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For the fictional character, see Adrian “Fletch” Fletcher.

Adrian Fletcher (born 10 October 1969) is a former Australian rules footballer and current assistant coach. He is regarded as one of football’s nomads, having played for five Australian Football League clubs in his 13-year career. Fletcher’s was regarded as excellent at reading the play, which resulted in him gaining prolific numbers of possessions and disposals, especially handballs.[1]

Playing career

Early career

Fletcher was recruited from the Tasmanian Football League (TFL) club Glenorchy with the 20th selection in the 1988 VFL draft by the Geelong Football Club after winning the William Leitch Medal as the best player in the TFL.[2]

He played 23 games for Geelong between 1989 and 1991, kicking 10 goals. Fletcher was traded to St Kilda in 1992, where he played 22 games, kicking 10 goals.

Due to a contract dispute, he left the Saints and was selected by the Brisbane Bears with the 4th selection in the 1993 Pre-season draft.

Brisbane

Fletcher made his name as a tough, ball-winning midfielder at the Brisbane Bears. Between 1993 and 1996, Fletcher played 86 of a possible 90 games, finishing in the top five of the club champion award in each year.[3] He was a significant player in the Bears’ 1996 preliminary final loss to North Melbourne playing on the half back line.

Following the Bears’ merger with Fitzroy, Fletcher was a member of the inaugural Brisbane Lions team in 1997. However, the lack of a solid pre-season led to an e early season form slump. He fought back, however, and ended up with a season average of 19 possessions per game (21 games). Despite this, he was traded to Fremantle.

Fremantle

Fletcher had an immediate impact at Fremantle, finishing second in the club’s Best and Fairest award in 1998 and winning it in 1999; additionally, he won Fremantle’s first-ever Glendinning–Allan Medal, which had previously only been won, nine times, by West Coast players. He was then named co-captain along with Shaun McManus in 2000 and 2001. At the end of the 2001 season he was asked to retire by the Fremantle club despite being ranked in the AFL’s top 20 for overall disposals[2] and also was in the AFL’s top five for handballs. He played 79 games for the Dockers, ending up with 25 goals.

Fletcher is often remembered as the Fremantle player whose kick was accidentally intercepted and “chest-marked” by field umpire Peter Carey, during general play, in round 15, 1999.[4] This caused a unique stoppage, which was controversially resolved by Carey with a ball-up.

Statistics

[5]
Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
1989 Geelong 4 8 5 1 76 53 129 22 4 0.6 0.1 9.5 6.6 16.1 2.8 0.5 0
1990 Geelong 4 9 3 2 106 93 199 23 11 0.3 0.2 11.8 10.3 22.1 2.6 1.2 1
1991 Geelong 4 6 2 0 68 62 130 19 10 0.3 0.0 11.3 10.3 21.7 3.2 1.7 0
1992 St Kilda 16 22 10 7 231 223 454 73 38 0.5 0.3 10.5 10.1 20.6 3.3 1.7 5
1993 Brisbane Bears 6 20 15 6 236 235 471 87 41 0.8 0.3 11.8 11.8 23.6 4.4 2.1 4
1994 Brisbane Bears 6 19 5 5 236 213 449 68 35 0.3 0.3 12.4 11.2 23.6 3.6 1.8 6
1995 Brisbane Bears 6 23 14 11 319 294 613 96 49 0.6 0.5 13.9 12.8 26.7 4.2 2.1 7
1996 Brisbane Bears 6 24 15 17 341 239 580 90 61 0.6 0.7 14.2 10.0 24.2 3.8 2.5 14
1997 Brisbane Lions 6 21 4 10 238 172 410 84 59 0.2 0.5 11.3 8.2 19.5 4.0 2.8 8
1998 Fremantle 2 16 8 6 225 142 367 68 40 0.5 0.4 14.1 8.9 22.9 4.3 2.5 3
1999 Fremantle 2 22 9 5 298 283 581 105 38 0.4 0.2 13.5 12.9 26.4 4.8 1.7 15
2000 Fremantle 2 20 4 2 215 220 435 67 53 0.2 0.1 10.8 11.0 21.8 3.4 2.7 10
2001 Fremantle 2 21 3 5 230 250 480 97 54 0.1 0.2 11.0 11.9 22.9 4.6 2.6 3
Career 231 97 77 2819 2479 5298 899 493 0.4 0.3 12.2 10.7 22.9 3.9 2.1 76

Post-AFL and coaching career

Delisted by Fremantle after the 2001 season, and not being drafted by another AFL club, Fletcher retired from the AFL, and played for Williamstown Football Club in the VFL for two years. He played 41 games and kicked 17 goals.

Fletcher won the Williamstown best and fairest award in both these seasons and also won the Norm Goss Medal for best on ground in the 2003 VFL grand final, Fletcher’s last game of senior football. He also was a development coach for the Collingwood Football Club (Williamstown’s AFL-affiliate) during this time.

In 2004, Fletcher joined the Geelong Football Club as an assistant coach before returning to Collingwood in 2005 as their midfield coach. After the 2007 season, he left Collingwood and returned to the Brisbane Lions as an assistant coach, where he remains as of 2011.[6]

He has made several appearances in AFL Legends Matches. His wife, Narelle Fletcher, played 295 games in the Women’s National Basketball League.[7]

Fletcher’s son, Jaspa, was taken at Pick 12 in the 2022 AFL draft by the Brisbane Lions under the father–son rule, playing in the 2023, 2024 and 2025 AFL Grand finals.

References

  1. ^ Top Handballs 1984–2009
  2. ^ a b Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2002). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (4th ed.). Melbourne, Victoria: Crown Content. p. 201. ISBN 1-74095-001-1.
  3. ^ Fletch lives at Lions; The Brisbane Times (3 December 2007)
  4. ^ “Moment #59: Umpire Carey’s big mark”. Australian Football League. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
  5. ^ “Adrian Fletcher”. AFL Tables. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  6. ^ AAP (3 December 2007) Fletcher returns to Lions; The Age
  7. ^ Howell, Stephen (30 January 2003) Veteran Fletcher ices a stunning career