Stephen O'Reilly (born 9 November 1972) 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
er, who mainly played as a full back. He was educated at
Aquinas College, Perth
Aquinas College, informally known as Aquinas or AC, is an Independent school, independent Roman Catholicism in Australia, Roman Catholic Single-sex education, single-sex Primary school, primary and Secondary school, secondary Day school, day a ...
.
WAFL career
He initially played for
Swan Districts
The Swan Districts Football Club, nicknamed the Swans, is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). The club is based at Bassendean Oval, in Bassendean, an eastern suburb ...
in the
WAFL before being drafted to
Geelong
Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...
in the
AFL
AFL may refer to:
Education
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Military
* ...
with selection 9 in the 1991 National Draft. As was common at the time, O'Reilly decided against moving to Geelong immediately and instead remained at Swan Districts for the 1992 season.
Geelong career
In 1993 he made the move east and played in 12 games in his debut season. In 1994 he only missed one game and was a member of Geelong's losing grand final side.
Fremantle career
As a strong defender, he was targeted by the newly formed
Fremantle Dockers
The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers or colloquially Freo, 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 represen ...
for the 1995 season. He led an inexperienced backline in their initial seasons, and finished 4th, 1st and 6th in the Best and Fairest award in his first three years at the new club. Following the 1997 O'Reilly suffered a bad hamstring tear in which the muscle was completely torn off the bone. The 1998 and 1999 seasons saw him play at both ends of the ground, but not as effectively as the earlier years.
Carlton career and scandal
O'Reilly requested a transfer back to Melbourne at the end of 1999 season.
Carlton agreed to a trade and Fremantle received selections 16 and 46 in return. O'Reilly played 12 games for Carlton in 2000, but due to a recurring back injury couldn't regain the form he had shown at Fremantle. He retired at the end of 2000 having played a total of 146 games over 8 years at three clubs.
At the end of 2002, it was revealed that Carlton had been
systematically cheating the league salary cap during the early 2000s, making payments outside the salary cap to O'Reilly and three other players. The scandal resulted in the club paying a $930,000 penalty and losing picks in multiple drafts.
[Ker, Peter (24 November 2002). "Carlton backs to wall". Archived from the original on 8 December 2002.]
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Oreilly, Stephen
1972 births
Carlton Football Club players
Fremantle Football Club players
Geelong Football Club players
Western Australian State of Origin players
Doig Medal winners
Living people
Swan Districts Football Club players
People educated at Aquinas College, Perth
Australian rules footballers from Western Australia
Fremantle Football Club administrators