Drew Banfield

Drew Banfield

Banfield at the 2006 AFL Grand Final Parade
Personal information
Birth	27 February 1974 (1974-02-27) (age 37)
Recruited from	Subiaco Football Club (WAFL)
Height and weight	184cm / 88kg
Playing career¹
Debut	Round 16, 18 July 1993, West Coast Eagles v. Essendon, at Melbourne Cricket Ground
Team(s)	West Coast Eagles (1993–2006) 265 games, 76 goals
¹ Statistics to end of 2006 season
Career highlights
West Coast Eagles premiership team 1994, 2006 West Coast Eagles Best and Fairest 1996

Drew Banfield (born 27 February 1974) is a former AFL football player.

Selected as the number 1 pick in the 1992 AFL Draft, Banfield was recruited to the West Coast Eagles, where he became one of their best clubmen and hardest-working defenders and utility players.

He won the Eagles' Club Champion Award in 1996, as well as playing in the Eagles' 1994 premiership side. He was not the flashiest of players, but his hard-working attributes and constant presence in the team for over a decade qualifies him as a more than worthy number one draft pick. In 2006 the West Coast Eagles were celebrating their 20th anniversary, and a best team from the club's history was chosen. Consideration was based on playing 100 games for the West Coast Eagles, career longevity, finishes in the Club Champion Award, impact and other individual accolades. Drew Banfield was named on the interchange bench in this side and will go down as one of the Eagles' greats.

In 2006, Banfield was struggling for selection and fought his way into the side in Round 9, but remained on the fringes of selection throughout the season. He missed out on the semi-final against the Bulldogs but was recalled for the preliminary final against Adelaide, and retained for the Grand Final against Sydney due to his experience. It was his second AFL premiership, twelve years after his first. On Friday the 6th of October 2006, Banfield announced his retirement from AFL football at the West Coast Eagles Club Champion awards, having played 265 games.

Drew is married to Amber Lee-Steere and has one son, named Bailey. Drew went to Scotch College Perth,and still plays games against the Scotch 1st XI, as part of a Scotch tradition which occurs each year.

External links

• Drew Banfield's statistics from AFL Tables

Preceded by Glen Jakovich

West Coast Eagles Best and Fairest winner 1996

Succeeded by Peter Matera

Persondata
Name	Banfield, Drew
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	27 February 1974
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death