Liam Stocker (born 23 January 2000) 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 St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), having initially been drafted to the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Me ...

. He was recruited with the 19th overall selection in the 2018 National Draft and was the first player to be drafted via a 'live trade'. Liam is from

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, and played for the

Sandringham Dragons The Sandringham Dragons are an Australian rules football club playing in the NAB League, the top statewide under-18 competition in Victoria, Australia. They are based at the Trevor Barker Oval in Sandringham, Victoria, representing the souther ...

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 Vict ...

before being picked to represent Vic Metro at the 2018

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 ...

Early life and junior career

Liam was born in

Camperdown, New South Wales Camperdown is an inner western suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Camperdown is located 4 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the Inner West region. Camperdown lies across the ...

, Australia. His family moved to

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, China when Liam was 4 after his dad was given a job opportunity. Liam lived there until moving back to Australia at

Sandringham Sandringham can refer to: Places * Sandringham, New South Wales, Australia * Sandringham, Queensland, Australia * Sandringham, Victoria, Australia **Sandringham railway line **Sandringham railway station **Electoral district of Sandringham * Sand ...

in bayside

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

when he was 10. He completed his schooling in 2017 at

Haileybury College Haileybury may refer to: Australia * Haileybury (Melbourne), a school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ** Haileybury Rendall School, an offshoot in Berrimah, North Territory, Australia China * Haileybury International School, an internatio ...

. He started playing junior football a
East Sandringham Zebras Junior Football Club
in th
South Metro Junior Football League
Liam played for the

in the

. In 2018, he had a standout season, averaging 22 disposals, 13 contested possessions, and 5 clearances. What stood out to a lot of people was his endurance, professionalism and ability to kick the ball well on both feet. He was awarded the

Morrish Medal The Morrish Medal is an Australian rules football award. Formerly awarded to the best and fairest player in the VFL Under-19 competition (known as the Thirds prior to 1959), since 1992 the award has been given to the best player in the Victori ...

, the best and fairest award for the TAC Cup, but sustained a jaw injury which saw him miss the AFL Under 18 Championships. Nevertheless, he was still chosen by Vic Metro as one of their top prospects for the draft. A shoulder injury struck again and he missed the combine, leading him to admit that he 'had plans to TAC Cup footy next year'.

AFL career

Liam Stocker was selected by at No. 19 of the 2018 National draft. His recruitment made national headlines as he was the first player to be picked using the then-new system allowing draft picks to be traded live during draft night: Carlton made a live trade with the

Adelaide Crows The Adelaide Crows (officially the Adelaide Football Club) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1990. The Crows has fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since ...

which saw the Blues receive Stocker's pick in exchange for the two clubs exchanging their first round picks in the following season's draft. For the early part of Stocker's debut season, the bold decision looked likely to backfire badly, and as late as Round 13, Adelaide was sitting in the top four while Carlton was on the bottom of the ladder, opening the possibility that it would lose the 2019 No. 1 selection for a low first-round pick; however, stronger end-of-season form saw it rise to 16th, and Adelaide lost seven of its last nine games to fall to 11th, such that in the end Carlton had traded pick No. 4 for Stocker and pick No. 9 (which in turn traded for the picks which secured

Brodie Kemp Brodie can be a given name or a surname of Scottish origin, and a location in Moray, Scotland, its meaning is uncertain; it is not clear if Brodie, as a word, has its origins in the Gaelic or Pictish languages. In 2012 this name was the 53rd ...

and Sam Philp). Stocker made his AFL debut in round 7 of the 2019 season, in a loss to , and finished the season with five games and averaging 14 disposals. He signed a 3-year contract keeping him at the club until 2022. He did not play a senior match in the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

-interrupted 2020 season – ruling himself out after electing to return to Victoria when the club was forced to spend much of the season living on the Gold Coast to avoid interstate travel restrictions associated with the pandemic. Stocker had his most successful season in 2021, playing 17 of 22 games; but, after being selected for only six matches in 2022, he was delisted at the end of the season. Stocker then joined as a rookie during the supplemental selection period (SSP) ahead of the

2023 AFL season The 2023 AFL season is the 127th 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 will fea ...

Player profile

An inside midfielder, Stocker's main qualities are his frame and his knack for getting the ball out of contests. Adept at kicking the ball on both feet, Stocker is also a scoreboard threat, using his versatility to attack the opposition around most of the playing area. Averaging 4 tackles in the TAC Cup and 5 clearances, he showed his grunt useful on the inside of contests along with his class on the outside.

Statistics

''Updated to the end of round 2, 2023''. , - ,

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, , , , 14 , 17 , , 0 , , 0 , , 23 , , 15 , , 38 , , 17 , , 7 , , 0 , , 0 , , 11.5 , , 7.5 , , 19.0 , , 8.5 , , 3.5 , - class=sortbottom ! colspan=3 , Career ! 45 !! 2 !! 1 !! 273 !! 137 !! 410 !! 99 !! 64 !! 0.07 !! 0.03 !! 9.1 !! 4.6 !! 13.7 !! 3.3 !! 2.1 Notes

References

External links

* * *
Liam Stocker's playing statistics
from the TAC Cup on SportsTG
Liam Stocker's profile in Blueseum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stocker, Liam 2000 births Living people Carlton Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Sandringham Dragons players Preston Football Club (VFA) players People from Sandringham, Victoria People educated at Haileybury (Melbourne) St Kilda Football Club players