Martin Gleeson (born 25 August 1994) was a 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

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCracken family in their A ...

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). His position on the field is half back. He is the nephew of former player

Adrian Gleeson Adrian Gleeson (born 30 April 1967) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Carlton in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Gleeson, who played as a rover, finished eighth in the 1988 Brownlow Medal count, in his third season of ...

and the cousin of player

Willem Drew Willem Drew (born 1 October 1998) is a professional Australian rules footballer who plays for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was recruited by Port Adelaide with the 33rd draft pick in the 2016 AFL Dra ...

Early career

Gleeson played for the

North Ballarat Rebels The Greater Western Victoria Rebels is an Australian rules football club which plays in the NAB League, the statewide under-18s competition in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Initially known as the Ballarat Rebels and wearing green an ...

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 ...

. He was drafted by with pick 53 in the 2012 national draft and played 13 games in the VFL before injuring his shoulder. Like his uncle

Adrian Adrian is a form of the Latin language, Latin given name Adrianus (given name), Adrianus or Hadrianus (disambiguation), Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria (river), Adria from the Venetic language, Venetic and ...

, he played for

Koroit Koroit is a small rural town in western Victoria, Australia a few kilometres north of the Princes Highway, north-west of Warrnambool and west of Melbourne. It is in the Shire of Moyne local government area located amidst rolling green past ...

as a junior.

AFL career

He made his AFL debut against in round 1 of the

2014 AFL season The 2014 AFL season was the 118th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured ei ...

. He became a regular in the senior side until a serious ankle injury kept him out for the entire 2018 season. He returned to the seniors in 2019 but struggled to kept his spot. Known as a popular clubman he was delisted at the end of the 2021 season.

Statistics

:''Statistics are correct to the end of 2021'' , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, , , 35 , , 9 , , 2 , , 4 , , 71 , , 42 , , 113 , , 37 , , 15 , , 0.2 , , 0.4 , , 7.9 , , 4.7 , , 12.6 , , 4.1 , , 1.7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, , , 35 , , 22 , , 2 , , 3 , , 152 , , 154 , , 306 , , 84 , , 45 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 6.9 , , 7.0 , , 13.9 , , 3.8 , , 2.1 , - 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 ...

, , , 8 , , 20 , , 0 , , 1 , , 181 , , 172 , , 353 , , 106 , , 35 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 9.1 , , 8.6 , , 17.7 , , 5.3 , , 1.8 , - ! 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 ...

, , , 8 , , 18 , , 1 , , 0 , , 196 , , 100 , , 296 , , 106 , , 32 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 10.9 , , 5.6 , , 16.4 , , 5.9 , , 1.8 , - 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 ...

, , , 8 , , - , , - , , - , , - , , - , , - , , - , , - , , - , , - , , - , , - , , - , , - , , - , - ! 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 ...

, , , 8 , , 9 , , 0 , , 1 , , 92 , , 57 , , 149 , , 40 , , 10 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 10.2 , , 6.3 , , 16.6 , , 4.4 , , 1.1 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

, , , 8 , , 13 , , 0 , , 0 , , 75 , , 65 , , 140 , , 40 , , 17 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 5.8 , , 5.0 , , 10.8 , , 3.1 , , 1.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, , , 8 , , 6 , , 0 , , 0 , , 33 , , 27 , , 60 , , 21 , , 11 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 5.5 , , 4.5 , , 10.0 , , 3.5 , , 1.8 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 97 ! 5 ! 9 ! 800 ! 527 ! 1327 ! 434 ! 165 ! 0.1 ! 0.1 ! 8.4 ! 6.5 ! 14.9 ! 4.5 ! 1.7

References

External links

* * * 1994 births Living people Essendon Football Club players Greater Western Victoria Rebels players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) People educated at St Patrick's College, Ballarat {{AFL-bio-1990s-stub