Joshua Schache ( ; born 21 August 1997) is a 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 with the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...

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 previously played for the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...

from 2016 to 2017, and the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

from 2018 to 2022.

Early life

Schache was born in

Adelaide, South Australia Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

to mother Rachel and father

Laurence Laurence is an English and French given name (usually female in French and usually male in English). The English masculine name is a variant of Lawrence and it originates from a French form of the Latin ''Laurentius'', a name meaning "man from ...

. He started playing

Auskick Auskick is a program designed to teach the basic skills of Australian rules football (AFL) to boys and girls aged between 5 and 12. Auskick is a non-contact variant of the sport. It began in Australia and is now a nationwide non-selective pro ...

when he was in grade five. He attended high school at Assumption College Kilmore and later

Goulburn Valley Grammar School Goulburn Valley Grammar School (or GVGS) is an independent, co-educational school in Victoria (Australia), Victoria situated on a 17 hectare rural site 6 km north of the centre of Shepparton, approximately 190 km north of Melbourne. St ...

. His late father,

, also played with Brisbane in the early 1990s. Josh spent his early youth as a ruckman/forward for the Seymour Lions, a club based in the Seymour District Junior Football League. He played with the

Murray Bushrangers The Murray Bushrangers is an Australian rules football team playing in Victorian statewide under-18s competition, presently known as the NAB League, since 1993 based in Wangaratta. The team trains on Norm Minns Oval. The team is coached by Mark ...

in the

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 ...

until he was selected to join the Brisbane Lions with the second pick in the

2015 AFL draft The 2015 Australian Football League draft consisted of the various periods where the 18 clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL) can trade and recruit players following the completion of the 2015 AFL season. Additions to each club's playin ...

. Schache is left-footed, tall and weighs . He won the

Larke Medal The AFL Under-19 Championships (for sponsorship reasons, the NAB AFL Under-19 Championships) is an annual Australian national underage representative championship in Australian rules football tournament. It is seen as one of the main pathways ...

for his performance in the NAB AFL Under-18 Championships in 2015, where he also he kicked a record 24 goals.

AFL career

In the first two years of his career at the , Schache played 27 games and kicked 25 goals. During 2017 there was speculation that he would request a trade to a Victorian club, but at the end of the season his manager shut down speculation, insisting that he would not be requesting a trade. Despite this, Brisbane later announced they would be exploring trade options for Schache in the forthcoming trade period. In the final minutes of the trade period, Schache was traded to the Western Bulldogs for pick 25 and 40 despite being contracted until 2019 at the Brisbane Lions. Schache overcame niggling injuries during the first half of 2018. After strong performances in the VFL he was elevated to the senior side where he finished the season with 17 goals in 13 games. Schache had a breakout year in 2019, kicking 24 goals from 14 games, only being omitted from the side due to concussion protocols. Schache played in the 2019 Elimination Final against club rivals, Greater Western Sydney. After playing his career best year, Schache only managed to play two senior games in 2020, kicking 2 goals. After a one-off appearance earlier in 2021, he returned to the senior side in the middle of the season, but as a key defender. This game earned him great praise from the AFL community. Schache managed to play every game for the rest of the year, as a defender too, including the clubs impressive climb to the Grand Final. Schache was moved back to the forward line for the 2021 Final series, kicking 4 goals and shutting down influencing key defenders. He played in the Western Bulldogs 2021 Grand Final team. Following the

2022 AFL season The 2022 AFL season is the 126th 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 features ...

, Schache was traded to on the last day of the trade period.

Statistics

''Updated to the end of round 8, 2024''. , - ,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, , , , 23 , 17 , , 16 , , 18 , , 91 , , 56 , , 147 , , 68 , , 26 , , 0.9 , , 1.1 , , 5.4 , , 3.3 , , 8.6 , , 4.0 , , 1.5 , , 0 , - ,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, , , , 23 , 10 , , 9 , , 6 , , 55 , , 36 , , 91 , , 39 , , 10 , , 0.9 , , 0.6 , , 5.5 , , 3.6 , , 9.1 , , 3.9 , , 1.0 , , 0 , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 13 , 13 , , 17 , , 11 , , 98 , , 61 , , 159 , , 53 , , 14 , , 1.3 , , 0.9 , , 7.5 , , 4.7 , , 12.2 , , 4.1 , , 1.1 , , 0 , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 13 , 14 , , 24 , , 8 , , 86 , , 55 , , 141 , , 37 , , 25 , , 1.7 , , 0.6 , , 6.1 , , 3.9 , , 10.1 , , 2.6 , , 1.8 , , 1 , - ,

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

, , , , 13 , 2 , , 2 , , 0 , , 8 , , 5 , , 13 , , 3 , , 0 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 4.0 , , 2.5 , , 6.5 , , 1.5 , , 0.0 , , 0 , - ,

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, , , , 13 , 9 , , 5 , , 4 , , 67 , , 27 , , 94 , , 41 , , 11 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 7.4 , , 3.0 , , 10.4 , , 4.6 , , 1.2 , , 0 , - ,

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, , , , 13 , 7 , , 5 , , 5 , , 48 , , 14 , , 62 , , 31 , , 14 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 6.9 , , 2.0 , , 8.9 , , 4.4 , , 2.0 , , 0 , - ,

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

, , , , 19 , 3 , , 1 , , 1 , , 7 , , 3 , , 10 , , 5 , , 2 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 2.3 , , 1.0 , , 3.3 , , 1.7 , , 0.7 , , 0 , - ,

2024 Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1928 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ***''Steamboat Willie'', Walt Disney's fi ...

, , , , 19 , 1 , , 0 , , 2 , , 3 , , 1 , , 4 , , 2 , , 2 , , 0.0 , , 2.0 , , 3.0 , , 1.0 , , 4.0 , , 2.0 , , 2.0 , , , - class=sortbottom ! colspan=3 , Career ! 76 !! 79 !! 55 !! 463 !! 258 !! 721 !! 279 !! 104 !! 1.0 !! 0.7 !! 6.1 !! 3.4 !! 9.5 !! 3.7 !! 1.4 !! 1 Notes

Honours and achievements

Individual *

: 2015

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schache, Joshua 1997 births Living people Murray Bushrangers players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Brisbane Lions players Western Bulldogs players Australian rules footballers from Adelaide People educated at Assumption College, Kilmore Melbourne Football Club players