Brett Backwell

Brett William Backwell is a former Australian rules football player who achieved some international notoriety in 2005 when he had a finger amputated to enable him to continue his chosen sport. Backwell played for Carlton in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 1999 to 2001, and won the J. J. Liston Trophy in 2001 and the Magarey Medal in 2006.

Backwell played his junior football in Queensland. He was drafted to the elite AFL competition at number 67 selection in the 1998 AFL Draft, turning down offers from American universities to play American college football. His father Owen was a winner of the QAFL's Grogan Medal in 1971 and 1975.

Backwell debuted in the opening Round of the 1999 season. Played primarily as a small forward, he showed some opportunist play and in his 18 games managed a creditable 12 goals. He was nominated for the AFL Rising Star award.

He spent much of 2001 playing in Carlton's stand-alone reserves team in the VFL, where he won the J. J. Liston Trophy for best and fairest [1]. He was delisted at the end of the 2001 season.

Lured to South Australia by West Adelaide in an effort to rekindle his AFL career, Backwell quickly shone at this lower level of competition, finishing 4th in the Magarey Medal.

In 2003 Backwell moved to Glenelg, joining his former team mate from Carlton, Heath Culpitt. Selection in SANFL State teams followed 2003, 2005–2006, included the 2003 win over Western Australia, earning him the Fos Williams Medal for a best-on-ground performance [2].