Tom Doedee (born 1 March 1997) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Early life

Doedee excelled as a junior basketballer from the age of six playing as a Point Guard in the Geelong Supercats junior teams. He also played junior football for St Joseph's in

Geelong Football League The Geelong Football Netball League is an Australian rules football and netball league in Victoria, Australia. It is widely regarded as the highest standard Australian rules football league in regional Victoria, with several former AFL players n ...

. He played for Victoria Country in the 2012 under-18 Australian basketball championships. He sat out the

Geelong Falcons The Geelong Falcons is a youth Australian rules football representative club in the NAB League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition, Victoria, Australia. The club takes in talented junior players from the Geelong, Colac and Warrnambo ...

2014 preseason to concentrate on basketball, hoping for a possible scholarship in the United States. He played for Victoria Country in the under-18 Australian basketball championships in Canberra. He averaged six points and two assists from nine games. He returned for the 2015 preseason at the Falcons but was hampered by injury and almost didn't make the cut. It forced him to start the practise matches in the equivalent of a Falcons’ reserves side. However, once injury-free Doedee impressed at Centre Half Back for the Falcons and played for Victoria Country in the

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 ...

. Doedee was also invited to the Draft Combine where he finished fifth in the agility test and ninth in the relative vertical jump. Prior to the

2015 AFL draft The 2015 Australian Football League draft consisted of the various periods where the 18 clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL) can trade and recruit players following the completion of the 2015 AFL season. Additions to each club's playin ...

Doedee was regarded as the best one-on-one defender 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 Vict ...

by Geelong Falcons talent manager Michael Turner and was tipped to be drafted around 35-40 overall.

AFL career

Doedee was drafted by Adelaide with their second selection and seventeenth overall in the 2015 national draft. In 2018, he made his debut in the twelve point loss to at

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in the opening round. In his second match, the thirty-six point win against at the

Adelaide Oval Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the city centre and North Adelaide. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby le ...

in round two of the 2018 season, Doedee recorded twenty-five disposals and six marks to earn the round

AFL Rising Star The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 season, and was won by Nathan Buc ...

nomination. In 2018, Doedee extended his contract by two years (until 2021) after missing just two games of the season. He placed second in the 2018 AFL Rising Star after averaging 18 disposals and two intercept marks per match. However, during the first round of the 2019 season, he ruptured his ACL in the second quarter of the 32 point loss to Hawthorn and did not return for the remainder of the season. In the 2020 season, shortened to 18 rounds due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Tom played nine games but a hamstring injury ruled him out for the last seven games for the season. Tom captained the club for a couple of games due to the absence of captain Rory Sloane and vice-captain Tom Lynch. He was picked over the two other available leadership team members ( Matt Crouch and Brodie Smith) and was only 23 years old with 26 games experience.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Doedee, Tom 1997 births Living people Adelaide Football Club players Geelong Falcons players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Adelaide Football Club (SANFL) players Australian people of Dutch descent