Brad Ottens

Ottens was born in South Australia, but raised on a cattle station near Katherine, Northern Territory.[https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/why-it-s-time-to-get-serious-about-an-afl-team-in-the-northern-territory-20220509-p5ajon.html Why it’s time to get serious about an AFL team in the Northern Territory] By Mathew Stokes for The Age 9 May 2022 He moved to South Australia to board at Immanuel College, Adelaide where he began to play Australian rules.[https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brad-ottens-i-needed-to-challenge-myself-to-make-a-change/id1499492812?i=1000565736178 Brad Ottens: I needed to challenge myself to make a change] from Inside 50 with Crawf & Quinny. He later played senior football with the Glenelg Football Club where he became a standout.

Ottens was selected at pick 2 in the 1997 AFL Draft by the Richmond.

Ottens made his debut in 1998, rising to prominence with Richmond as a strong overhead marker, with an accurate and long kick for goal. He was also a part-time ruckman. However a season ending ACL knee injury (and reconstruction) posed a major setback to his career. In subsequent years he struggled to regain his form. He kicked 47 of his goals in 2001 for Richmond

File:Brad Ottens playing for Geelong.JPG

In search of a ruckman and key forward target, Geelong picked up Ottens in a trade for the 2005 season. After debuting in Round 1, and becoming the one thousandth player to play a game for Geelong, he again struggled to have a major impact in the first year at his new club. He was the subject of an infamous post-match press conference by Mark Thompson in 2005. Here Thompson defended Ottens by saying "For some silly reason, you people want to assassinate him. It's just rubbish. You people, all of you, ALL OF YOU, leave him alone!"Lovett, Michael (11 May 2011). [http://issuu.com/slattery/docs/aflrecord_rnd8_2011 "Big Cat"]. AFL Record. p. 68. Retrieved 13 August 2011. Some see it as a defining moment for Brad.

Since then Ottens has been Geelong's preferred first ruckman. In 2006 Ottens showed signs of improvement, particularly in the ruck. He also took the Mark of the Year in round 5 against Sydney. He played all 22 games in 2006.

The week after Geelong's exit from the 2006 AFL season, Ottens was involved in a drink driving incident which saw him have his licence cancelled for 11 months.{{cite web|title=Ottens done for drink-driving|url=http://www.abc.net.au/sport/content/200609/s1737068.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20080106102632/http://www.abc.net.au/sport/content/200609/s1737068.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2008-01-06|publisher=ABC Sport|date=2006-09-09|access-date=2008-09-27}}

In 2007 Ottens was in near career best form. He played a majority of the season as Geelong's main ruckman rather than as a forward where he had played mostly since joining the club. During the Cats' five-point preliminary final win against Collingwood Ottens was voted best-on-ground after giving a game-winning performance in the ruck. The following week he capped off a stellar season, among the best players in his side's record breaking grand final victory over Port Adelaide. He noted that it was the highlight of his career.

Despite missing most of 2009 with injuries, Ottens made a late comeback and played in another Geelong premiership side. An injury interrupted season in 2010 resulted in a muted effort for the club's disappointing 2010 AFL finals series. In the 2011 AFL season a relatively injury free Ottens had led to him being able to improve his output on recent years.

He retired at the end of the 2011 season.

:{{cite web|url=http://afltables.com/afl/stats/players/B/Brad_Ottens.html|title=Brad Ottens|publisher=AFL Tables}}

{{AFL player statistics legend/ruckman}}

{{AFL player statistics start/ruckman}}

|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1998

|{{AFL Ric}}

| 5 || 12 || 2 || 2 || 30 || 33 || 63 || 29 || 5 || 70 || 0.2 || 0.2 || 2.5 || 2.8 || 5.3 || 2.4 || 0.4 || 5.8

|-

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1999

|{{AFL Ric}}

| 5 || 22 || 21 || 15 || 110 || 96 || 206 || 82 || 9 || 266 || 1.0 || 0.7 || 5.0 || 4.4 || 9.4 || 3.7 || 0.4 || 12.1

|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2000

|{{AFL Ric}}

| 5 || 21 || 30 || 12 || 174 || 113 || 287 || 117 || 20 || 317 || 1.4 || 0.6 || 8.3 || 5.4 || 13.7 || 5.6 || 1.0 || 15.1

|-

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2001

|{{AFL Ric}}

| 5 || 24 || 46 || 21 || 230 || 124 || 354 || 166 || 44 || 321 || 1.9 || 0.9 || 9.6 || 5.2 || 14.8 || 6.9 || 1.8 || 13.4

|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2002

|{{AFL Ric}}

| 5 || 20 || 27 || 16 || 160 || 114 || 274 || 102 || 41 || 377 || 1.4 || 0.8 || 8.0 || 5.7 || 13.7 || 5.1 || 2.1 || 18.9

|-

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2003

|{{AFL Ric}}

| 5 || 12 || 10 || 5 || 90 || 93 || 183 || 71 || 34 || 240 || 0.8 || 0.4 || 7.5 || 7.8 || 15.3 || 5.9 || 2.8 || 20.0

|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2004

|{{AFL Ric}}

| 5 || 18 || 16 || 8 || 102 || 129 || 231 || 99 || 38 || 424 || 0.9 || 0.4 || 5.7 || 7.2 || 12.8 || 5.5 || 2.1 || 23.6

|-

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2005

|{{AFL Gee}}

| 6 || 15 || 23 || 12 || 81 || 88 || 169 || 69 || 29 || 172 || 1.5 || 0.8 || 5.4 || 5.9 || 11.3 || 4.6 || 1.9 || 11.5

|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2006

|{{AFL Gee}}

| 6 || 22 || 26 || 20 || 139 || 104 || 243 || 104 || 45 || 319 || 1.2 || 0.9 || 6.3 || 4.7 || 11.0 || 4.7 || 2.0 || 14.5

|-

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2007

|{{AFL Gee}}

| 6 || 22 || 21 || 16 || 133 || 163 || 296 || 115 || 69 || 417 || 1.0 || 0.7 || 6.0 || 7.4 || 13.5 || 5.2 || 3.1 || 19.0

|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2008

|{{AFL Gee}}

| 6 || 16 || 14 || 8 || 73 || 136 || 209 || 72 || 52 || 325 || 0.9 || 0.5 || 4.6 || 8.5 || 13.1 || 4.5 || 3.3 || 20.3

|-

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2009

|{{AFL Gee}}

| 6 || 6 || 2 || 5 || 28 || 38 || 66 || 21 || 21 || 89 || 0.3 || 0.8 || 4.7 || 6.3 || 11.0 || 3.5 || 3.5 || 14.8

|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2010

|{{AFL Gee}}

| 6 || 15 || 8 || 5 || 40 || 123 || 163 || 40 || 54 || 298 || 0.5 || 0.3 || 2.7 || 8.2 || 10.9 || 2.7 || 3.6 || 19.9

|-

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2011

|{{AFL Gee}}

| 6 || 20 || 15 || 9 || 87 || 183 || 270 || 73 || 70 || 500 || 0.8 || 0.5 || 4.4 || 9.2 || 13.5 || 3.7 || 3.5 || 25.0

|- class="sortbottom"

! colspan=3| Career

! 245

! 261

! 154

! 1477

! 1537

! 3014

! 1160

! 531

! 4135

! 1.1

! 0.6

! 6.0

! 6.3

! 12.3

! 4.7

! 2.2

! 16.9

|}

; Key:

{{col-begin}}

{{col-break}}

• PS – Pre-season competition
• EF – Elimination final
• QF – Qualifying final

{{col-break}}

• SF – Semi-final
• PF – Preliminary final
• GF – Grand final

{{col-end}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{Geelplayer|ref=14233}}
• {{AFL Tables|B/Brad_Ottens}}

{{2007 Geelong premiership players}}

{{2009 Geelong premiership players}}

{{2011 Geelong premiership players}}

{{2001 All-Australian team}}

{{Alex Jesaulenko Medal}}

{{2001 Australian international rules team}}

{{1997 AFL national draft}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ottens, Brad}}

Category:Geelong Football Club players

Category:Geelong Football Club premiership players

Category:Richmond Football Club players

Category:1980 births

Category:Living people

Category:All-Australians (AFL)

Category:Glenelg Football Club players

Category:Australian rules footballers from South Australia

Category:Australia international rules football team players

Category:People educated at Immanuel College, Adelaide

Category:VFL/AFL premiership players