3 Brent Reilly

Choose another player Brown, Luke - [16] Crouch, Brad - [2] Dangerfield, Patrick - [32] Doughty, Michael - [11] Douglas, Richard - [26] Ellis-Yolmen, Cameron - [28] Grigg, Mitchell - [38] Henderson, Ricky - [45] Jacobs, Sam - [24] Jaensch, Matthew - [10] Jenkins, Josh - [20] Johncock, Graham - [18] Johnston, Lewis - [8] Joyce, Nicholas - [42] Kerridge, Sam - [29] Knights, Chris - [21] Lynch, Tom - [27] Lyons, Jarryd - [31] Mackay, David - [14] Martin, Brodie - [36] McKernan, Shaun - [35] Otten, Andy - [22] Petrenko, Jared - [23] Porplyzia, Jason - [40] Reilly, Brent - [3] Riley, Aidan - [43] Rutten, Ben - [25] Shaw, Sam - [34] Sloane, Rory - [9] Smith, Brodie - [33] Symes, Brad - [15] Talia, Daniel - [12] Tambling, Richard - [1] Thompson, Luke - [6] Thompson, Scott - [5] Tippett, Kurt - [4] van Berlo, Nathan - [7] Vince, Bernie - [17] Walker, Taylor - [13] Wright, Matthew - [47]

2010 season:
Brent Reilly had arguably a career best year after taking on a new midfield role. The 27-year-old established himself as a tagger and his form flourished as a result. He finished first at the club for tackles (104) and third for total disposals (433), averaging 20 touches a game. He had a season high 25 disposals against the Western Bulldogs in round five and 24 disposals and eight tackles in the round 22 win over St Kilda. In the round 16 win over Geelong, Reilly’s effort in restricting Gary Ablett to 19 possessions was one of the key contributors to the victory. At the start of 2010 Reilly sat down with coach Neil Craig and asked what he needed to do in order to re-establish himself as a regular player. “Craigy mentioned tagging to me and said it was a possibility. “I did a little bit of tagging when I first came over (to Adelaide) just helping out off the bench. I hadn’t really done it for any length of time, but I thought I should grab the opportunity with both hands and make the most of it.”

David Noble’s 2010 review:
“Stamped his quality on our side with the jobs he was given throughout the year. His leadership has taken off and as a result his footy has also really improved. He became a real key element of our midfield this year.”

Career:
Reilly, from the Calder Cannons, was a first round draft pick in the 2001 national draft. He played only one game in 2002 and six in 2003 but played 14 games in 2004 and received a NAB AFL Rising Star nomination. He consolidated a regular spot in 2005 under Neil Craig and played every game but injured his hamstring in the qualifying final and missed the rest of Adelaide’s finals campaign. He completed a whole season in 2006 and remained injury free, but was again struck down by an ankle injury early in 2007 and played only 17 games. After a 21 possession first half to start season 2008, Reilly suffered a bad run of injuries that interrupted his season. The midfielder suffered a broken arm in round one and was sidelined for six weeks. He returned to the line up mid-season only to hyper-extend his knee and managed a total of just eight AFL appearances.

Reilly had an indifferent start to 2009 with some solid performances in the first half of the season but he found himself out of the side after round nine. He put in some dominant performances in the SANFL for Sturt and regained his place in round 12 only to injure his hamstring. He returned in round 15 and found some of his career best form. Reilly received the maximum votes from the umpires in the round 17 Showdown with 32 possessions and nine marks.