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Harry Taylor (Australian rules footballer)

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Harry Taylor (born 12 June 1986) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).[1][2]

Harry Taylor
Taylor playing for Geelong in April 2019
Personal information
Full name Harry Taylor
Date of birth (1986-06-12) 12 June 1986 (age 38)
Original team(s) East Fremantle (WAFL)
Draft No. 17, 2007 national draft
Height 195 cm (6 ft 5 in)
Weight 94 kg (207 lb)
Position(s) Defender / Forward
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2008–2020 Geelong 280 (75)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2020.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Early life

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Taylor attended Geraldton Grammar School in Geraldton where he was school captain in 2003 before moving to Perth in 2004 to pursue a possible career in the AFL. In 2001 he was the recipient of the Pierre de Coubertin Award and in 2003 he was one of eight Australian students selected to attend the 4th International Youth Forum in Italy.[3] To help prepare himself for life as a footballer, Taylor worked for a year as a bricklayer to try to gain muscle which would ultimately help him as an AFL footballer.[4] He grew up supporting Adelaide, idolising the high flying Tony Modra.

He was drafted as a mature-age player who spent three seasons and 49 games playing for East Fremantle in the West Australian Football League (WAFL). Taylor finished third in the East Fremantle Sharks best and fairest in 2007. Before being drafted, Taylor was studying physiotherapy at university; he had never left his home state of Western Australia.[5]

AFL career

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Harry Taylor in 2009

Taylor was considered a surprise selection at pick 17 in the 2007 draft because of his age. Taylor made his debut for the Cats in the first round of the 2008 NAB Cup against Melbourne in a highly impressive display in defence. He could play at either end of the ground as a key-position player, but he made his mark at centre half-back, although he showed his versatility by kicking three goals in his debut season.

Taylor's football superstition was to wear zinc cream during every game regardless of the weather; however, in his first game at Telstra Dome he did not wear it in fear of attracting too much attention.[4] He was known to take notes on each opponent he played on in a bid to help improve his game.[4]

In the heritage round clash against Melbourne in 2008, Taylor was forced midway through the third quarter to wear a guernsey with the number 85 on it as opposed to his usual number 7 guernsey.[6] After changing his guernsey twice due to the blood rule, there were no spare number 7 guernseys left, and so he could not return to the field until he was wearing a clean guernsey. It is still unclear why there was a spare number 85 guernsey, although it was said to be a 'special edition'.[7][6] It's believed to be the highest number ever worn in a VFL/AFL game.[6]

Taylor made his finals debut in the First Qualifying Final against St Kilda, running out 58-point winners, with Taylor named among his side's best players. He credited his outstanding first season to the fact that he had an established backline around him and talented teammates who he could learn from.[8] Former Geelong coach Mark Thompson showed great faith in Taylor, prophetically stating that he would be with the Geelong Football Club for a very long time.[9] Taylor's impressive debut season was recognised when he was awarded Geelong's Best First-Year Player award.[10][11]

Harry Taylor played a superb role in the 2009 grand final, holding Nick Riewoldt to only a single goal. Although Taylor often had a third man up in contested situations, he still played an excellent match on one of the AFL's best players. Riewoldt took a fine one-on-one mark and diving mark in front of Taylor in the third term, but the Cat hit back with a stunning smother in the third term just as Riewoldt was snapping at goal from the pocket. Taylor also kept the ball alive in the final term on the boundary and took the match-saving mark deep in defence when Darren Milburn kicked out. It was considered superb game from Taylor, with Tom Harley and Matthew Scarlett heaping praises upon the young defender. Taylor finished with an equal record 15 spoils and played three quarters with a broken hand.

Taylor followed up his impeccable 2009 season with All-Australian selection for 2010.

 
2011 premiership victory parade.

Harry Taylor played another key role in Geelong's 2011 premiership-winning side against Collingwood. Taylor started the match on Travis Cloke of Collingwood and held him well early; however, Cloke soon had a brief "purple patch" of form and booted 3 brilliant goals from outside 50 metres on his natural left boot. The Geelong coaching box decided to try Tom Lonergan on Cloke, and Cloke didn't manage to kick a goal after that move. However, Taylor still had a marvellous game, taking four critical marks in defence to stimulate some trademark Geelong rebounds. Whilst gathering 10 disposals on the day, he was part of the elite Geelong defence who played a pivotal role in cutting off Collingwood's scoring opportunities and setting up play through the Geelong midfield.

This was Taylor's second premiership medallion with Geelong. It came after a stellar year of defensive work on several of the competition's key forwards. It was clear that Geelong's defensive players were a close-knit unit with a brief sub-group "defenders" photograph taken on the field of the MCG with the 2011 Premiership Cup.

In 2012, Taylor earned seven Brownlow Medal votes, a personal best; he would follow this up in 2013 with a second All-Australian selection and a career-best 10 Brownlow Medal votes. Additionally, he would, for the first and only time in his career, breach the 400-disposal mark for the year and get a career-best 91 rebounds, placing him sixth in the league for the 2013 AFL season.[12]

In 2015, Taylor would earn a Jim Stynes Medal for being judged best on ground in the 2015 International Rules game against Ireland.

At 34 years old, Harry Taylor retired from the AFL after Geelong's loss to Richmond in the 2020 AFL Grand Final alongside fellow Geelong veteran Gary Ablett Jr.

On 1 July 2021, Taylor announced that he would come out of retirement to play for East Fremantle in the WAFL, returning to the club that he played with before being drafted by Geelong. Taylor had previously moved back to Western Australia and was leading the East Fremantle academy program following his AFL retirement, while playing local football for Northampton in the Great Northern Football League.[13]

On 18 October 2021, it was announced that Taylor took up a high-performance role working under head of football Simon Lloyd within the Cats’ football operations team.[14]

Personal life

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Before being drafted, Taylor had never been to Geelong and could not even locate it on a map.[5] He is fascinated with World War II, which led him to start drinking cognac and to start watching the WWII-inspired TV series Band of Brothers, which he sometimes watches before a game to draw inspiration from.[15] Taylor dislikes metropolitan life, as there are "too many people up there" for his liking.[16][17] Taylor's high-school sweetheart, Michelle Giudice, gave birth to a boy in 2010.[18]

As of 2020, Taylor was studying a Bachelor of Applied Management course.[19]

Statistics

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[20]
Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2008 Geelong 7 21 3 0 157 170 327 96 28 0.1 0.0 7.5 8.1 15.6 4.6 1.3 0
2009 Geelong 7 22 3 2 152 235 387 121 28 0.1 0.1 6.9 10.7 17.6 5.5 1.3 1
2010 Geelong 7 23 2 3 191 197 388 159 35 0.1 0.1 8.3 8.6 16.9 6.9 1.5 3
2011 Geelong 7 24 0 2 208 148 356 144 46 0.0 0.1 8.7 6.2 14.8 6.0 1.9 0
2012 Geelong 7 22 15 5 205 152 357 135 48 0.7 0.2 9.3 6.9 16.2 6.1 2.2 7
2013 Geelong 7 24 15 9 266 135 401 176 36 0.6 0.4 11.1 5.6 16.7 7.3 1.5 10
2014 Geelong 7 23 2 3 213 139 352 149 47 0.1 0.1 9.3 6.0 15.3 6.5 2.0 7
2015 Geelong 7 21 1 3 207 161 368 159 39 0.0 0.1 9.9 7.7 17.6 6.6 1.9 6
2016 Geelong 7 24 4 1 203 148 351 152 41 0.2 0.0 8.5 6.2 14.6 6.3 1.7 2
2017 Geelong 7 25 22 15 182 169 351 133 59 0.9 0.6 7.3 6.8 14.0 5.3 2.4 4
2018 Geelong 7 8 4 4 58 39 97 30 12 0.5 0.5 7.3 4.9 12.1 3.8 1.5 0
2019 Geelong 7 24 3 2 186 145 331 114 40 0.1 0.1 7.8 6.0 13.8 4.8 1.7 0
2020[a] Geelong 7 19 1 0 113 73 186 61 27 0.1 0.0 5.9 3.8 9.8 3.2 1.4 0
Career 280 75 49 2341 1911 4252 1629 486 0.3 0.2 8.4 6.8 15.2 5.8 1.7 40

Notes

  1. ^ The 2020 season was played with 17 home-and-away matches per team (down from 22) and 16-minute quarters with time on (down from 20-minute quarters with time on) due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Honours and achievements

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Team

Individual

References

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  1. ^ "Country Week debut has special significance for this two-time AFL premiership player". ABC News. 6 July 2023. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  2. ^ "ASC Talent Profiles:Harry Taylor". australiansportscamps.com.au. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  3. ^ "Harry Taylor and the Pierre de Coubertin Youth Forum". Archived from the original on 26 February 2012.
  4. ^ a b c Gullan, Scott (12 April 2008). "Learning curve for wise Harry Taylor". Herald Sun. Australia. Retrieved 3 October 2008.
  5. ^ a b Auciello, Michael (26 November 2008). "Harry Taylor justifies pre-draft hype". Geelong Advertiser. Retrieved 3 October 2008.
  6. ^ a b c "Higher than 58: A Brownlow medalist". www.footyalmanac.com.au. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  7. ^ "Weird and wonderful numbers". heraldsun. 6 June 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  8. ^ Witham, Jennifer (13 April 2008). "Taylor made for Cats' back six". gfc.com.au. Retrieved 3 October 2008.[permanent dead link‍]
  9. ^ Green, Bradley (27 August 2008). "Cats coach throws support behind Taylor". Geelong Advertiser. Retrieved 3 October 2008.
  10. ^ "Corey wins second best and fairest". AFL BigPond Network. 2 October 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2008.[permanent dead link‍]
  11. ^ Williams, Rebecca (3 October 2008). "Joel Corey beats Gary Ablett to win Cats' B & F". Herald Sun. Australia. Retrieved 3 October 2008.
  12. ^ "AFL Tables - 2013 Team Stats & Season Highs". afltables.com. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  13. ^ "Geelong great announces football comeback via WAFL". foxsports.com.au. July 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  14. ^ "Geelong great Harry Taylor returns to take on key role as changes continue after finals flop". Fox Sports. 17 October 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  15. ^ Bieske, Sarah (1 April 2008). "Cat Harry Taylor likes his new Band of Brothers". Geelong Advertiser. Retrieved 3 October 2008.
  16. ^ Broad, Ben (14 May 2008). "'G whiz, this is big". gfc.com.au. Retrieved 3 October 2008.[permanent dead link‍]
  17. ^ Broad, Ben (28 November 2007). "Cats just wild about Harry". AFL BigPond Network. Archived from the original on 24 May 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2008.
  18. ^ Reynolds, Ryan (3 June 2010). "Geelong Cats star Harry Taylor becomes a father". Geelong Advertiser. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
  19. ^ Guthrie, Ben (22 September 2020). "IT'S ALL ACADEMIC FOR TAYLOR, GOLDSTEIN AND BIRCH". AFL Players Association. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  20. ^ "AFL Tables - Harry Taylor - Stats - Statistics". afltables.com.
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