Tom Scully
Scully playing for Hawthorn in April 2019
Personal information
Full name Thomas Scully
Date of birth (1991-05-15) 15 May 1991 (age 32)
Place of birth Berwick, Victoria
Original team(s) Dandenong Stingrays
Draft No. 1, 2009 National Draft
Debut Round 1, 2010, Melbourne vs. Hawthorn, at Melbourne Cricket Ground
Height 181 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight 78 kg (172 lb)
Position(s) Midfielder
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2010–2011 Melbourne 031 0(6)
2012–2018 Greater Western Sydney 121 (67)
2019–2020 Hawthorn 035 (16)
Total 187 (89)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2020.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Tom Scully (born 15 May 1991) is a former professional Australian rules footballer. He played for the Melbourne Football Club, Greater Western Sydney Giants, and Hawthorn Football Club. A star midfielder at junior level, Scully was originally selected by Melbourne with the first overall draft pick of the 2009 AFL draft. However at the conclusion of his initial two-year contract with Melbourne, he accepted the opportunity to join the newly established GWS Giants in 2012 on a six-year deal.[1] In October 2018, Scully was traded to Hawthorn for the 2019 season.[2]

He attended school first at Berwick College and then Haileybury College.[3]

Junior career

Originally from Berwick, Scully was first noticed by Dandenong region manager Darren Flanigan when he was 13. Flanigan asserted that Scully was the best talent he had seen come through the Dandenong program in nine years.[4] Scully played his TAC Cup football for the Dandenong Stingrays, and school football for Haileybury College.[5] He captained Victorian Metropolitan region in the 2009 AFL Under 18 Championships[6] and was named in the Under 18 All Australian team in 2008 and 2009.

Melbourne career

Recruitment

Throughout 2009, Scully was touted as a potential and likely number one draft pick for the AFL Draft.[4] In the draft, the Melbourne Football Club had both the No. 1 and 2 picks available to it, and used the No. 1 pick (a priority draft pick) to recruit Scully. Scully was presented with the number 31 guernsey made famous by club and league legend Ron Barassi.[7]

Playing career at Melbourne

Scully made his AFL debut in round 1, 2010, alongside No. 2 pick Jack Trengove.[8] His breakout individual performance of the season came in Round 4 against Richmond, with 26 disposals for the match including 11 in the third quarter, and he received an AFL Rising Star nomination (and three Brownlow votes) for his Round 7 performance.[9] Scully finished the season by coming second in the AFL Rising Star, behind Sydney's Dan Hannebery. He won the Harold Ball Memorial Trophy, for being Melbourne's Best First Year Player, and finished eighth in the Best and Fairest.[10]

Greater Western Sydney career

Scully playing for Greater Western Sydney in June 2017

Recruitment

There was intense speculation throughout the 2011 AFL season that Scully would move to expansion club Greater Western Sydney at the end of the season. Scully's initial two-year contract with Melbourne would end after the 2011 season, allowing the expansion club to sign Scully without need for a trade. It was announced on 12 September 2011 that he would be moving to the play for the Giants on a six-year contract valued at an estimated total value of $6 million.[11]

Melbourne retrieved compensation picks for losing Scully, they traded for Dominic Barry and selected Jesse Hogan.

There was controversy surrounding the signing when it was discovered that Scully's father, Phil Scully, had also been offered a job as a recruiting scout at the Giants, with a six-year term of employment coinciding with the period of Scully's playing contract. The AFL ruled that the appointment was legal, but that it was considered as part of the total agreement used to convince Scully to sign with the Giants; as a result, Phil Scully's wages ($680,000 over six years) will be included inside Greater Western Sydney's salary cap.[12] Scully has stated publicly that he had no knowledge of the offer to his father prior to signing his own deal.[13] Phil Scully had previously served in a similar role with the Sydney Swans.

2016

After signing a four-year extension with the club midway through the 2016 season,[14] Scully helped the new franchise finish fourth on the ladder and reach its first finals series in its short history.[15]

2017

Known as "The Running Machine,” Scully received a second straight All-Australian nomination in 2017 and finished with 15 goals for the year.

2018

Scully broke his ankle in the second round of the 2018 season against Collingwood after twisting on it in a tackle. He fractured the fibula in his right ankle and also sustained a syndesmosis injury.[16] The severity of the injury led to fears that he might not play again. Scully's frustration with the Giants' handling of his injury and the need to free space in salary cap led to the former number one pick being traded to Hawthorn.[17]

Hawthorn

Scully was traded to Hawthorn at the end of the 2018 season for a future fourth round pick.[2] Scully underwent a further operation on his ankle and spend most of the summer in rehab.[17] Scully excelled with his rehab and he played his first game for Hawthorn against the Western Bulldogs in round 2, 2019. He didn't miss another game that year and was considered a steal of the year. The 2020 Covid restricted year and the shorter quarters hampered Scully ability to run out the quarters compare to his opposition, He missed a few games by being managed.

Scully retired on 2 February 2021.[18]

Statistics

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
2010 Melbourne 31 21 5 3 197 255 452 80 81 0.2 0.1 9.4 12.1 21.5 3.8 3.9 3
2011 Melbourne 31 10 1 5 76 132 208 21 54 0.1 0.5 7.6 13.2 20.8 2.1 5.4 2
2012 Greater Western Sydney 9 19 4 4 177 209 386 51 85 0.2 0.2 9.3 11.0 20.3 2.7 4.5 0
2013 Greater Western Sydney 9 21 11 6 198 180 378 92 84 0.5 0.3 9.4 8.6 18.0 4.4 4.0 5
2014 Greater Western Sydney 9 15 5 5 139 158 297 49 68 0.3 0.3 9.3 10.5 19.8 3.3 4.5 1
2015 Greater Western Sydney 9 17 8 8 170 175 345 80 77 0.5 0.5 10.0 10.3 20.3 4.7 4.5 0
2016 Greater Western Sydney 9 24 23 13 282 308 590 112 103 1.0 0.5 11.8 12.8 24.6 4.7 4.3 7
2017 Greater Western Sydney 9 24 15 7 241 314 555 91 75 0.6 0.3 10.0 13.1 23.1 3.8 3.1 3
2018 Greater Western Sydney 9 1 1 0 3 2 5 1 1 1.0 0.0 3.0 2.0 5.0 1.0 1.0 0
2019 Hawthorn 21 21 12 6 195 193 388 67 49 0.6 0.3 9.3 9.2 18.5 3.2 2.3 2
2020[a] Hawthorn 21 14 4 2 104 86 190 34 16 0.3 0.1 7.4 6.1 13.5 2.4 1.1 0
Career[19] 187 89 59 1781 2012 3793 677 693 0.5 0.3 9.5 10.8 20.3 3.6 3.7 23

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.

Honours and achievements

Individual

References

  1. ^ Tom Scully Confirms Move To GWS
  2. ^ a b "Scully joins the Hawks". hawthornfc.com.au. 16 October 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  3. ^ Salemme, Kate (30 April 2016). "Do private school students make better AFL footballers than kids from public schools?". Herald Sun. Melbourne. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  4. ^ a b Clark, Jay (12 April 2009), Tom Scully plays by his own rules, heraldsun.com.au, Retrieved 21 April 2010
  5. ^ Quayle, Emma (26 November 2009). "First round predictions". Realfooty.com.au. The Age. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
  6. ^ Walsh, Courtney (27 November 2009). "Tom Scully's selection at no 1 in the AFL draft was no surprise to pundits". The Australian. News Corp. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
  7. ^ Unsigned (15 December 2009), No. 31 and No. 9 - Scully and Trengove, melbournefc.com.au, Retrieved 21 April 2010
  8. ^ Burgan, Matt (25 March 2010), Scully, Trengove to debut against Hawks, AFL.com.au, Retrieved 8 April 2010
  9. ^ Burgan, Matt. "MFC Brownlow Medal totals". Melbourne FC. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2010.
  10. ^ Clark, Jay (3 September 2010). "Brad Green wins Keith "Bluey" Truscott gong". Herald Sun. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
  11. ^ Sheahan, Mike; Bradshaw, Finn (12 September 2011). "Tom Scully signs with GWS". Herald Sun. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  12. ^ Warner, Michael (15 November 2011). "Tom Scully's father offered 680k job in November 2010". Herald Sun. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  13. ^ Clark, Jay (24 November 2011), "I didn't know about Dad's offer: Scully", Herald Sun, Melbourne, VIC, retrieved 26 November 2011
  14. ^ "Tom Scully signs contract extension with Greater Western Sydney until end of 2021". The Age. 16 June 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  15. ^ Cordy, Neil (31 August 2016). "Massive crowd set for historic qualifying final between Sydney and GWS". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  16. ^ "AFL 2019: Bargain Hawthorn recruit Tom Scully takes another major step towards return". 8 March 2019.
  17. ^ a b afl.com.au
  18. ^ "Scully calls time on AFL career".
  19. ^ Tom Scully's player profile at AFL Tables

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tom Scully.
2010 AFL Rising Star nominees
VFL/AFL number one overall draft picks
2009 AFL national draft
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