Stephen Coniglio
Coniglio playing for the Greater Western Sydney Giants.
Personal information
Full name Stephen James Coniglio
Date of birth (1993-12-15) 15 December 1993 (age 30)
Place of birth Joondalup, Western Australia
Original team(s) Swan Districts (WAFL)
Draft No. 3, 2011 national draft, Greater Western Sydney
Height 182cm (6ft 0in)
Weight 84 kg (185 lb)
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current club Greater Western Sydney
Number 3
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2012– Greater Western Sydney 202 (116)
Representative team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
2020 All-Stars 1 (2)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2023.
2 State and international statistics correct as of 2020.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Stephen Coniglio (/kəˈniːliːoʊ/ kə-NEE-lee-oh;[1] born 15 December 1993) is a professional Australian rules footballer for the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL). Drafted with the second pick in the 2011 AFL national draft, Coniglio made his debut for Greater Western Sydney in the first round of the 2012 season and was later nominated for the 2012 AFL Rising Star award. He was the sole captain of the Giants for the 2020 and 2021 seasons, and a co-captain for the 2022 season.

He previously played for Swan Districts in League and Development Squad in the West Australian Football League (WAFL). In the 2010 WAFL Grand Final, he gathered 17 possessions and kicked four goals to be considered one of the best on the ground.[2][3] Only Geoff Hendriks has won a WAFL premiership at a younger age. Coniglio won the 2011 WAFL Rising Star Award, with a prize of $2000.[4]

At the age of 16, Coniglio represented Western Australia at the 2010 National Under 18 Championships. Stephen represented Western Australia at the 2010 and 2011 National Under 18 Championships.

2011 saw Stephen captain WA and win the Larke Medal as the best player in the competition. As well as being named Western Australia's most valuable player, and was selected on a wing in the Under-18 All-Australian team.

Stephen Coniglio grew up in Perth and as a teenager had to choose between pursuing a career in cricket or football. Choosing football has worked out well for him so far, with the popular teammate becoming one of the most highly rated midfielders in the AFL. In early December, 2019 Coniglio was appointed captain. Off-field, Coniglio is a part-owner of Macelleria restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne and has a keen interest in fashion.[5][6]

Early life and junior career

Born in Joondalup, Western Australia,[7] Coniglio's father has Italian heritage and his mother has English heritage. Coniglio attended La Salle College, a co-educational Catholic high school in Middle Swan. In his final year, he served as the school's head boy.[8]

Growing up, Coniglio excelled at both cricket and football. He played grade cricket for Midland-Guildford in the WACA district cricket competition.[9] In five First Grade matches he made 111 runs at an average of 22.20 and took five wickets at an average of 42.00, including 3/35 on his debut.[10]

Coniglio played both under-15 and under-17 cricket for Western Australia.[7] He made 106 not out in the final of the 2009 National Under-15 Championships, the highest score by a Western Australian ever recorded at the tournament.[11] In the 2010–11 Australian Under-17 Championships, he made 146 runs at an average 24.33,[12] with a best of 78 not out against Victoria.[13]

Coniglio also played junior football for Upper Swan Junior Football Club, falling into Swan Districts' WAFL recruitment zone.[14] He made his senior debut for Swan Districts against Perth in round 22, 2010, at Steel Blue Oval, gathering 26 possessions and kicking two goals.

Senior career

In September 2011, Coniglio confirmed he would nominate for the 2011 national draft, ending speculation about which sport he would choose to play professionally.[15] Considered likely to be selected by Greater Western Sydney with one of the first five picks in the draft,[16][17][18][19] Coniglio was selected by Greater Western Sydney with pick two in the draft.

He made his senior debut for the club in round one of the 2012 season, recording 17 disposals in a 63-point loss to Sydney.[20] In round seven, after a 31-possession game in Greater Western Sydney's inaugural win over Gold Coast, Coniglio was nominated for the 2012 AFL Rising Star.[21] Midway through the season, he injured his thumb, and missed four games after undergoing surgery.[22] In total, he played 12 games for Greater Western Sydney in his debut season, spending parts of the latter half of the season with the club's reserves team in the North East Australian Football League (NEAFL).[23]

At the end of the 2019 season Coniglio qualifying as a free agent. Despite many rumours that he would leave and join a Victorian-based club, Coniglio had rejected massive offers from Carlton and Hawthorn and had re-signed with the Giants for a further seven years.[24] At the end of 2019, Coniglio was awarded the Jim Stynes Community Leadership Award for his part in the development of the Coniglio–Farrugia Community Program in partnership with the New South Wales Government, as well as ambassador roles with the Fairfield Falcons Football Club, All Nations Cup, Diversity Talent and Bachar Houli programs and the Lighthouse Community Support program.

Statistics

Statistics are correct to end of 2023[25]
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
2012 Greater Western Sydney 3 12 2 5 140 118 258 58 31 0.2 0.4 11.7 9.8 21.5 4.8 2.6 1
2013 Greater Western Sydney 3 18 6 5 192 156 348 65 67 0.3 0.3 10.7 8.7 19.3 3.6 3.7 0
2014 Greater Western Sydney 3 14 5 5 169 139 308 51 68 0.4 0.4 12.1 9.9 22.0 3.6 4.9 2
2015 Greater Western Sydney 3 18 8 3 185 236 421 64 98 0.4 0.2 10.3 13.1 23.4 3.6 5.4 4
2016 Greater Western Sydney 3 23 12 10 291 353 644 70 129 0.5 0.4 12.7 15.3 28.0 3.0 5.6 17
2017 Greater Western Sydney 3 10 6 5 130 127 257 35 64 0.6 0.5 13.0 12.7 25.7 3.5 6.4 3
2018 Greater Western Sydney 3 23 24 17 374 269 643 108 116 1.0 0.7 16.3 11.7 28.0 4.7 5.0 11
2019 Greater Western Sydney 3 15 15 6 249 150 399 63 59 1.0 0.4 16.6 10.0 26.6 4.2 3.9 17
2020[a] Greater Western Sydney 3 16 5 8 196 141 337 44 62 0.3 0.5 12.3 8.8 21.1 2.8 3.9 4
2021 Greater Western Sydney 3 7 1 4 61 42 103 14 23 0.14 1.33 8.71 6 14.7 2.8 3.28 0
2022 Greater Western Sydney 3 21 17 11 283 240 523 78 110 0.8 0.5 13.4 11.7 25.2 3.7 5.3 4
2023 Greater Western Sydney 3 25 15 16 397 310 707 80 116 0.6 0.6 15.9 12.4 28.3 3.2 4.6 10
Career 202 116 95 2667 2281 4948 730 947 0.6 0.5 13.2 11.3 24.5 3.6 4.7 73

Notes

  1. ^ The 2020 season was played with 17 home-and-away matches per team (down from 22) and 16-minute quarters with time on (down from 20-minute quarters with time on) due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

  1. ^ "How to say the AFL's trickiest names". Australian Football League. 30 March 2022. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  2. ^ Swan Districts wins thrilling grand final – wafootball.com.au. Written by Chris Pike. Published 20 September 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  3. ^ Andrew Krakouer caps amazing return to football with winning goal for Swan Districts over Claremont in 2010 WAFL Grand Final – PerthNow. Written by Brad Elborough. Published 19 September 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  4. ^ Cox takes home WA Footballer of the Year – The West Australian. Written by Russell Reid and Dale Miller. Published 15 September 2011. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  5. ^ Metro dominate AA selections Archived 10 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine – afl.com.au. Written by Jason Phelan. Published 9 July 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  6. ^ "Stephen Coniglio | AFL".
  7. ^ a b SJ Coniglio – CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  8. ^ Miller, Dale and Russell Reid (2010). Swans let Coniglio bide his time – The West Australian online. Published 21 September 2010. Retrieved 26 February 2012.
  9. ^ Stephen Coniglio (Midland-Guildford) – Weet-Bix My Cricket. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  10. ^ Midland-Guildford break duck, get off the bottom – The West Australian. Written by Mark Hooper. Published 21 December 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  11. ^ WA Wins National Under 15 Champs – waca.com.au. Published 6 March 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  12. ^ Batting and fielding for Western Australia Under-17s – CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  13. ^ Victoria Under-17s v Western Australia Under-17s, 19–20 January 2011, at Lindisfarne Oval, Hobart – CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  14. ^ Stephen Coniglio player profile – WAFLOnline. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  15. ^ Coniglio's football passion wins out over cricket – PerthNow. Written by Chris Leitch. Published 12 September 2011. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  16. ^ WAFL draft watch:Stephen Coniglio – The West Australian. Written by Nick Rynne. Published 26 July 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  17. ^ GWS expects young ace Stephen Coniglio to pick footy over cricket – Herald Sun. Written by Jay Clark. Published 29 March 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  18. ^ Stephen Coniglio- 2011 AFL Draft Prospect – contestedfooty.com. Written by James Rose. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  19. ^ 2011 AFL Draft- Number one pick? – contestedfooty.com. Written by James Rose. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  20. ^ Phelan, Jason (2012). 'This is our town' – Australian Football League. Published 24 March 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  21. ^ Holmesby, Luke (15 May 2012). "The Con man". AFL BigPond Network. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  22. ^ Giant Coniglio to miss four matches – Sydney Morning Herald online. Published 8 June 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  23. ^ Stephen Coniglio: Statistics – AFL Tables. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  24. ^ "GWS Giants star Stephen Coniglio shuns godfather offers to sign mega deal at the Giants". Fox Sports. 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  25. ^ Stephen Coniglio's player profile at AFL Tables

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stephen Coniglio.
Greater Western Sydney Giants – current squad
Current AFL captains
Inaugural Greater Western Sydney Giants AFL team
Captains of the Greater Western Sydney Giants
All Stars – State of Origin for Bushfire Relief Match
2012 AFL Rising Star nominees
2011 AFL national draft
Larke Medal winners
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