Rodney Ashman (born 3 December 1954) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented 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). Playing primarily in the forward pocket, Ashman was a member of Carlton's famous "Mosquito Fleet" which was pivotal to the club's success in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He played in back-to-back premierships in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

and 1982. Ashman's courageous style of play saw him suffer frequent concussion. After getting concussed several times in the space of a month, Ashman wore a helmet for the rest of his career. Although he didn't like it, he realised its value in a match against where he got kicked in the head, but was protected by the helmet. When he suffered a stroke in May 2010, Ashman wondered whether it was the result of one of those concussions he sustained during his playing days. Ashman was inducted into Carlton's Hall of Fame in 1993 and was later named in the

forward pocket In the sport of Australian rules football, each of the eighteen players in a team is assigned to a particular named position on the field of play. These positions describe both the player's main role and by implication their location on the gro ...

in Carlton's Team of the Century.

References

External links

*
Profile on blueseum.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashman, Rod 1954 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Carlton Football Club players Carlton Football Club Premiership players Eaglehawk Football Club players Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership players