Youngest Players of the SANFL

[Wedgie]

Yeah, I was expecting more input and its still over a week till I get back to the bloke that asked me so if anyone can add to the list I made I'd be grateful.

[dedja]

No sure if this has been asked before, but as far as I can remember, Dexter Kennedy was the youngest SANFL player to debut at around 15 years 11 months.

Has anyone bettered that since?

[FlyingHigh]

Pretty sure Jason Sziller was only 16 when he made his debut in same year as Niemann. Dominic Fotia around the same time was only 16 too.

Would have Nick Wark been one of the youngest players to have played a state game last year?

[FlyingHigh]

Camporeale made his debut in the 1994 Foundation Cup GF, kicked two matchwinning goals within two minutes - quite an achievement considering we won the game with four goals. Was he 16 too?

[Lunchcutter]

Reginald Richards (South Adelaide) ?????

[Ash59]

Steven Trigg? I think he was 16, first game of 1980 IIRC.

[dedja]

Looks like Dexter is still the man then ...

[Adelaide Hawk]

Reginald Richards (South Adelaide) ?????

Reg Richards made his debut for South Adelaide on 23 August 1952, aged 16 years, 3 days. He remained the youngest until Dexter Kennedy debuted on May 9 1970, aged 15 years, 11 months, 2 days.

Unless someone has slipped under the radar since, I believe Kennedy is the only player at league level under 16 years of age.

[Adelaide Hawk]

Another one I know of is David Jonas who debuted in 1965 aged 16 years and 4 months.

[CK]

Travis Lane made his debut for Woodville/West Torrens last year, against Norwood - was 16 at the time, although born on 1/7/91.

Dexter Kennedy is certainly the youngest verified to play senior football though, unless there are any cases of youngsters putting their age up during the war years and the like.

[Mark_Beswick]

The problem with these answers are that we count league games as Escort Cup Games as well. WAFL/VFA/TFL/AFL dont count pre-season or Non-Premiership Point games for such stats. We shouldnt count these games either and bring our stats into line with the rest of Australia even though it means Peter Carey and many of his contemporaries could lose up to 50 games. We then need to create a separate list for these non-premiership point games like the other comps do so when you add them together, you can see the old totals. I am 20% of the way through this project and by mid 2010, will have North, West, Eagles and possible Norwood stats ammended bringin them into line with other states.

The AFL refused our game tallies for the father and son rule because of the problem above and the SANFL needed to prove Club H&A/FINALS games for players to have them included under F/Son draft rules but the records were not and still are not proven beyond reasonable doubt.

So 16 year old debutantes - maybe we need to make sure they were H&A games?

[FattyLumpkin]

I can vaguely recall a "tiser article about Dexter's debut - can someone refresh me memory about his 1st game. Stats etc. Did he play the following weeks? Who was the Bloods coach at the time, and who were the ruckman he displaced? (injury or poor form?). Did he make the jump from the 2's or further down?

In fact - there's another question Spelly. Players who made a mid-season debut straight from the 17's or 19's???

[spell_check]

I can only give the following on your questions:

This was Round 5 1970, on May the 9th

Port 3.1 8.7 11.14 21.19 (145)
West 2.7 4.9 8.9 9.11 (65)
Alberton, 11871

West were 2-2 heading into this match, having lost to Glenelg by 12 points in Round 4.

Lindsay Head I know made a rapid rise in 1952 from juniors to seniors.