Laitham Vandermeer (born 3 February 1999) is an

Australian rules footballer 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 ...

, who plays for 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 ...

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 was recruited by the

with the 37th draft pick in the

2018 AFL draft The 2018 AFL draft consisted of the various periods where the 18 clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL) traded and recruited players following the completion of the 2018 AFL season. For the first time, the AFL draft featured live trading ...

Early Football

Vandermeer participated in the

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 ...

program at

Mooroopna, Victoria Mooroopna is a rural town located north of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is on the banks of the Goulburn River opposite the larger town of Shepparton. The Midland Highway crosses the river between the two towns. At the 2016 census, Moor ...

Vandermeer played for 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 ...

for 3 seasons and Vic Country in the

AFL Under 18 Championships 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 1 season. Prior he played with

Mooroopna Football Club The Mooroopna Football Netball Club, nicknamed the ''Cats'', is an Australian rules football and netball club based in the rural town of Mooroopna, Victoria. Former club journeyman Jake Whitford was banned from the club at the beginning of the ...

and his school side at

Xavier College Xavier College is a Roman Catholic, day and boarding school predominantly for boys, founded in 1872 by the Society of Jesus, with its main campus located in Kew, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Classes started in 1878. Th ...

, with future teammate

Bailey Smith Bailey Smith (born 7 December 2000) is a professional Australian rules football player. Smith was recruited by the Western Bulldogs with the 7th draft pick in the 2018 AFL draft, making his debut in the 2019 AFL season. He received a nomination ...

AFL career

2020 season: Debut

Vandermeer played 15 games for the Bulldogs'

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) side in 2019, before breaking into the

(AFL) team in 2020. Vandermeer debuted in the Bulldogs' loss to the

St Kilda Saints The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club's name originates fr ...

in the second round of the

2020 AFL season The 2020 AFL season was the 124th 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 feature ...

. Vandermeer kicked his first goal on his debut, as well as collecting 10 disposals, 3 marks and 2 tackles. Vandermeer suffered a hamstring injury in the Bulldogs' 11 point loss to the

Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition, and are the 2022 ...

in the 14th round of the

, and was ruled out for the rest of the home and away season. Vandermeer won the Western Bulldogs Chris Grant Best First Year Player award, after playing 12 games in the

and kicking 9 goals.

2021 season

Vandermeer started out the season strongly, kicking 2 goals and collecting 14 disposals in the ' opening round win over .

Statistics

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Honours & Achievements

* Chris Grant Best First Year Player: 2020

References

External links

* * * 1999 births Living people Western Bulldogs players Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Murray Bushrangers players People educated at Xavier College {{2018 AFL national draft