Travis Varcoe

Travis Varcoe

Varcoe in 2011
Personal information
Full name Travis Varcoe
Date of birth (1988-04-10) 10 April 1988
Place of birth South Australia
Original team(s) Smithfield (SAAFL)
Central District (SANFL)
Draft 15th overall, 2005
Geelong
Height / weight 180cm / 80 kg
Position(s) Forward pocket
Club information
Current club Collingwood
Number 18
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2006–2014
2015–
Total		 Geelong
Collingwood		 138 (130)
039 0(16)
177 (146)
Representative team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
2009 Indigenous All-Stars 1
International team honours
2010 Australia 2
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2016.
2 State and international statistics correct as of 2010.
Career highlights

Travis Varcoe (born 10 April 1988) is an Australian rules footballer for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Career

Varcoe debuted in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) for Central District Football Club in 2005 at the age of 17. A foot injury early in the season held him back from performing in front of prospective recruiters, before Geelong selected him at the end of the first round with the 15th overall pick in the 2005 National Draft.

Geelong

Varcoe playing for Geelong in 2008.

Varcoe was given the honour of wearing Geelong's number five guernsey, previously worn by club legends Gary Ablett and Polly Farmer. Varcoe plays as a forward pocket but can also play as a midfielder if required, drawing comparisons to Melbourne speedster Aaron Davey, with his consistent forward line pressure and high-speed chase downs on the field. Varcoe is often referred to as "The Magician" with his quick, at times invisible handballs and tricky skills.

Varcoe played a key utility role for Geelong in 2009, which included a valuable contribution in the Grand Final as Geelong defeated St Kilda Football Club. Varcoe played a critical role in delivering a handball to Paul Chapman late in the game which resulted in a brilliant Chapman goal giving Geelong a six-point lead. Shortly after, team mate Max Rooke scored a goal after the final siren to give Geelong a 12-point win.

Going in to the 2010 AFL season, Varcoe put in the most promising preseason of his career, only to succumb to a thumb injury to put him out for the first few weeks of the season.[1] However, on his return to the senior side, Varcoe played well enough to finish ninth in Geelong's 2010 Best and Fairest count.[2]

Varcoe kicked the first goal of the 2011 AFL Grand Final inside the first 10 seconds of the match. He also kicked the second goal of the match. However his goal at the eight-minute mark in the 4th quarter was possibly goal of the season. Before kicking the goal Varcoe took a mark in Geelong's backline whilst he was almost simultaneously bumped forcing the ball free, and the mark going unpaid. However Varcoe ran forward with the play gathering possessions and ultimately converted a goal from inside 50 moments later. He picked up his 2nd Premiership Medallion in 2011. As of Round 11, 2015, Varcoe had played 149 games and of those 149 games had won 122 of those games. He was also the quickest player to reach 100 wins, playing in his 100th win in his 113th game.

Collingwood

Varcoe training with Collingwood in 2014.

On 15 October 2014, Varcoe was traded to the Collingwood Football Club in a three-way trade between Collingwood, Geelong and Melbourne which also saw Mitch Clark and Heritier Lumumba find new clubs.[3] Despite being considered past his best during his last year at Geelong, since moving to Collingwood Varcoe has enjoyed a renaissance of form, playing arguably the best football of his career. Varcoe was considered one of the best recruits of the 2015 AFL season.[4]

Personal life

In August 2007, Varcoe caused controversy after concerns were raised about the racial and sexual content featured on his MySpace page.[5] The site promoted the theme of black superiority and contained several images of topless women in suggestive poses.[5] The Geelong Football Club acted swiftly, removing the content immediately after it came to its attention.[5]

Statistics

Statistics are correct to the end of the 2016 season[6]
Legend
 G  Goals  B  Behinds  K  Kicks  H  Handballs  D  Disposals  M  Marks  T  Tackles
Season Team # Games G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
Totals Averages (per game)
2006 Geelong 5 0 — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
2007 Geelong 5 18 15 7 72 72 144 35 57 0.8 0.4 4.0 4.0 8.0 1.9 3.2
2008 Geelong 5 16 14 7 98 87 185 45 72 0.9 0.4 6.1 5.4 11.6 2.8 4.5
2009 Geelong 5 22 22 14 140 173 313 65 75 1.0 0.6 6.4 7.9 14.2 3.0 3.4
2010 Geelong 5 20 31 13 146 174 320 72 82 1.6 0.7 7.3 8.7 16.0 3.6 4.1
2011 Geelong 5 24 31 17 187 202 389 57 51 1.3 0.7 7.8 8.4 16.2 2.4 2.1
2012 Geelong 5 1 0 0 1 1 2 0 1 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 0.0 1.0
2013 Geelong 5 14 8 6 74 95 169 25 59 0.6 0.4 5.3 6.8 12.1 1.8 4.2
2014 Geelong 5 18 8 6 113 152 265 52 68 0.4 0.3 6.3 8.4 14.7 2.9 3.8
2015 Collingwood 18 22 10 10 185 193 378 90 89 0.5 0.5 8.4 8.8 17.2 4.1 4.0
2016 Collingwood 18 17 6 13 128 124 252 69 73 0.4 0.8 7.5 7.3 14.8 4.1 4.3
Career 177 146 93 1182 1324 2506 527 547 0.8 0.5 6.7 7.5 14.2 3.0 3.7

References

  1. ↑ Varcoe to miss early rounds, The Age, Retrieved on 18 March 2010.
  2. ↑ "Selwood wins Geelong's Best and Fairest". Geelong Advertiser. 30 September 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  3. ↑ Clark a cat, three-way deal sees Varcoe join Magpies, AFL.com.au official website, 15 October 2014
  4. ↑ Jon Ralph (21 July 2015). "The Buzz: Trading hits and misses of 2015". Herald Sun. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 Deery, Shannon (19 August 2007). "AFL club axes star's 'offensive' MySpace blog". news.com.au. Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2009.
  6. ↑ Travis Varcoe's player profile at AFL Tables
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