Australian Football

After a stuttering start to his AFL career, Brenton Sanderson finally made good when he moved to Geelong in 1995. Prior to that he had played 51 SANFL games for Sturt, many of them after he had been drafted by Adelaide where he managed just half a dozen AFL games in 1992 and 1993. In 1994 he was traded to Collingwood, but serious hamstring problems undermined his efforts, and he played just four games for the season before being traded to the Cats.

From 1996 onwards, Sanderson became a regular league player for Geelong, lining up mainly across half back, where his pace and tenacity allied to unwavering concentration and commitment enabled him to stymie the efforts of many ostensibly more talented opponents. He was not just a negative player either, as his probing, purposeful runs out of the backlines initiated many a Geelong attacking thrust.

By the end of the millennium, Sanderson had developed into one of the most consistent and effective players in the Cats' line-up, as was evidenced by his third place finishes in the club's 1998 and 2000 best and fairest award counts, followed by a win in 2001. After an injury-hit 2002 season he returned as good as ever in 2003 when he again ran third in the best and fairest count. Towards the end of the 2004 season he was diagnosed with a heart irregularity which forced him out of Geelong's finals campaign. He returned in 2005, but added just 11 games to bring his ultimate tally with the Cats to 195, before retiring.

After serving as an assistant coach to Mick Malthouse at Collingwood, Sanderson assumed the senior post at Adelaide at the beginning of the 2012 season, taking the Crows to the pre-season NAB Cup premiership and to within five points of a place in the main season Grand Final. In the following two seasons, Adelaide slipped and missed the finals both times, and Sanderson's tenure was ended by the club. 

Author - John Devaney