- Craig Bolton
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Craig Bolton Personal information Full name Craig Bolton Date of birth 31 May 1980 Original team NSW/ACT Rams (TAC Cup) Draft #33, 1998 National Draft, Brisbane Lions
#3, 2003 Pre-Season Draft, SydneyHeight/Weight 190cm / 87kg Position(s) Defender Playing career1 Years Club Games (Goals) 2000–2002
2003–2010
TotalBrisbane Lions
Sydney29 (10)
170 (15)
199 (25)Representative team honours Years Team Games (Goals) 2008 Dream Team 1 (0) International team honours 2004 Australia 2 1 Playing statistics to end of 2011 season .Career highlights Craig Bolton (born 31 May 1980) is an Australian rules footballer who has played with the Brisbane Lions and the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). He often plays at full back or on the half back flank. He is unrelated to former Swans teammate Jude Bolton.
Contents
Playing career
Having played for the Eastlake Football Club in Canberra, and the NSW/ACT Under 18s team, Bolton was picked by Brisbane in the 3rd round of the 1998 AFL Draft. He was on the Lions' list from 1999 until 2002, making his debut against Carlton in Round 1 of the 2000 season. Being unable to gain a regular place in the very strong Brisbane team of the time forced Bolton to depart the club at the end of the 2002 season, managing only 29 games since his debut.
Bolton was selected by Sydney in the 2003 pre-season draft and was immediately given a starting role in the team. Quickly cementing his place in the side's backline, Bolton missed only one game in his first seven years with the Swans. His first three years with Sydney mirrored his time at Brisbane, with the Swans' making the preliminary finals in 2003, semi-finals in 2004 and the grand final in 2005. As opposed to his emergency listing for the 2001 and 2002 Grand Finals for the Lions, Bolton was now a regular member of the team for Sydney, and as such played a part in the Grand Final victory over West Coast, earning his first premiership medal, as well as finishing third in the club's Best and Fairest Award.
Gradually establishing himself as one of the AFL's standout defenders, Bolton was awarded a place in the 2006 All-Australian team on the half-back flank position, and again in the 2009 team at his preferred position of centre-half back. He also finished third in the Swans' 2007 Best and Fairest Award.
At the beginning of the 2008 season, Bolton was named Swans' co-captain, alongside Brett Kirk and Leo Barry. Later that year Bolton represented the Dream Team Australian rules football team in the Hall of Fame exhibition match at the MCG.
The latter half of his season in 2008 was somewhat restricted by a groin injury. After the Swans exited the finals, he travelled to Germany with teammate Adam Goodes for surgery.
In 2010, Bolton sustained a bad achilles injury against West Coast at the SCG in Round 4, ruling him out for the year.
On the 24th of March, 2011, Bolton announced his immediate retierment after an ankle injury which would rule him out of the upcoming 2011 AFL season.
Career achievements
- International Rules Australian representative 2004
- Premiership player 2005
- 3rd best and fairest 2005, 2007
- 2006 All Australian
- 2008–Present Co-Captain
- 2009 All Australian
Season Statistics
Year Team Number Games Kicks Handballs Total Disposals Marks Tackles Goals Behinds Goal Accuracy % Brownlow Medal Votes 2000 Brisbane 26 15 120 41 161 54 6 7 4 63% 0 2001 Brisbane 26 8 48 33 81 23 8 3 2 60% 0 2002 Brisbane 26 6 24 17 41 9 7 0 1 0% 0 2003 Sydney 6 24 177 108 285 93 35 0 0 N/A 0 2004 Sydney 6 24 164 106 270 81 57 6 0 100% 0 2005 Sydney 6 26 211 137 348 112 62 1 3 25% 1 2006 Sydney 6 24 245 104 349 144 59 3 4 43% 0 2007 Sydney 6 23 244 110 354 138 40 3 2 60% 1 2008 Sydney 6 24 249 153 402 148 45 2 1 67 5 Totals 174 1482 809 2291 802 319 25 17 59% 7 References
External links
- Sydney Swans site player profile
- "Omens all good as ex-Lion at last gets a start". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2005-09-21. http://www.smh.com.au/news/afl/omens-all-good-for-bolton/2005/09/20/1126982062216.html.
Sydney Swans 2005 AFL Premiers Sydney Swans 8.10 (58) defeated West Coast Eagles 7.12 (54), at the Melbourne Cricket Ground Captain: 1. Hall | 2. Davis | 4. Mathews | 5. O'Keefe | 6. C. Bolton | 10. Williams | 12. Fosdike | 13. Schneider | 16. Jolly | 17. Kennelly | 19. O'Loughlin | 20. Ablett | 21. Barry | 24. J. Bolton | 26. Dempster | 27. Ball | 28. Crouch | 30. Roberts-Thomson | 31. Kirk | 32. Buchanan | 37. Goodes | 42. BevanCoach: Roos Captains of the South Melbourne Football Club/Sydney Swans 1897–1898: Fraser • 1899: Adamson • 1900: Windley • 1901: Trim • 1902: Windley • 1903: Fogarty • 1904–1905: McGee • 1906: Howson • 1907–1908: Dolphin • 1909: Ricketts • 1910–1911: Thomas • 1912: Ricketts • 1913: H. Kelly • 1914–1915; 1917:* Belcher • 1918–1919: Caldwell • 1920: Belcher • 1921: Willis • 1922: Tandy • 1923–1925: P. Scanlan • 1926–1927: Pannam • 1928: J. Scanlan • 1929: Stanbridge • 1930–1931: J. Scanlan • 1932: Leonard • 1933–1936: Bisset • 1937: Nash • 1938–1945: Matthews • 1946–1948: Graham • 1949: Lucas • 1950–1952: Lane • 1953–1954: Clegg • 1955: Gunn • 1956: Gillett • 1957–1960: Clegg • 1961–1971: Skilton • 1972: Rantall • 1973–1976: Bedford • 1977–1979: Quade • 1980–1983: Round • 1984: Round/Browning • 1985: Browning • 1986–1992: Carroll • 1993–2002: P. Kelly • 2003–2005: Maxfield • 2006–2007: Hall/Kirk/Barry • 2008: Hall/Barry/Bolton • 2009–2010: Bolton/Goodes/Kirk • 2011: Goodes/McVeigh2006 All-Australian team Defenders
Nathan Bassett (Adelaide) • Darren Glass (West Coast) • Lindsay Gilbee (Western Bulldogs)
Craig Bolton (Sydney) • Joel Bowden (Richmond) • Andrew McLeod (Adelaide)Forwards
Alan Didak (Collingwood) • Barry Hall (Sydney) • Ryan O'Keefe (Sydney)
Brad Johnson (Western Bulldogs) • Brendan Fevola (Carlton) • Nick Riewoldt (St Kilda)Interchange
Shaun Burgoyne (Port Adelaide) • Dean Cox (West Coast) • James McDonald (Melbourne) • Matthew Pavlich (Fremantle)2009 All-Australian team Defenders
Corey Enright (Geelong) • Matthew Scarlett (Geelong) • Brian Lake (Western Bulldogs)
Simon Goodwin (Adelaide) • Craig Bolton (Sydney) • Nick Maxwell (Collingwood)Forwards
Paul Chapman (Geelong) • Nick Riewoldt (St Kilda) (captain) • Dane Swan (Collingwood)
Leon Davis (Collingwood) • Brendan Fevola (Carlton) • Jonathan Brown (Brisbane)Followers
Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle) • Chris Judd (Carlton) (vice-captain) • Gary Ablett (Geelong)Interchange
Matthew Boyd (Western Bulldogs) • Nick Dal Santo (St Kilda) • Brendon Goddard (St Kilda) • Adam Goodes (Sydney)Dream Team – 2008 Hall of Fame Tribute Match Australian squad – Ball | C. Bolton | J. Bolton | Bowden | Braun | Brown | Bruce | Corey | Crouch | Dal Santo | Didak | Embley | Green | Haddrill | Hird | Hudghton | Johnson | Jones | Kirk | McPhee | McVeigh | Michael | Rawlings | Riewoldt | Solomon | Coach: Lyon 1998 AFL Draft First round 1. Des Headland • 2. Justin Longmuir • 3. Nic Fosdike • 4. Ryan Fitzgerald • 5. Michael Stevens • 6. Murray Vance • 7. Josh Carr • 8. Jude Bolton • 9. Mark McVeigh • 10. Brandon Hill • 11. Lenny Hayes • 12. Adam Ramanauskas • 13. Chris Lamb • 14. Luke Penny • 15. Brady Rawlings • 16. Brett BurtonSecond round 17. Peter Street • 18. Daniel Schell • 19. Nick Davis • 20. Michael Collica • 21. David Clarke • 22. James Begley • 23. Chris Ladhams • 24. David Wojcinski • 25. Aaron Henneman • 26. Michael O'Brien • 27. Steven Baker • 28. Heath James • 29. Tyson Stenglein • 30. Nicky Winmar • 31. Gary Dhurrkay • 32. David GallagherThird round 33. Craig Bolton • 34. Bryan Beinke • 35. Brad Oborne • 36. Danny Jacobs • 37. Adam Morgan • 38. Brendan Fevola • 39. Toby Thurstans • 40. James White • 41. Craig Jacotine • 43. Damien Ryan • 44. Heath Scotland • 45. Aaron Shattock • 46. Jay Solomon • 47. Nicolas Lowther • 48. Lucas HerbertFourth round 49. Garth Taylor • 50. Damien Adkins • 51. David Loats • 52. Ryan O'Connor • 53. Troy Schwarze • 54. Derek Murray • 55. Marc Dragicevic • 56. Ilija Grgic • 57. Andrew Embley • 58. Ian Prendergast • 59. Dwayne Simpson • 60. Luke Speers • 61. Ricky Symes • 62. Tim van der Klooster • 63. Clint KireyFifth round 64. Andrew Shipp • 65. Lee Walker • 66. Steven Rode • 67. Brett Backwell • 68. Matthew Greig • 69. Scott Bennett • 70. Kurt Heazlewood • 71. Simon Feast • 72. Luke Taylor • 73. Christin Macri • 74. Adam Lange • 75. Ken McGregorSixth round 76. Rupert Betheras • 77. Adrian Cox • 79. Ray Hall • 80. Brodie Atkinson • 81. Jacob Anstey • 85. Shannon MotlopSeventh round Categories:- 1980 births
- Living people
- Brisbane Lions players
- Sydney Swans players
- All-Australians
- Australian rules footballers from the Australian Capital Territory
- NSW/ACT Rams players
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