Robert Shirley (footballer)

Infobox afl player


firstname = Robert
lastname = Shirley


birthdate = Birth date and age|1980|6|9|df=y
birthplace =
originalteam = Woodville-West Torrens (SANFL)
heightweight = 185cm / 85kg
dead = alive
deathdate =
deathplace =
debutdate = Round 3, 25 March 2000
debutteam = Adelaide
debutopponent = Geelong
debutstadium = AAMI Stadium
playingteams = Adelaide (2000-Present)

140 games, 27 goals
coach = notcoach
coachingteams =
statsend = 2008
careerhighlights =

*Adelaide Coach's Award 2005, 2007
*2007 AFL Army Award Round 5 Winner
*2 Career Brownlow Medal votes

Robert Shirley (born 9 June 1980) is an Australian Rules footballer for the Adelaide Crows. He plays primarily as a tagger but is also adept as a contested possession winning midfielder.

AFL career

Originally drafted from Woodville-West Torrens with pick 67 in the 1999 AFL Draft, Shirley played 21 games in his first three seasons at the highest level before being delisted at the end of the 2002 season. Despite rumoured interest from Carlton, Shirley was immediately redrafted by the Crows with pick 53 in the 2002 AFL Draft and placed on the club's rookie list.

Recalled to the side in Round 12, 2003 after prime onballer Simon Goodwin broke his wrist the week before, Shirley played every game for the remainder of the season including a noteworthy shutdown of future Brownlow Medallist Chris Judd in the Crows' Elimination Final victory over the West Coast Eagles in the first week of September. [Place, M. 'Unsung hero Shirley shuts down Judd', "Sunday Times" (Perth), 7 September 2003] [Rucci, M. 'Adelaide's tenacious tagger proves himself with daunting duel: Comeback kid called Shirley', "The Advertiser", 11 September 2003] "It's funny how the game turns around pretty quickly. A few months ago I wasn't really close to getting a game. In the second half of the season I've been lucky enough to stay in the side. It's week-by-week for me and I don't take it any further than that" [Rucci, 'Comeback kid called Shirley', 11 September 2003] , he said.

Shirley was reminded of the fickleness of form when he was dropped after the Crows' abysmal first-up loss to the Kangaroos in Round 1, 2004. [Stevens, M. 'Knives Drawn', "Herald-Sun", 2 April 2004] However since his recall to the side in Round 9, 2004 Shirley has been dropped only once, playing 82 of a possible 87 games, the remaining 4 games missed through injury.

Season 2005 proved a watershed year for Shirley as he became the club's primary tagger following the decision by Tyson Stenglein to return home to Perth at the end of 2004. Beginning with yet another personal victory over Judd in Round 1 [Earle, R. 'Shirley Effort To No Avail', "The Advertiser", 28 March 2005] Shirley went from strength to strength, playing every game bar one in the team's unexpected rise to the Minor Premiership and subsequent exit at the Preliminary Final stage. His good form was acknowledged with the Coaches' Award at the club's Club Champion Award ceremony. [Anonymous, [http://www.theage.com.au/cgi-bin/common/popupPrintArticle.pl?path=/realfooty/articles/2005/10/02/1128191608226.html 'The Honours List'] , "The Age", 3 October 2005]

In 2006 Shirley again proved a vital contributor, not just filling the role of tagger but also winning plenty of ball himself, averaging 16 disposals per game, finishing third in the club's tackle count with 85 and leading the club in Hard Ball Gets with 75 for the year. [Lovett, M. (ed.) "AFL Record Guide To Season 2007", AFL Publishing, Melbourne, 2006, p. 38. ISBN 978 0 9758362 7 9]

In 2007 Shirley added another dimension to his game, registering eight 20-plus disposal games including a career high 30 touches against the Brisbane Lions in Round 21 [ [http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/games/2007/ADBL20070825.html 'Adelaide vs. Brisbane Lions, Round 21 2007'] ] , while still remaining one of the club's most prolific tacklers. A fact borne out by another personal best of 10 tackles in Adelaide's Elimination Final loss to Hawthorn. [ [http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/games/2007/ADHW20070908.html 'Hawthorn vs. Adelaide, Elimination Final 2007'] ] and his third-placed finish in the club's tackle count. At the conclusion of Round 5 Shirley won the AFL Army Award for the most courageous act of that week's matches, for his last ditch spoil going back with the flight of the ball deep into the last quarter of the Crows' 1-point loss to Fremantle. [ [http://www.afl.com.au/Season2007/News/NewsArticle/tabid/208/Default.aspx?newsId=42892 'Shirley's Courage Rewarded'] , Official Website of the AFL, 9 May 2007, Accessed 20 June 2007] [ [http://www.afl.com.au/armydefence/home.aspx Link to video stream of Shirley's spoil] ]

At season's end Shirley's hard work was acknowledged with his second AFC Coach's Award. [Burtenshaw, D. (ed.), "Adelaide Football Club 2007 Year Book", Custom Integrated Print Services, Brompton, 2007, p. 16]

References

;Notes

External links

* [http://www.afc.com.au/TheClub/Players/PlayerProfile/tabid/4506/playerId/13972/teamId/40/typeId/2/Default.aspx Robert Shirley Profile]
* [http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/players/R/Robert_Shirley.html Robert Shirley Career Statistics]