Luke Blackwell (born 9 November 1986 in

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 ...

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 ...

) is an

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. He formerly played for

Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...

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 for Claremont in the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September, ...

(WAFL) where he was the winner of the 2011

Sandover Medal The Sandover Medal is an Australian rules football award, given annually since 1921 to the fairest and best player in the West Australian Football League. The award was donated by Alfred Sandover M.B.E., a prominent Perth hardware merchant and be ...

Early life

Blackwell was born in

, and moved to

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

at an early age when his father,

Wayne Blackwell Wayne Anthony Blackwell (born 30 August 1960) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Claremont in the Western Australian National Football League (WANFL) and Carlton in the Victorian Football League (VFL) from 1978 to 1990. ...

, was appointed coach of Portland Football Club in the

Western Border Football League The Western Border Football League is an Australian rules football competition based in the Lower South East region of South Australia, and south-western border region of Victoria. It is an affiliated member of the South Australian National Foo ...

(WBFL). His family moved back to

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

in 1993, where Blackwell attended

Mazenod College, Perth , motto_translation = I Serve My God And My Country , established = , type = Independent single-sex secondary day and boarding school , denomination = Roman Catholicism , religious_affiliation = Oblates of Mary Immaculate , educationa ...

and later coached

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

from 1996 to 1998 and

East Fremantle East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

in 2000. His father also played for Claremont and Carlton.Luke Blackwell
– Blueseum. Last updated 30 May 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2011.

AFL career

Blackwell was recruited from by Carlton in the 2004 AFL Draft as the number 41 draft pick, under the father-son rule, being the son of former Carlton midfielder

. Luke Blackwell made his AFL debut in Round 8, 2006 against . Blackwell spent most of the 2005 season playing for the

Northern Bullants The Preston Football Club, which trades and plays as the Northern Bullants, is a long-established Australian rules football club based in Preston, Victoria, Preston that plays in the Victorian Football League (VFL). It plays its home games at t ...

, Carlton's , playing mainly as a midfielder, before his season was ended by a broken jaw. He began to break his way into the Carlton side in 2006, with his best game being the Round 13 clash against Brisbane, where he gathered 26 possessions and received two votes in the

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the " best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by ...

. He played ten of the last eleven games of the season. In his last two seasons with Carlton, Blackwell was in and out of the senior team and was de-listed at the end of the 2008 season.

WAFL career

Blackwell returned to Western Australia in 2009, joining the

Claremont Football Club The Claremont Football Club, nicknamed Tigers, is an Australian rules football club based in Claremont, Western Australia, that currently plays in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). Its official colours are na ...

. He found more consistent form, winning the EB Cook Medal as Claremont'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 ...

in both 2009 and 2010. He was also awarded the

Simpson Medal The Simpson Medal is an individual prize awarded for Australian rules football in Western Australia. The medal has been donated by Dr Fred Simpson and family since 1945. Simpson Medals are currently awarded to the following players: *The best pla ...

as best on ground for WAFL representative side against 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) in 2010, gathering 37 disposals. Blackwell won the 2011

for the

fairest and best 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 ...

player in the WAFL, polling 42 votes; he had been runner-up in for the award in 2010, losing to

Swan Districts The Swan Districts Football Club, nicknamed the Swans, is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). The club is based at Bassendean Oval, in Bassendean, an eastern suburb ...

Andrew Krakouer Andrew James Krakouer (born 4 February 1983) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club and Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Early life Krakouer is the son of Jim Kr ...

. Blackwell was part of Claremont's 2011 premiership team, his first senior premiership. He again won the EB Cook Medal for Claremont's best and fairest, for a third consecutive time. He was named in Claremont's "Greatest Ever Team", which was announced in late 2013. He left Claremont at the end of 2014, returning to Victoria where he joined

Essendon District Football League The Essendon District Football League (EDFL) is a professional Australian rules football league competition based in Essendon, Victoria, consisting of teams based in the north-west suburbs of Melbourne. Founded in 1930, the men's competition c ...

club

Aberfeldie Aberfeldie is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Moonee Valley local government area. Aberfeldie recorded a population of 3,925 at the . Aberfeldie is bo ...

. He played with Aberfeldie from 2015 until 2019, where he won the Reynolds Medal as premier division best and fairest in 2016, two Reg Rose Medals as best on ground in the grand final (2017 and 2018), and a total of three premierships, before retiring at the end of 2019.

References

External links

* *
Luke Blackwell profile in Blueseum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackwell, Luke 1986 births Carlton Football Club players Swan Districts Football Club players Claremont Football Club players Preston Football Club (VFA) players Living people Australian rules footballers from Western Australia Sandover Medal winners