Eddie Betts

Infobox afl player | firstname = Eddie
lastname = Betts




birthdate = birth date and age|1986|11|26|df=y
birthplace =
originalteam = Templestowe / Calder U18
heightweight = 173cm / 75kg
dead = alive
deathdate =
deathplace =
debutdate = Round 1, 26 March 2005
debutteam = Carlton
debutopponent = Kangaroos
debutstadium = Docklands (Now Telstra Dome)
playingteams = Carlton (2005-) 75 games, 85 goals
coach = notcoach
coachingteams =
statsend = 2008
careerhighlights =
*Carlton Best First-Year Player 2005
*AFL Goal of the Year 2006

Eddie Betts (born Edward Roberts on 26 November 1986) is an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.

Betts grew up in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. In his early years Eddie was a very talented soccer player and at the age of 13 he was invited to join an Adelaide City pathway program. However when his grandmother became very ill he and his mother had to return to Kalgoorlie. It was his father who eventually got him into footy after he returned from his two year jail stint. A little after this he moved to Melbourne to explore his footballing talent in a TAFE program for young indigenous players run by Phil Krakouer.

At the age of 16 he played in the Under 18 National Championships where he impressed so much he made All-Australian Under 18's as an under-age player. After such a promising start Eddie had returned home where he made some bad decisions and eventually became injured. At one stage he thought of even giving the game away after he didn't get drafted at all. He was then recruited as the number 3 draft pick in the 2005 Pre-Season Draft from Templestowe. He made his AFL debut for the Carlton Football Club in Round 1, 2005 against North Melbourne.

Betts made himself known as a lively small forward during the 2005 Pre-Season. He solidified his position in the team by becoming a quality goal-sneak and chaser for the club. He was an immediate and lasting crowd favourite, with shouts of "Eddie!" always audible whenever he gets the football.

In 2006, Betts kicked a goal from the boundary line in Round 21 against Collingwood in a goal that became the AFL Goal of the Year. In an amazing effort, Betts smothered Tarkyn Lockyer's attempted clearing kick, ran to gather it just before it went out of bounds, and steadied himself to score with a banana from an impossible angle.

In 2007, Betts continued primarily as a small forward, but began to spend some rotations as a midfielder, particularly late in the season after the appointment of Brett Ratten as Carlton coach. In Round 22 2007, the last round of the season, Betts kicked 5 goals and racked up 26 possessions, career highs in both statistics.

In Round 2 of the 2008 season against St. Kilda, Betts kicked a magnificent left foot banana goal late in the last quarter to receive a goal of the year nomination. It was similar to his goal of the year in 2006 but this time it was a left footer and it was nicely executed. Billy Brownless called it "goal of the year already"

Betts currently resides in Dallas, Victoria.

External links

*Carlplayer|ref=352437
*AflRleague|ref=E/Eddie_Betts.html
* [http://www.blueseum.org/cfc/tiki-index.php?page=Eddie+Betts Eddie Betts Profile in Blueseum]