Nathan Lovett-Murray (born 18 November 1982) is a former

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 with 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 ...

Early life

Lovett-Murray has

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

heritage and his tribal ancestry can be traced to the Wamba-Wamba and

Gunditjmara The Gunditjmara or Gunditjamara, also known as Dhauwurd Wurrung, are an Aboriginal Australian people of southwestern Victoria. They are the traditional owners of the areas now encompassing Warrnambool, Port Fairy, Woolsthorpe and Portland. Their ...

. He began his football in Victoria playing country football with Heywood and 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 ...

AFL career

Lovett-Murray was initially rookie listed by Collingwood, playing for the

Williamstown Seagulls The Williamstown Football Club, nicknamed The Seagulls, is an Australian rules football club based in Melbourne. The club currently competes in the men's and women's Victorian Football League and VFLW competitions. History The Williamstown F ...

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 ...

. After switching to the

Bendigo Bombers The Bendigo Gold Football Club was an Australian rules football club based in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia. The club played in the Victorian Football League (VFL) from 1998 until 2014, under the nicknames Diggers, Bombers and Gold at different ti ...

, he was rookie listed by Essendon in the 2003 Rookie Draft. Lovett-Murray was promoted to the senior list early in the 2004 season and played 20 games. He spent the 2005 season on the rookie list again, he was promoted again that season and stayed on the senior list since then. In 2006, Lovett-Murray copped a three-game suspension from the

AFL Tribunal The AFL Tribunal is the disciplinary tribunal of the Australian Football League (AFL), an Australian rules football competition. The Tribunal regulates the conduct of players, umpires, and other officials associated with the AFL and its clubs. ...

for intentionally striking midfielder Matthew Carr in the Bombers' round fourteen loss to the Dockers at

Subiaco Oval Subiaco Oval (; nicknamed Subi) was a sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia, located in the suburb of Subiaco. It was opened in 1908 and closed in 2017 after the completion of the new Perth Stadium in Burswood. Subiaco Oval was the high ...

. This was one of many lowlights for the club, which finished 15th at the end of the season with just three wins and one draw from 22 matches played. Lovett-Murray, along with 33 other Essendon players, was found guilty of using a banned performance enhancing substance,

thymosin beta-4 Thymosin beta-4 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''TMSB4X'' gene. Recommended INN (International Nonproprietary Name) for thymosin beta-4 is 'timbetasin', as published by the World Health Organization (WHO). The protein consists (in ...

, as part of Essendon's sports supplements program during the 2012 season. He and his team-mates were initially found not guilty in March 2015 by the AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal, but a guilty verdict was returned in January 2016 after an appeal by the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; french: Agence mondiale antidopage, AMA) is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's key ...

. He was suspended for two years which, with backdating, ended in December 2016; as a result, he served approximately fifteen months of his suspension and missed the entire 2016 season, when he had intended to play and coach for

Rumbalara Football Club The Rumbalara Football Netball Club (Rumbalara FNC), nicknamed Rumba, is an Aboriginal Australian sporting club located in Shepparton, Victoria. The club's teams play Australian Rules Football (in the Murray Football League) since 2006. Histo ...

Personal life

In August 2009, it was reported that Lovett-Murray's home had been raided by police on 3 August. He was charged with possession of a drug of dependency, after the search found a single tablet of ecstasy at his home. However, on 11 December it was reported that the drug charge against him had been dismissed. On 22 May 2013, he was stabbed in a domestic incident by a girl's boyfriend and hospitalised. Lovett-Murray belongs to a sporting family and is the great-grandson of pastor Sir

Douglas Nicholls Sir Douglas Ralph Nicholls, (9 December 1906 – 4 June 1988) was a prominent Aboriginal Australian from the Yorta Yorta people. He was a professional athlete, Churches of Christ pastor and church planter, ceremonial officer and a pioneering ...

, who played for

Fitzroy Football Club The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of Fitzroy, the club was a member of the Vi ...

. In addition, he is the cousin of former Essendon Football Club player

Andrew Lovett Andrew Lovett (born 11 November 1982) is an Aboriginal Australians, AboriginalAFL Record; Round 9, 2009. Slattery Publishing, p75 Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League (AFL) for Essendon Football Club, Essend ...

Statistics

: ''Statistics are correct to end of 2012 season.'' , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, , , 42 , , 20 , , 21 , , 11 , , 110 , , 65 , , 175 , , 60 , , 34 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , 5.5 , , 3.2 , , 8.8 , , 3.0 , , 1.7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, , , 42 , , 17 , , 7 , , 4 , , 134 , , 96 , , 230 , , 46 , , 28 , , 0.4 , , 0.2 , , 7.9 , , 5.6 , , 13.5 , , 2.7 , , 1.6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, , , 42 , , 19 , , 7 , , 10 , , 250 , , 111 , , 361 , , 112 , , 37 , , 0.4 , , 0.5 , , 13.2 , , 5.8 , , 19.0 , , 5.9 , , 2.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, , , 42 , , 9 , , 3 , , 1 , , 89 , , 55 , , 144 , , 41 , , 17 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 9.9 , , 6.1 , , 16.0 , , 4.6 , , 1.9 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, , , 42 , , 20 , , 9 , , 5 , , 171 , , 159 , , 331 , , 94 , , 59 , , 0.4 , , 0.2 , , 8.6 , , 8.0 , , 16.6 , , 4.7 , , 3.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, , , 42 , , 14 , , 9 , , 4 , , 118 , , 168 , , 266 , , 52 , , 62 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 7.6 , , 11.4 , , 19.0 , , 4.8 , , 3.4 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, , , 42 , , 12 , , 6 , , 2 , , 118 , , 168 , , 286 , , 52 , , 62 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 9.8 , , 14.0 , , 23.8 , , 4.3 , , 5.2 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, , , 42 , , 14 , , 2 , , 2 , , 99 , , 128 , , 227 , , 38 , , 56 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 7.1 , , 9.1 , , 16.2 , , 2.7 , , 4.0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, , , 42 , , 17 , , 8 , , 7 , , 113 , , 123 , , 236 , , 46 , , 53 , , 0.5 , , 0.4 , , 6.6 , , 7.2 , , 13.9 , , 2.7 , , 3.1 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 142 ! 72 ! 46 ! 1191 ! 1065 ! 2256 ! 556 ! 394 ! 0.5 ! 0.3 ! 8.4 ! 7.5 ! 15.9 ! 3.9 ! 2.8

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lovett-Murray, Nathan 1982 births Living people Essendon Football Club players Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football Williamstown Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Heywood Football Club players Australian sportspeople in doping cases Bendigo Football Club players Australia international rules football team players