Jordan Bannister

Jordan Scott Bannister (born 31 October 1982) is a former Australian rules football player and umpired, who played for Carlton and Essendon and umpired in the Australian Football League.

Bannister made his debut for the Essendon Football Club in Round 12, 2001 against Adelaide. He was delisted by Essendon at the end of the 2003 season, and decided to re-nominate for the national draft, where he was selected by the Carlton Football Club with its sixth round selection (#69 overall). He made his debut there in Round 1, 2004 against Fremantle. He was noted as a hard-running defender, often taking tagging roles on mobile forwards, and he polled two Brownlow Medal votes against Collingwood in a shut down role against Nathan Buckley. He struggled for regular selection in 2005, finally breaking through for a regular berth in mid-2006, playing ten out of eleven games before being suspended by the AFL Tribunal.

Bannister began the 2007 season playing with Carlton's VFL-affiliate, the Northern Bullants, and it appeared that he would struggle for selection under Carlton's youth policy. He was brought back to the seniors against the hard-running Western Bulldogs, and made an immediate impact with consecutive shut-downs of Brad Johnson and Chad Cornes, ensuring his position in the team for the rest of the year. He played the first five games of 2008, but was struck down by injury and was unable to regain his position in the team for the rest of the year. In 2009, Bannister was unable to break into the Carlton senior team on a regular basis, playing only two games for the year. He was a member of the Bullants' losing grand final team in 2009. Bannister was delisted from the Carlton Football Club at the end of the 2009 season.