Josh Wagner (born 24 June 1994) 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 for 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

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

. A defender, tall and weighing , Wagner plays primarily on the

half-back flank In the sport of Australian rules football, the half-back line refers to the positions of the 3 players on the field that occupy the centre half-back and left and right half-back flank positions. Centre half-back The role of the centre half-back ...

with the ability to push into the

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

. Born into a family with a strong heritage in Queensland Australian rules football, he is also the older brother of former and player and current midfielder, Corey Wagner. He played top-level football early when he played in the seniors for the

Aspley Football Club Aspley Football Club, nicknamed the Hornets, is an Australian rules football club based in the northern-Brisbane suburb of Aspley. The club competes in multiple Queensland-based competitions, including in the Queensland Australian Football Leagu ...

in the

North East Australian Football League The North East Australian Football League (NEAFL) was an Australian rules football league in New South Wales, Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. The league was formed in November 2010, and its inaugural co ...

(NEAFL) at sixteen years of age, in addition to playing in the

2012 AFL Under 18 Championships The 2012 NAB AFL Under 18 Championships was the 17th edition of the AFL Under 18 Championships. Eight teams competed in the championships: Vic Metro, Vic Country, South Australia and Western Australia in Division 1, and New South Wales/Australian ...

for Queensland. He missed out on selection in the

2012 AFL draft The 2012 AFL draft consisted of five opportunities for player acquisitions during the 2012/13 Australian Football League off-season. These were: *2012 AFL trade week, trade period; which was held between 1 October and 26 October, and for the fir ...

, spending the next three seasons at Aspley. His accolades in the NEAFL include a premiership, league representation and selection in the NEAFL team of the year. He was drafted by the Melbourne Football Club in the 2016 rookie draft and he made his AFL debut during the 2016 season.

Early life

Wagner was born into a family with a strong history in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, with his father, Scott Wagner, a 200-gamer for the

Sandgate Football Club The Sandgate Hawks Sporting Club is an Australian rules football and netball club located in the Brisbane suburb of Taigum. They were nicknamed both the ''Hawks'' and ''Sea Hawks'' and their club colours were bottle green and red. The football ...

and he was the inaugural captain of the development side, and his grandfathers, Gary Wagner and Col "Skinny" Robinson, played in premiership sides for Sandgate, along with Gary being a member of AFL Queensland's Hall of Fame. Josh played

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

at a young age and he was introduced to Australian rules football by one of his friends and he played under nines with Sandgate before moving to the

, playing the remainder of his junior career there; he debuted in the senior team in 2011 at 16 years of age. Despite playing for Queensland in the

, groin issues along with a lack of discipline off-field meant Wagner was not drafted in 2012 as he "wasn't ready for AFL football yet". He spent the next three years playing in Aspley's senior side in the NEAFL and he played in the three consecutive grand finals from 2013–2015, including the winning grand final in 2014 against the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...

reserves, where he was named the second best player for Aspley. His 2015 season was rewarded with selection in the NEAFL representative match against the

Tasmanian State League The Tasmanian State League (TSL), colloquially known as the "Tasmanian Football League (TFL)" (formerly known as the "Tasmanian Australian National Football League (TANFL)" and several other short-term names) is the highest ranked Australian r ...

and he was named as the

in the NEAFL team of the year. The

's list manager, Jason Taylor, praised him by noting "his last couple of years have been pretty solid...he's a left-footer and a rebounding defender, who can play on the wing and spend a bit of time in the midfield. We think he’s got the right attitude."

AFL career

Wagner was drafted by the

with their first selection and sixth overall in the 2016 rookie draft. He made his debut in the five-point loss to in round 3, 2016 at Blundstone Arena, where he recorded eight-disposals. After a relatively quiet debut, he recorded twenty-four disposals, six marks, five tackles and two contested marks, at seventy-one percent disposal efficiency in his second match; he polled in the '' Channel 7'' and ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' player of the year votes, and he was named as one of Melbourne's best players by ''AFL Media'' and ''The Age''. He played a consecutive eleven matches before succumbing to a knee injury and he missed the round 15 and 16 matches against at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadiu ...

and at

TIO Stadium Marrara Oval, currently branded TIO Stadium under a naming rights agreement (and previously also known as Football Park), is a sports ground in Darwin, the capital of Australia's Northern Territory. The ground primarily hosts Australian rules ...

respectively. He was recalled to the senior side for the round 17 match against at

Etihad Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the 6th-largest ...

. He played the next two games before being rested for the round 20 match against at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He played the remainder of the season in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL) for Melbourne's affiliate team, the

Casey Scorpions The Casey Football Club, nicknamed the "Demons" and formerly the "Scorpions", is an Australian rules football club based in Cranbourne East, Victoria. The club, which was known until 2005 as the Springvale Football Club and the Casey Scorpions ( ...

, finishing with fourteen AFL matches for the season and a fourteenth place finish in Melbourne's

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

count. After spending the season on the rookie list, he was promoted to the senior list in October along with a two-year contract.

Statistics

: ''Statistics are correct to the end of the 2019 season'' , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, , 42 , , 14 , , 0 , , 0 , , 135 , , 112 , , 247 , , 47 , , 51 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 9.6 , , 8.0 , , 17.6 , , 3.4 , , 3.6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, , 42 , , 9 , , 2 , , 1 , , 63 , , 80 , , 143 , , 21 , , 25 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 7.0 , , 8.9 , , 15.9 , , 2.3 , , 2.8 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, , 42 , , 5 , , 0 , , 1 , , 36 , , 27 , , 63 , , 13 , , 23 , , 0.0 , , 0.2 , , 7.2 , , 5.4 , , 12.6 , , 2.6 , , 4.6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, , 42 , , 12 , , 0 , , 2 , , 103 , , 81 , , 184 , , 33 , , 26 , , 0.0 , , 0.2 , , 8.6 , , 6.8 , , 15.3 , , 2.8 , , 2.2 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 40 ! 2 ! 4 ! 337 ! 300 ! 637 ! 114 ! 125 ! 0.1 ! 0.1 ! 8.4 ! 7.5 ! 15.9 ! 2.9 ! 3.1

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Josh 1994 births Living people Melbourne Football Club players Aspley Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Queensland Casey Demons players Australian rules footballers from Brisbane