Fabian Francis

Fabian Francis, (born 24 October 1973) is a former Australian rules football and rugby league footballer, most notable for his brief professional career with the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League.

Born in Darwin, Francis grew up playing both rugby league and Australian rules football.

Francis played in the Litchfield Rugby League Club's premiership team in 1992. He chose to focus on Australian rules football and began playing Australian rules football for the Southern Districts club in the Northern Territory Football League.

Francis moved to Adelaide in 1992 to play for Port Adelaide in the South Australian National Football League. Although he did not play a senior game for Port, Francis sufficiently impressed Australian Football League (AFL) club Melbourne to draft him.

Francis made his AFL debut with Melbourne in 1993.

Francis did not enjoy living in Melbourne and after one season returned to Darwin to play rugby league.

Brisbane coach Robert Walls convinced Francis to return to Australian rules with the Brisbane Bears and Francis played for Brisbane from 1994-95. He spent the off-season playing rugby league in Darwin where he was part of the Northern Territory side in the 1995 Ansett Challenge Cup that defeated the Mascot Jets and Victoria. He returned to Port Adelaide for the 1996 season, where he played in Port's premiership winning 1996 SANFL Grand Final side and was runner-up in the Magarey Medal. He was then named as an inaugural member of Port Adelaide's AFL team in 1997.