Kayle Kirby (born 26 October 1998) is a retired 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 who played for the

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The club w ...

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) and the Collingwood reserves 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). Kirby was forced to retire after discovering an "underlying heart condition" following his collapse during a practice match against the North Melbourne reserves.

Early career

Hailing from

Swan Hill Swan Hill is a city in the northwest of Victoria, Australia on the Murray Valley Highway and on the south bank of the Murray River, downstream from the junction of the Loddon River. At , Swan Hill had a population of 11,508. Indigenous Peopl ...

, he played with the

Tyntynder Football Club The Tyntynder Football Netball Club, nicknamed the ''Bulldogs'', is an Australian rules football and netball club based in the Central Murray Football League. They won three premierships in a row from 1997–99, and also won the 2006 and 2007 N ...

seniors side at the age of 16. He played for the

Bendigo Pioneers The Bendigo Pioneers is an Australian rules football team in the statewide Victorian under-18s league, the NAB League. Synopsis The Bendigo Pioneers is an Australian rules football team playing in NAB League since 1993 based in Bendigo, Victoria ...

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 ...

for the 2015 and 2016 seasons, in which he kicked 32 goals in 2016. In 2016, he played the final two games for Richmond in the

where he kicked nine goals, including five on debut.

AFL career

He was drafted by Collingwood with pick 50 in the

2016 AFL draft The 2016 AFL draft consisted of the various periods where the 18 clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL) could trade and recruit players following the completion of the 2016 AFL season. Additions to each club's playing list are not allowed ...

and made his debut 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 ...

in the final round of the 2017 season. Kirby's 43 goals in the club's reserves matches saw him place third in the league's goalkicking tally for the

2017 VFL season The 2017 Victorian Football League season is the 136th season of the Victorian Football Association/Victorian Football League Australian rules football competition. The competition began on 8 April and concluded with the Grand Final on 24 Sept ...

. On 31 March 2018, Kirby collapsed during a VFL practice match at the Holden Centre. He was taken to hospital and it was discovered that he has an underlying heart condition. At the conclusion of the 2018 season, Kirby retired from professional AFL football.

Statistics

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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 ...

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References

External links

* Living people 1998 births Collingwood Football Club players Bendigo Pioneers players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football {{AFL-bio-1990s-stub