Shane Kersten (born 15 March 1993) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Geelong Football Club from 2012 to 2016. He was recruited from the South Fremantle in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) with the thirty-fourth selection in the 2011 AFL draft.

Shane Kersten
Personal information
Date of birth (1993-03-15) 15 March 1993 (age 31)
Original team(s) South Fremantle (WAFL)
Draft No. 34, 2011 national draft
Height 191 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Weight 93 kg (205 lb)
Position(s) Forward/defender
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2014–2016 Geelong 37 (41)
2017–2019 Fremantle 29 (26)
Total 66 (67)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2018.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Kersten was considered to make his AFL debut in the 2013 preliminary final,[1] but due to a knee injury[2] had to wait until round 14 of the 2014 AFL season to be selected. He kicked three goals in his debut game and was a standout despite Geelong losing to Gold Coast by 40 points.[3] Kersten celebrated his first win the following week against Essendon when he kicked two goals as Geelong. After making his debut Kersten struggled at times to maintain his spot in the side but developed into a second forward target alongside Tom Hawkins, as well as an effective defensive.[2]

At the conclusion of the 2016 season, after not playing in Geelong's two final series games, Kersten was traded to Fremantle in return for selection 63 in the 2016 AFL draft.

In his first season at Fremantle, Kersten kicked 24 goals from 20 games, coming second in Fremantle's goal kicking leaderboard. His most noted performance came in round 5 against North Melbourne at Domain Stadium. With only 40 seconds left in the final quarter, Kersten brilliantly snapped a late running goal from the deep right pocket, giving Fremantle a 5-point lead, leading them to victory.[4]

In 2018, he began playing as a key defender after some poor performances as a forward, and made his debut in that role in round 13 of the 2018 season against Carlton.[5]

Statistics

edit
Statistics are correct to the end of the 2016 season[6]
Legend
  G  
Goals
  K  
Kicks
  D  
Disposals 
  T  
Tackles
  B  
Behinds 
  H  
Handballs 
  M  
Marks
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game)
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2012 Geelong 39 0
2013 Geelong 39 0
2014 Geelong 39 9 10 7 43 13 56 26 19 1.1 0.8 4.8 1.4 6.2 2.9 2.1
2015 Geelong 39 11 9 7 47 40 87 37 28 0.8 0.6 4.3 3.6 7.9 3.4 2.6
2016 Geelong 39 17 22 15 123 76 199 80 43 1.3 0.9 7.2 4.5 11.7 4.7 2.5
Career 37 41 29 213 129 342 143 90 1.1 0.8 5.8 3.5 9.2 3.9 2.4

References

edit
  1. ^ Diamond, Brent (15 September 2013). "'Fantastic': Kersten in running for surprise debut".
  2. ^ a b Connolly, Rohan (28 May 2016). "AFL 2016: Geelong's Shane Kersten: The kid is all right".
  3. ^ "Harley Bennell shines as Gold Coast upsets Geelong". theage.com.au. 21 June 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  4. ^ "Dockers grab Cats key forward for pick 63". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. 20 October 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  5. ^ "Lyon to experiment with Kersten".
  6. ^ "Shane Kersten". AFL Tables. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
edit