Aaron vandenBerg (born 3 March 1992) is a professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, tall and weighing , vandenBerg has the ability to contribute as both an

inside Inside may refer to: * Insider, a member of any group of people of limited number and generally restricted access Film * ''Inside'' (1996 film), an American television film directed by Arthur Penn and starring Eric Stoltz * ''Inside'' (2002 f ...

and outside midfielder, whilst also pushing into the

forward line 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 ...

. After missing out on the draft at eighteen years of age, vandenBerg played in the

North East Australian Football League The North East Australian Football League (NEAFL) was an Australian rules football league in New South Wales, Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. The league was formed in November 2010, and its inaugural co ...

(NEAFL) with the

Ainslie Football Club Ainslie Football Club is a semi-professional Australian rules football club based in Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory. The club formed in 1927 and won its first premiership in 1929. Ex- St Kilda star Kevin Neale was captain-co ...

where he won two best and fairest awards and was twice named in the NEAFL team of the year. His performances in the NEAFL saw him recruited by the Melbourne Football Club with the second selection in the 2015 rookie draft and he made his AFL debut in the opening round of the 2015 season.

Early life

Originally from

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, vandenBerg moved to

Tathra, New South Wales Tathra () is a seaside town on the Sapphire Coast found on the South Coast, New South Wales, Australia. As at the , Tathra had a population of 1,675. Nearby points of interest are the Old Tathra Wharf, Mimosa Rocks National Park and Bournda Nat ...

with his family at ten-years of age where he played junior football with the Tathra Football Club. He was first noticed as a potential AFL player in 2007 by then- recruiter, Jason Taylor, however he was not drafted due to lacking "the drive to be an AFL footballer." He moved to Canberra in 2011 to join in the

(NEAFL), where he won the eastern conference premiership in his first year, and back-to-back Hibberson Cup Trophies as the club best and fairest player in 2013 and 2014. In addition, he was named in the NEAFL team of the year on the wing and as the ruck rover in 2013 and 2014 respectively. During 2014, he amassed fifty-six disposals in a match against Eastlake, which contributed to him being recognised as a high-disposal winner and put him back on the AFL radar. Then at , Jason Taylor and the club decided to recruit him in December 2014. Whilst living in Canberra, he was completing a four-year apprenticeship at the

Royal Australian Mint The Royal Australian Mint is the sole producer of all of Australia's circulating coins and is a Commonwealth Government entity operating within the portfolio of the Treasury. The Mint is situated in the Australian federal capital city of Canberr ...

, but ended it after two and a half years to move to Melbourne.

AFL career

VandenBerg was drafted by the Melbourne Football Club with their first selection and second overall in the 2015 rookie draft. After a shoulder reconstruction at the end of 2014, Melbourne football operations manager,

Josh Mahoney Joshua William Paul "Josh" Mahoney (born 31 October 1977) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood, the Western Bulldogs, and Port Adelaide in the Australian Football League (AFL). VFL career Mahoney p ...

, stated vandenBerg was "exceeding expectations" and he made his debut in the 2015 opening round with a 26-point win against at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He was named in the best players for Melbourne and recorded seventeen disposals, four marks and a goal. Lauded for his tenacity and ability to win the contested ball, he played the first ten matches of the year before suffering a hamstring strain in the annual Queen's Birthday clash against . He returned to the side in round fifteen against , and he played the next four matches before injuring his ankle in August; he was then ruled out for the rest of the season after playing 14 matches in his debut season. After signing a contract extension until the end of the 2017 season, he was promoted from the rookie list to the senior list for the 2016 season onward. Despite suffering from an ankle injury during the 2016 pre-season, vandenBerg played the start of the season in the senior side. He played in the first three matches of the season before re-aggravating his ankle injury, and he was forced to miss a month of football. He made his return to football 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 for Melbourne's affiliate team, the

Casey Scorpions The Casey Football Club, nicknamed the "Demons" and formerly the "Scorpions", is an Australian rules football club based in Cranbourne East, Victoria. The club, which was known until 2005 as the Springvale Football Club and the Casey Scorpions ...

. He returned to the senior side for the 18-point loss against at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Round 11. He played the next five matches before missing the round eighteen match against at Domain Stadium due to a hip injury. He returned the next week for the two-point win against Gold Coast at the Melbourne Cricket Ground where he kicked a career-high three goals and was named in Melbourne's best. He played the remainder of the season to finish with fourteen games.

Statistics

: , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2015 , , 37 , , 14 , , 5 , , 12 , , 143 , , 92 , , 235 , , 44 , , 70 , , 0.4 , , 0.9 , , 10.2 , , 6.6 , , 16.8 , , 3.1 , , 5.0 , , 3 , - ! scope="row" style="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 of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, , 37 , , 14 , , 12 , , 9 , , 80 , , 125 , , 205 , , 43 , , 50 , , 0.9 , , 0.8 , , 5.7 , , 8.9 , , 14.6 , , 3.1 , , 3.6 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="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 s ...

, , 22 , , 0 , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 Unit ...

, , 22 , , 7 , , 5 , , 6 , , 61 , , 50 , , 111 , , 30 , , 22 , , 0.7 , , 0.9 , , 8.7 , , 7.1 , , 15.9 , , 4.3 , , 3.1 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="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 ...

, , 22 , , 0 , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

, , 22 , , 12 , , 1 , , 1 , , 73 , , 69 , , 142 , , 34 , , 31 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 6.1 , , 5.8 , , 11.8 , , 2.8 , , 2.6 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="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 coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

, , 22 , , 4 , , 0 , , 0 , , 18 , , 9 , , 27 , , 3 , , 8 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 4.5 , , 2.3 , , 6.8 , , 0.8 , , 2.0 , , 0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 51 ! 23 ! 28 ! 375 ! 345 ! 720 ! 154 ! 181 ! 0.5 ! 0.5 ! 7.4 ! 6.8 ! 14.1 ! 3.0 ! 3.5 ! 3 Notes

References

External links

* *
Aaron vandenBerg's profile
from Demonwiki {{DEFAULTSORT:vandenBerg, Aaron 1992 births Living people Australian rules footballers from the Australian Capital Territory Melbourne Football Club players Ainslie Football Club players Casey Demons players Australian people of Dutch descent