Brendon Lade | |||
---|---|---|---|
Photographed in May 2007
|
|||
Personal information | |||
Full name | Brendon Lade | ||
Date of birth | 10 July 1976 | ||
Place of birth | Kangaroo Island, Australia | ||
Original team(s) | South Adelaide (SANFL) | ||
Height | 199 cm (6 ft 6 in) | ||
Weight | 102 kg (225 lb) | ||
Position(s) | Ruckman | ||
Playing career1 | |||
Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
1997 – 2009 | Port Adelaide | 234 (182) | |
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2009.
|
|||
Career highlights | |||
|
|||
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com |
Brendon Lade (born 10 July 1976) is an assistant coach and former Australian rules footballer with the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Lade grew up playing football for Western Districts Football Club on Kangaroo Island, Australia, (his birthplace) where his father was coaching the A grade side. At the age of 8 Lade moved to the Wisanger Football Club where he played the remainder of his football until he turned 16. Able to play as both a relieving ruckman and forward, Lade played for South Australian National Football League (SANFL) club South Adelaide before his recruitment by Port Adelaide in the lead up to their inaugural season in the AFL in 1997. Lade made his senior AFL debut for Port Adelaide in Round 1, 1997, which was also Port Adelaide's debut AFL match.
Lade missed just one game in his first three years before he suffered a serious leg injury in Round 2 of 2000 which sidelined him for the rest of the season and also missed the entire 2001 AFL season after re-injuring it. But he recovered from the injuries to become one of the best ruckmen in the league.
In 2004 Lade had a great year, leading the hitouts in the absence of injured Port Adelaide ruckman Matthew Primus, finishing second in the goalkicking to Warren Tredrea, and capping it off with a premiership medal when Port Adelaide won its first AFL premiership, defeating the Brisbane Lions. In 2006 Lade won All-Australian selection and also took out the John Cahill Medal, Port Adelaide's Best and Fairest. In 2007 Lade continued his career best form winning another All-Australia selection, earning him a rare 2 year contract with the Power for a 31-year-old and ensuring he would be with the Power until the end of the 2009 AFL season.