Shane Ellen

Shane Ellen
Personal information
Full name	Shane Ellen
Date of birth	1 January 1973
Original team(s)	Melton / Coburg
Height/Weight	188 cm / 82 kg
Playing career^1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1993–1995 1996–2000 Total	Footscray Adelaide	11 0(1) 54 (15) 65 (16)
^1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2000 season.

Shane Ellen (born 1 January 1973) is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Bulldogs career

Ellen, a Footscray local, made his debut with the Bulldogs in 1993, and when he left in 1995 he had played just 11 games for 1 goal. He was then delisted, before being selected by the Adelaide Football Club in the 1996 Pre-season Draft.

Adelaide career

He arrived at the Crows in 1996 and was a largely unheralded player. That was until the 1997 AFL Grand Final against St Kilda. This proved to be a defining moment in his career, until the journeyman's AFL career ended at the end of 2000, after 54 games and 15 goals with the club.

Grand Final hero

In the 1997 Grand Final, Ellen was considered the unlikely hero for the Crows. In the first half he booted two goals from full-forward, playing there in place of the injured Tony Modra. He was then switched to the half-back line by coach Malcolm Blight, which proved to be an inspired move – Ellen kicked three of his five goals for the match after half-time.^[1]

This amazing performance was understated by the fact he had kicked three goals in his previous 38 AFL matches. After the 1997 Grand Final he kicked eight more goals for the remainder of his career.^[2][3]

Statistics

^[4]

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)
1993	Footscray	47	4	0	1	22	9	31	6	2	0.0	0.3	5.5	2.3	7.8	1.5	0.5
1994	Footscray	20	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
1995	Footscray	20	7	1	2	36	7	43	8	3	0.1	0.3	5.1	1.0	6.1	1.1	0.4
1996	Adelaide	13	17	2	1	128	78	206	55	17	0.1	0.1	7.5	4.6	12.1	3.2	1.0
1997†	Adelaide	13	10	5	2	70	45	115	39	14	0.5	0.2	7.0	4.5	11.5	3.9	1.4
1998†	Adelaide	13	17	7	9	122	46	168	45	21	0.4	0.5	7.2	2.7	9.9	2.6	1.2
1999	Adelaide	13	6	1	1	22	10	32	11	2	0.2	0.2	3.7	1.7	5.3	1.8	0.3
2000	Adelaide	13	4	0	3	28	5	33	13	1	0.0	0.8	7.0	1.3	8.3	3.3	0.3
Career			65	16	19	428	200	628	177	60	0.2	0.3	6.6	3.1	9.7	2.7	0.9

Player honours

• 1997 premiership player
• 1998 premiership player

References

1. Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2002). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (4th ed.). Melbourne, Victoria: Crown Content. p. 182. ISBN 1-74095-001-1.
2. Shane Ellen's statistics from AFL Tables
3. Defender’s goal spree
4. Shane Ellen's player profile at AFL Tables