AFL PA, also simply known as AFL Players) is the representative body for all current and past professional Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) players. The AFL PA promotes and protects its membe ...

delegate from 2004 until 2006 (after serving as alternate for the two previous years). While playing in the SANFL in 2007 and 2008, Prendergast served as the CEO of the SANFL Players' Association. From 2010 until 2015, he served as the General Manager of Player Relations in the AFLPA, also serving as interim chief executive for a period in 2014. From 2015 to 2020, he was chief executive of the Rugby League Players Association. Since 2020, he has been Chief Commercial Officer and General Counsel of the Carlton Football Club.

Personal life

Prendergast is the elder brother to

Australian Netball Diamonds The Australia national netball team, also known as the Australian Diamonds, represent Netball Australia in international netball tournaments such as the INF Netball World Cup, the Commonwealth Games, the Constellation Cup, the Netball Quad S ...

and

NSW Swifts New South Wales Swifts are an Australian netball team based in Sydney, New South Wales. Since 2017 they have represented Netball New South Wales in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. The team w ...

defender

Julie Corletto Julie Corletto (née Prendergast; born 10 October 1986) is an Australian international netball player. She played for the Australian Diamonds and NSW Swifts but has now retired. She usually played in the positions of goal defence and wing defen ...

née Prendergast.

References

External links

Ian Prendergast at the Carlton Football Club website
*
Ian Prendergast profile in Blueseum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prendergast, Ian 1980 births Carlton Football Club players Living people Preston Football Club (VFA) players South Adelaide Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Oakleigh Chargers players