John Patrick Platten (born 17 March 1963) is a retired Australian rules footballer. Platten's career began in the SANFL, where he won a Magarey Medal with Central District, and also with Hawthorn, where he played in four premierships as well as winning the 1987

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the "best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by t ...

. Platten remains a popular and respected figure at both clubs, and is also an inductee in both the AFL and SANFL Halls of Fame. Platten also competed in the Gladiator Team Sports Challenge in 1995.

Career

Platten was born in

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 ...

. He began (and ended) his career with Central Districts in the

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 ...

: a junior with Centrals, he commenced in the junior ranks in 1979 and made his league debut in 1981. Platten immediately made an impact with Centrals, becoming a full State Representative in 1982 and continued to be a regular in the state team throughout his career. Platten's greatest achievement at Centrals was his 1984

Magarey Medal The Magarey Medal is an Australian rules football honour awarded annually since 1898 to the fairest and most brilliant player in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), as judged by field umpires. The award was created by Will ...

win. Platten was recruited to Carlton but after a protracted legal case eventually joined Hawthorn for the 1986 season. Keeping the number 44 on the back of his guernsey, he went on to play for the Hawks from 1986 to 1997, playing 258 games and kicking 228 goals. Nicknamed "The Rat" with his diminutive frame and unruly tangle of curly hair, he cut a distinctive if unlikely looking footballer, yet despite this he enjoyed a career which saw him firmly established as one of the best players of the 1980s and early '90s. He was a gutsy

rover Rover may refer to: People * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Places * Rover, Arkansas, US * Rover, Missouri, US ...

who won a

in 1987, tying with

Tony Lockett Anthony Howard Lockett (born 9 March 1966) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club and Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Nicknamed "Plugger", he is considered one of the greatest fu ...

. He played in four VFL/AFL premierships with Hawthorn, in 1986, 1988, 1989 and 1991, and a

State of Origin Carnival Representative matches in Australian rules football are matches between representative teams played under the Australian rules football, Australian rules, most notably of the British colonisation of Australia, colonies and later States and ter ...

Championship for

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

. In 1998, Platten retired from the Hawthorn Football Club and made a dramatic return to Central District along with Gilbert McAdam, another of the Bulldogs' all-time greats. Platten kicked the match winning goal of his comeback match against Glenelg at

Elizabeth Oval Elizabeth Oval,Elizabeth Oval
austadiums.com. (currently ''X Convenience Oval'' due ...

, however injury plagued his long-awaited comeback and he retired from football altogether after sustaining a knee injury mid-season. His return to Elizabeth Oval was not the success it was hoped for, but was a joyous event for long-time Centrals fans regardless. Platten has been a notable attendee at Centrals recent premiership successes, an achievement he was never to enjoy with his boyhood club. Platten now coaches country football in South Australia. He played 107 games for Central District in the SANFL, for a career total of 365 games in elite football, and was also the club's best and fairest in 1984 and 1985, as well as its leading goalkicker in 1981 and 1985. He won

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-performed players during the season, led b ...

selection five times: from 1985 to 1988, when the team was selected based on interstate carnival performances, and in 1992, when the team was selected based on AFL premiership performances. He also runs his own business called The Safety Hub, specialising in the supply of safety equipment.

Playing statistics

:John Platten's player profile at AFL Tables
/ref> ''*10 games required to be eligible.'' , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" ,

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 25 , , 31 , , 36 , , 332 , , 175 , , 507 , , 61 , , , , 1.2 , , 1.4 , , 13.3 , , 7.0 , , 20.3 , , 2.4 , , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 26 , , 33 , , 30 , , bgcolor="b7e718", 411 , , 222 , , bgcolor="DD6E81", 633 , , 64 , , 49 , , 1.3 , , 1.2 , , 15.8 , , 8.5 , , 24.3 , , 2.5 , , 1.9 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 22 , , 21 , , 18 , , 383 , , 141 , , 524 , , 56 , , 39 , , 1.0 , , 0.8 , , 17.4 , , 6.4 , , 23.8 , , 2.5 , , 1.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" ,

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 22 , , 16 , , 22 , , 406 , , 134 , , 540 , , 80 , , 42 , , 0.7 , , 1.0 , , 18.5 , , 6.1 , , 24.5 , , 3.6 , , 1.9 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 19 , , 19 , , 13 , , 249 , , 76 , , 325 , , 48 , , 20 , , 1.0 , , 0.7 , , 13.1 , , 4.0 , , 17.1 , , 2.5 , , 1.1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" ,

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 23 , , 25 , , 24 , , 390 , , 161 , , 551 , , 56 , , 65 , , 1.1 , , 1.0 , , 17.0 , , 7.0 , , 24.0 , , 2.4 , , 2.8 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 1992 , style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 22 , , 20 , , 16 , , 371 , , 137 , , 508 , , 51 , , 38 , , 0.9 , , 0.7 , , 16.9 , , 6.2 , , 23.1 , , 2.3 , , 1.7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 18 , , 15 , , 15 , , 267 , , 95 , , 362 , , 45 , , 43 , , 0.8 , , 0.8 , , 14.8 , , 5.3 , , 20.1 , , 2.5 , , 2.4 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 23 , , 16 , , 8 , , 333 , , 151 , , 484 , , 67 , , 58 , , 0.7 , , 0.3 , , 14.5 , , 6.6 , , 21.0 , , 2.9 , , 2.5 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 19 , , 9 , , 9 , , 246 , , 99 , , 345 , , 41 , , 44 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 12.9 , , 5.2 , , 18.2 , , 2.2 , , 2.3 , -style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 1996 , style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 21 , , 9 , , 12 , , 254 , , 117 , , 371 , , 56 , , 54 , , 0.4 , , 0.6 , , 12.1 , , 5.6 , , 17.7 , , 2.7 , , 2.6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 18 , , 14 , , 10 , , 208 , , 111 , , 319 , , 56 , , 34 , , 0.8 , , 0.6 , , 11.6 , , 6.2 , , 17.7 , , 3.1 , , 1.9 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 258 ! 228 ! 213 ! 3850 ! 1619 ! 5469 ! 681 ! 486 ! 0.9 ! 0.8 ! 14.9 ! 6.3 ! 21.2 ! 2.6 ! 2.1

Honours and achievements

Team *

AFL Premiership This page is a complete chronological listing of VFL/AFL premiers. The Australian Football League (AFL), known as the Victorian Football League (VFL) until 1990, is the elite national competition in men's Australian rules football. The inaugur ...

( Hawthorn):

McClelland Trophy The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football trophy which has been awarded each year since 1951 by the Australian Football League (known prior to 1990 as the Victorian Football League) to the best-performing club in the home-and-away sea ...

( Hawthorn):

* Night Premiership ( Hawthorn): 1986 * Pre-season Cup ( Hawthorn):

, 1992 Individual *

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, 1992 *

Peter Crimmins Medal The Peter Crimmins Medal is an Australian rules football award given to the player(s) from the Hawthorn Football Club deemed best and fairest for the season. Peter Crimmins was a rover for Hawthorn, playing from 1966 to 1975. He died of cancer jus ...

: 1987, 1994 Other Achievements *John Platten was one of 113 inaugural inductees into the

South Australian Football Hall of Fame The South Australian Football Hall of Fame enshrines those who have made a most significant contribution to the game of Australian Football. The Hall of Fame was established in 2002 when 114 outstanding individuals became inaugural inductees. S ...

in 2002 and in 2003 he was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

References

External links

Central District Football Club website

Hawthorn team of the Century
* * John Platten's busines

{{DEFAULTSORT:Platten, John 1963 births Living people All-Australians (1953–1988) Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Brownlow Medal winners Peter Crimmins Medal winners Magarey Medal winners Hawthorn Football Club players Hawthorn Football Club Premiership players Central District Football Club players South Australian State of Origin players Australian rules footballers from South Australia All-Australians (AFL) South Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Australia international rules football team players Four-time VFL/AFL Premiership players