Nick Carter (born 28 April 1978) 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 ...

player. During his career Carter played for

Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

and

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 ...

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).

Early life

Carter began playing football for

Golden Square Golden Square, in Soho, the City of Westminster, London, is a mainly hardscaped garden square planted with a few mature trees and raised borders in Central London flanked by classical office buildings. Its four approach ways are north and sout ...

as a junior. He then played for the

Bendigo Pioneers The Bendigo Pioneers is an Australian rules football team in the statewide Victorian under-18s league, the NAB League. Synopsis The Bendigo Pioneers is an Australian rules football team playing in NAB League since 1993 based in Bendigo, Victoria ...

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 ...

. Carter played for the Victorian Country team at the 1995

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 ...

AFL career

Fitzroy

Carter was drafted by

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 ...

with the 20th selection in the 1995 AFL draft, with coach

Michael Nunan Michael Allen Nunan (born 12 April 1949) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Sturt Football Club, Norwood Football Club and the North Adelaide Football Club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), as wel ...

stating the club was looking for "players with pace and finish to play in the midfield". Carter had an impressive first AFL season, debuting in round 6 and remaining in the senior team for the rest of the season, playing 17 matches. He was nominated for the 1996 AFL Rising Star award in round 8. Despite a good season personally, Fitzroy struggled both on the field, winning only one match for the whole season, and financially. Fitzroy's administrator at the time negotiated a deal with

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Football Club, nicknamed the Bears, was a professional Australian rules football club based in Queensland on the Gold Coast (relocated to Brisbane in 1993). The club participated in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/A ...

whereby at the end of the 1996 season, Fitzroy's AFL operations were taken over by the Bears, to form the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...

Brisbane

Only eight Fitzroy players became Brisbane Lions players, with the majority of the team coming from the Brisbane Bears list. Carter, however, was one of those eight players. In his two seasons with Brisbane, Carter only managed to play five games, struggling to break into the senior side of a team with what Martin Blake described as "the best depth in the competition".

Melbourne

After struggling to gain a spot in the Brisbane senior team, Carter was traded to

at the end of the 1998 season for the 45th draft pick in the 1998 AFL draft. Carter only managed three games for the Demons and he was delisted at the end of the 1999 season. Carter nominated for the 1999 AFL draft, but he was not selected, thereby ending his AFL career.

Post-AFL career

After failing to be picked up in the 1999 Draft, Carter began playing with the

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

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 ...

(VFL). He played for Bendigo for eight seasons and was captain and assistant coach of the club during that time. In 2003 Carter was Bendigo'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 ...

player for the season, his third win of the award in four seasons. Carter also regularly represented the VFL when playing against other state leagues, such as the

SANFL The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

and the WAFL. Carter is currently the coach of the

Golden Square Football Club The Golden Square Football Netball Club, nicknamed the ''Bulldogs'', is an Australian rules football and netball club based in the Bendigo suburb of Golden Square, Victoria. The club teams currently compete in the Bendigo Football Netball Lea ...

, the club he played junior football for.

Honours

Carter was named captain of the Bendigo Team of the Decade. Bendigo's best and fairest award is named the Carter Medal, in honour of his contributions to the club. He became the first Bendigo player to play 100 games for the club.

References

External links

* *
Demon Wiki profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Nick 1978 births Living people Bendigo Football Club players Brisbane Lions players Fitzroy Football Club players Melbourne Football Club players Bendigo Pioneers players Golden Square Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Bendigo