Trent Eric Croad (born 9 March 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawt ...

and

Fremantle Football Club The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represent the port city of Fr ...

in the Australian Football League (AFL). During his 222-game AFL career, he achieved some of the Australian Football League's highest honours including an AFL premiership medallion,

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of 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-performed players during the season, led b ...

selection, and representing Australia and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

on multiple occasions.

Early life

Born in Auckland, New Zealand, to mother and father Bruce, and the grandson of All Black Eric Boggs Croad migrated with his family to Australia and grew up in

Narre Warren Narre Warren is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 38 km southeast of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Casey local government area. Narre Warren recorded a population of 27,689 at the 2021 census. ...

. He began playing at a young age with Endeavour Hills and the Narre Warren Junior Football Club and attended

De La Salle College, Malvern , motto_translation = With God As Leader , city = Malvern , state = Victoria , zipcode = 3144 , country = Australia , coordinates = , type ...

. He was scouted by recruiters as a 17-year-old and nominated for the 1997

AFL Draft The Australian Football League draft is the annual draft of unsigned players, especially new nominations, by Australian rules football teams that participate in the main competition of that sport, the Australian Football League (AFL). History W ...

. Croad was invited to the AFL Draft camp where he set the draft camp record for a standing vertical jump at 83 cm, which remained for at least a decade.

AFL career

Hawthorn

Hawthorn picked up Croad with the third overall selection in the draft. He started out as a defender, playing at either centre half-back or fullback. But he showed his versatility as his career went on, being able to play in any number of

key position Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (ma ...

Fremantle

Croad was traded from Hawthorn to Fremantle at the end of 2001. The picks given up by Fremantle were used by Hawthorn to select former Hawthorn stars

Luke Hodge Luke Hodge (born 15 June 1984) is a former Australian rules football player who played with the Hawthorn Football Club and the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played for the Hawthorn Football Club from 2002 to 2017, ...

and Sam Mitchell, whilst

Luke McPharlin Luke McPharlin (born 1 December 1981) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the Fremantle Football Club between 2002 and 2015, after two seasons with the Hawthorn Football ...

joined Croad in moving west. While Croad was reasonable but not spectacular at the Dockers, in 2002, he was Fremantle's leading goalkicker with 42 goals. The following season Croad lost confidence and kicked 18 goals. He cited homesickness and asked to be traded back to Victoria at the end of 2003.

Return to Hawthorn

He was traded back to Hawthorn, this time only in return for pick 10, which was used by Fremantle to select

Ryley Dunn Ryley Dunn (born 7 October 1985) is a former midfielder or defender for the Fremantle Football Club. He was drafted to Fremantle in the 2003 AFL Draft at selection 10, which was traded by Hawthorn Football Club in return for Trent Croad.

. Croad was told that he would be the centre half back, with a regular position his form improved once he went back to the Hawks, winning

selection in 2005. Croad relished the responsibility of being the senior man down back being strong, athletic type who took the oppositions best forward each week. During the second quarter of the 2008 Grand Final, Croad broke his left foot, and leaving the ground with the aid of trainers he still managed to lay a bump on Geelong's

Joel Selwood Joel Anthony Selwood (born 26 May 1988) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was a quadruple premiership player, a six-time All-Australian, and a three-ti ...

before playing no further part in the game. Hawthorn went on to win the match and Croad earned his first premiership medallion in over 200 games of AFL football. Croad missed the entire 2009 season due to his 2008 Grand Final injury, and on the 6th of January 2010 he announced his retirement after his surgeon warned him that he might permanently lose all function in his left foot if he broke it again.

Personal life

In October 2006, Croad married Tanya Stewart, and had two daughters, Kiera (born July 2007) and Sierra (born October 2009). Croad became engaged to

Kym Valentine Kym Valentine (born 24 May 1977) is an Australian actress best known for her long running intermittent portrayal of Libby Kennedy in the soap opera ''Neighbours.'' Early life Valentine was born in Blacktown, Sydney, and grew up in Granville. ...

in March 2015. In November, Valentine and Croad confirmed they were expecting their first child together. Valentine gave birth to a son named Phoenix in March 2016. Croad currently operates a landscaping business and in August 2018 was accused of ripping off clients.

Controversy

As part of the investigation by the Australian Crime Commission into drugs and organised crime in Australian sport, he was named by

Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The Sydney Morning Herald' ...

newspapers as being involved in a peptide supply deal that was linked to the

Comanchero Motorcycle Club The Comanchero Motorcycle Club is an outlaw motorcycle gang in Australia. The Comancheros are participants in the United Motorcycle Council of NSW, which convened a conference in 2009 to address legislation aimed against the "bikie" clubs, the ...

, an

outlaw motorcycle gang An outlaw motorcycle club is a motorcycle subculture generally centered on the use of cruiser motorcycles, particularly Harley-Davidsons and choppers, and a set of ideals that purport to celebrate freedom, nonconformity to mainstream culture, ...

. Croad later announced that he would sue Fairfax Media for defamation over the story.

Statistics

, - style=background:#EAEAEA ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, , , , 24 , 17 , , 4 , , 4 , , 78 , , 21 , , 99 , , 37 , , 15 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 4.6 , , 1.2 , , 5.8 , , 2.2 , , 0.9 , , 0 , - ,

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, , , , 24 , 21 , , 16 , , 10 , , 200 , , 70 , , 270 , , 102 , , 22 , , 0.8 , , 0.5 , , 9.5 , , 3.3 , , 12.9 , , 4.9 , , 1.0 , , 6 , - style=background:#EAEAEA ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, , , , 24 , 22 , , 33 , , 24 , , 228 , , 88 , , 316 , , 127 , , 9 , , 1.5 , , 1.1 , , 10.4 , , 4.0 , , 14.4 , , 5.8 , , 0.4 , , 7 , - , 2001 , , , , 24 , 24 , , 27 , , 25 , , 221 , , 91 , , 312 , , 115 , , 32 , , 1.1 , , 1.0 , , 9.2 , , 3.8 , , 13.0 , , 4.8 , , 1.3 , , 1 , - style=background:#EAEAEA , 2002 , , , , 24 , 21 , , 42 , , 34 , , 167 , , 38 , , 205 , , 74 , , 18 , , 2.0 , , 1.6 , , 8.0 , , 1.8 , , 9.8 , , 3.5 , , 0.9 , , 2 , - , 2003 , , , , 24 , 17 , , 18 , , 20 , , 128 , , 40 , , 168 , , 43 , , 28 , , 1.1 , , 1.2 , , 7.5 , , 2.4 , , 9.9 , , 2.5 , , 1.6 , , 0 , - style=background:#EAEAEA , 2004 , , , , 24 , 21 , , 7 , , 8 , , 211 , , 79 , , 290 , , 111 , , 26 , , 0.3 , , 0.4 , , 10.0 , , 3.8 , , 13.8 , , 5.3 , , 1.2 , , 2 , - , 2005 , , , , 24 , 21 , , 14 , , 12 , , 214 , , 152 , , 366 , , 127 , , 21 , , 0.7 , , 0.6 , , 10.2 , , 7.2 , , 17.4 , , 6.0 , , 1.0 , , 3 , - style=background:#EAEAEA , 2006 , , , , 24 , 18 , , 18 , , 13 , , 150 , , 84 , , 234 , , 106 , , 18 , , 1.0 , , 0.7 , , 8.3 , , 4.7 , , 13.0 , , 5.9 , , 1.0 , , 3 , - , 2007 , , , , 24 , 20 , , 10 , , 8 , , 136 , , 110 , , 246 , , 106 , , 13 , , 0.5 , , 0.4 , , 6.8 , , 5.5 , , 12.3 , , 5.3 , , 0.7 , , 0 , - style=background:#EAEAEA , bgcolor=F0E68C ,

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; ...

^# , , , , 24 , 20 , , 0 , , 0 , , 111 , , 90 , , 201 , , 87 , , 14 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 5.6 , , 4.5 , , 10.1 , , 4.4 , , 0.7 , , 1 , - , 2009 , , , , 24 , 0 , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , 0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 222 !! 189 !! 158 !! 1844 !! 863 !! 2707 !! 1035 !! 216 !! 0.9 !! 0.7 !! 8.3 !! 3.9 !! 12.2 !! 4.7 !! 1.0 !! 25

Honours and achievements

Team * AFL premiership player ():

Individual *

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of 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-performed players during the season, led b ...

: 2005 * Fremantle leading goalkicker: 2002 * AFL Rising Star nominee:

* 3×

Australia international rules football team :''This article concerns the men's team; for information on the Australian women's team, see Australia women's international rules football team.'' The Australia international rules football team is Australia's senior representative team in Int ...

, 2005 * life member

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Croad, Trent 1980 births Living people VFL/AFL players born outside Australia All-Australians (AFL) Fremantle Football Club players Hawthorn Football Club players Hawthorn Football Club Premiership players Victorian State of Origin players New Zealand emigrants to Australia New Zealand players of Australian rules football Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Dandenong Stingrays players De La Salle OC Amateur Football Club players Australia international rules football team players Claremont Football Club players One-time VFL/AFL Premiership players People from Narre Warren