Shannon William Hurn (born 4 September 1987) 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 playing for the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football ...

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). From

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, he excelled at both

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and football at junior level, and at one stage had a rookie contract with the

South Australian Cricket Association The South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) is the peak body for the sport of cricket in South Australia. The association administers the Southern Redbacks based in Adelaide. SACA is the controlling body for the South Australian Grade Cri ...

(SACA). Prior to being drafted by West Coast, Hurn played for in the

South Australian National Football League 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 ...

(SANFL), playing in premiership sides in 2004 and 2005. At West Coast, he debuted during the 2006 season, and has since played 300 games for the club. Generally playing as a half-back flanker, Hurn has one of the most penetrating kicks in the AFL. He served as West Coast captain for five seasons.

Early life

Hurn hails from a sporting family; his father

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

played 135 games with Central District, and his grandfather

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word meani ...

was a member of

's 1963-64 Sheffield Shield-winning team. Hurn was born in

Angaston, South Australia Angaston is a town on the eastern side of the Barossa Valley in South Australia, 77 km northeast of Adelaide. Its elevation is 347 m, one of the highest points in the valley, and has an average rainfall of 561 mm. Angaston was origi ...

in the

Barossa Valley The Barossa Valley ( Barossa German: ''Barossa Tal'') is a valley in South Australia located northeast of Adelaide city centre. The valley is formed by the North Para River. It is notable as a major wine-producing region and tourist destinati ...

and attended Angaston Primary and

Nuriootpa High School Nuriootpa ( ) is a town in South Australia and the major commercial centre of the Barossa Valley, about an hour's drive north of the state capital, Adelaide. The name of the town is reputed to be the local Aboriginal word for "meeting place". N ...

. Hurn was heavily involved in school and local sporting clubs, allowing him to excel in his favourite sports:

and Australian rules football. Hurn’s more professional career began whilst playing his two favourite sports simultaneously. He took on a rookie contract with SACA (South Australian Cricket Association) in 2004, turning down a second one in 2005 to focus on his football. Hurn played football for Central District, making it to two premierships in 2004 and 2005. In 2005, Hurn was picked to captain the U-18 South Australian side and also picked in the U-18 All-Australian selection in football. Hurn was picked 13th in the first round in the 2005 draft to West Coast Eagles.

AFL career

Hurn made his debut for in round 5,

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 ...

against the . After playing 6 games in his debut season he solidified his spot in the team, playing every game in

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 ...

. He was nominated for the

2007 AFL Rising Star The NAB Rising Star award is given annually to a standout young player in the Australian Football League. This was the first time the winner was presented with the Ron Evans medal, with it being awarded annually since. The 2007 winner was Joel ...

for his 19 possession performance in round 11 against . Hurn played just six games in 2008 because of injury, in what was a poor year for the Eagles, but he rebounded to play 22 games in 2009, and 15 in 2010. In 2011, he truly established himself as an elite kick and a highly damaging player off of the half back line. He was crucial to the Eagles' success, as they rebounded from the wooden spoon the previous year to a top-four team the next. Hurn played every game, including the three finals, including 15 disposals and a goal in the nail biting semi-final win over Carlton. In 2012, Hurn continued his strong form, playing all 24 games, including an 18 disposal and one goal effort in the Elimination Final demolition of North Melbourne. West Coast missed the finals in 2013, their lack of penetration out of the half-back line noticeable as Hurn played only 12 games. After

Darren Glass Darren Glass (born 14 May 1981) is a former Australian rules footballer who played as a full-back for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). Originally from Northam, Western Australia, he attended Carine Senior High Sc ...

retired midway through the 2014 season, Hurn was named acting co-captain of the club for the remainder of the season, along with four other players. On 8 December 2014 it was announced that Hurn would become the 10th captain of the

Captaincy (2015-2019)

Hurn started out his captaincy with a highly successful first season in charge, leading West Coast to a grand final berth in

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 ...

. The Eagles lost to Hawthorn by 46 points, with the Hawks becoming the first club since 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 ...

in 2003 to win three consecutive premierships. Over the next two years, Hurn continued to provide drive off halfback and through kick-ins. The club continued to reach the finals, but were defeated by the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

in an Elimination Final in 2016, and by

Greater Western Sydney Greater Western Sydney (GWS) is a large region of the metropolitan area of Greater Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia that generally embraces the north-west, south-west, central-west, and far western sub-regions within Sydney's metropoli ...

in a Semi Final in 2017. In 2018, Hurn's form improved dramatically; in a change of role in defence, he established himself as one of the best defenders in the comp, earning a maiden

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...

selection on the halfback flank. This coincided with a remarkable rise for West Coast, with the club expected to fall after losing a substantial amount of experience in the offseason. They made the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

for the first time in three years, facing and defeating Collingwood by five points, with Hurn becoming the third premiership captain in the club's history. He and

Mark LeCras Mark LeCras (born 30 August 1986) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was predominantly used as a small forward, though he has occasionally played in the midfie ...

were the only players from the Eagles' 2006 playing list to feature in the 2018 Grand Final, although neither he nor LeCras were selected for the 2006 Grand Final. He continued his strong form into 2019, finishing with a second consecutive All-Australian selection, where he was named as Vice-Captain. He stepped down as captain following the 2019 season, to be replaced by

Luke Shuey Luke Shuey (born 2 June 1990) is an Australian rules footballer and the captain of the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). Shuey was recruited from the Oakleigh Chargers with pick 20 in the 2008 National Draft. After a ...

Statistics

:''Statistics are correct to the end of the 2022 season'' , - , scope="row" text-align:center ,

, , 25 , , 6 , , 1 , , 3 , , 40 , , 20 , , 60 , , 18 , , 6 , , 0.2 , , 0.5 , , 6.7 , , 3.3 , , 10.0 , , 3.0 , , 1.0 , - , scope="row" text-align:center ,

, , 25 , , 24 , , 11 , , 7 , , 171 , , 158 , , 329 , , 72 , , 53 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 7.1 , , 6.6 , , 13.7 , , 3.0 , , 2.2 , - , scope="row" 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; ...

, , 25 , , 6 , , 1 , , 3 , , 53 , , 17 , , 70 , , 17 , , 10 , , 0.2 , , 0.5 , , 8.8 , , 2.8 , , 11.7 , , 2.8 , , 1.7 , - , scope="row" 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 ...

, , 25 , , 22 , , 4 , , 3 , , 282 , , 159 , , 441 , , 106 , , 24 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 12.8 , , 7.2 , , 20.0 , , 4.8 , , 1.1 , - , scope="row" 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 ...

, , 25 , , 15 , , 4 , , 5 , , 203 , , 31 , , 234 , , 66 , , 30 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 13.5 , , 2.1 , , 15.6 , , 4.4 , , 2.0 , - , scope="row" 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 ...

, , 25 , , 25 , , 5 , , 3 , , 343 , , 109 , , 452 , , 114 , , 44 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 13.7 , , 4.4 , , 18.1 , , 4.6 , , 1.8 , - , scope="row" 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 ...

, , 25 , , 24 , , 12 , , 7 , , 339 , , 76 , , 415 , , 119 , , 57 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 14.1 , , 3.2 , , 17.3 , , 5.0 , , 2.4 , - , scope="row" text-align:center ,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, , 25 , , 12 , , 1 , , 2 , , 160 , , 27 , , 187 , , 47 , , 26 , , 0.1 , , 0.2 , , 13.3 , , 2.3 , , 15.6 , , 3.9 , , 2.2 , - , scope="row" 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 ...

, , 25 , , 18 , , 4 , , 3 , , 250 , , 83 , , 333 , , 106 , , 45 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 13.9 , , 4.6 , , 18.5 , , 5.9 , , 2.5 , - , scope="row" text-align:center ,

, , 25 , , 25 , , 3 , , 9 , , 297 , , 114 , , 411 , , 109 , , 42 , , 0.1 , , 0.4 , , 11.9 , , 4.6 , , 16.4 , , 4.4 , , 1.7 , - , scope="row" 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 ...

, , 25 , , 23 , , 3 , , 1 , , 300 , , 113 , , 413 , , 111 , , 40 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 13.0 , , 4.9 , , 18.0 , , 4.8 , , 1.7 , - , scope="row" 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 ...

, , 25 , , 23 , , 0 , , 2 , , 292 , , 165 , , 457 , , 145 , , 44 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 12.7 , , 7.2 , , 19.9 , , 6.3 , , 1.9 , - , scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C ,

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 ...

^# , style="text-align:center;", , 25 , , 25 , , 1 , , 2 , , 430 , , 101 , , 531 , , 196 , , 44 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 17.2 , , 4.0 , , 21.2 , , 7.8 , , 1.8 , - , scope="row" 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 ...

, , 25 , , 21 , , 0 , , 2 , , 386 , , 104 , , 490 , , 154 , , 31 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 18.4 , , 5.0 , , 23.3 , , 7.3 , , 1.5 , - ! 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- ...

, , 25 , , 17 , , 0 , , 0 , , 205 , , 66 , , 271 , , 87 , , 26 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 12.1 , , 3.9 , , 15.9 , , 5.1 , , 1.5 , - , scope="row" 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 ...

, , 25 , , 15 , , 0 , , 0 , , 260 , , 67 , , 327 , , 103 , , 24 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 17.3 , , 4.5 , , 21.8 , , 6.9 , , 1.6 , - , scope="row" text-align:center ,

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, , 25 , , 19 , , 0 , , 0 , , 356 , , 80 , , 436 , , 143 , , 33 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 18.7 , , 4.2 , , 23.0 , , 7.5 , , 1.7 , - style="background:#EAEAEA; font-weight:bold; width:2em" , scope="row" text-align:center class="sortbottom" colspan=3 , Career , 320 , 50 , 52 , 4367 , 1490 , 5857 , 1713 , 579 , 0.2 , 0.2 , 13.7 , 4.7 , 18.3 , 5.4 , 1.8 Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hurn, Shannon 1987 births Australian rules footballers from South Australia Central District Football Club players Living people Peel Thunder Football Club players West Coast Eagles players West Coast Eagles Premiership players People from Angaston, South Australia All-Australians (AFL) One-time VFL/AFL Premiership players