The Calder Cannons are an Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

 club from Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

The club competes in the TAC Cup

TAC Cup

The TAC Cup is an under 18 Australian rules football representative competition held in Victoria, Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne with each team representing 12 Victorian regions....

 and fields squads in the U15, 16 and most importantly the U18s. The club was formed in 1995 after the need for two more metropolitan clubs. The geographic catchment area for the club is the north western suburbs of Melbourne extending to cover the Macedon Ranges area.

Performances

The club has been a strong competitor since its inception, and in 2006 lost in the final to eventual premiers the Oakleigh Chargers

Oakleigh Chargers

The Oakleigh Chargers are an Australian rules football club playing in the TAC Cup, an under-18 competition in Victoria, Australia. They are based at Warrawee Park in Oakleigh, Victoria, representing the southeastern suburban area of Melbourne...

 at the MCG

Melbourne Cricket Ground

The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...

. They won the competition in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2007, and have appeared in 6 out of the last 7 grand finals, all played on the MCG, usually before the AFL Grand Final

AFL Grand Final

The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...

.

In the 2007 TAC Cup Final, Calder beat the Murray Bushrangers

Murray Bushrangers

Murray Bushrangers is an Australian rules football team playing in TAC Cup since 1993 based in Wangaratta. The team trains in WJ Findlay Oval. The team is coached by Darren Ogier...

, with Ashley Arrowsmith the winner of the TAC Medal for best on ground. Victorian representatives for Calder at the U18 Championships included Addam Maric

Addam Maric

Addam Maric is a professional Australian rules footballer currently playing for the Melbourne Demons in the Australian Football League ....

, James Polkinghorne

James Polkinghorne

James Polkinghorne was a champion Cornish wrestler of the 19th century. He was born in 1788 at St Keverne, Cornwall, United Kingdom but spent much of his life at St. Columb Major, where he ran a pub called the Red Lion.-Cann's match with Polkinghorne:...

, captain Mitchell Farmer

Mitchell Farmer

Mitchell "Mitch" Farmer is an Australian rules footballer currently listed with the Richmond Tigers in the Australian Football League .The back pocket player is quick, durable and aggressive...

 and Arrowsmith.

Club Information

The club train and play home matches at the Coburg City Oval

Coburg City Oval

Coburg City Oval is an Australian rules football/cricket stadium located in Coburg, Australia. It is home to the Coburg Tigers Football Club and the Coburg Cricket Club and served as the home ground for the North Melbourne Football Club in the 1965 VFL season only.The oval is fenced off to the...

 which is also shared by the Coburg Tigers Football Club.

Former Collingwood

Collingwood Football Club

The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...

 footballer and Copeland Trophy

Copeland Trophy

The E.W. Copeland Trophy is an Australian rules football award given by the Collingwood Football Club to the player adjudged Best and Fairest for Collingwood during the year....

 winner, Robert Hyde

Robert Hyde (footballer)

Robert Hyde is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Collingwood and Essendon football teams in the Victorian Football League during the 1970s.-Playing Career:...

, coached the Cannons from 1996 to 2006. The club's best and fairest

Best and Fairest

Best and Fairest is the term commonly used in Australian sport to describe the player adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition while not receiving a suspension for misconduct or breaching the rules during that season.In the...

 award is called the Robert Hyde medal, in honour of Hyde.

The Calder Cannons have had the largest number of players from its club drafted onto an AFL teams senior list via the AFL draft, having a total of 81 players drafted.

Players drafted from Calder Cannons

AFL

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

 players drafted from the Calder Cannons include:

• Dane Swan
  Dane Swan
  Dane Swan is an Australian rules footballer for Collingwood in the Australian Football League.Since 2007 Swan has emerged as one of the AFL's elite midfielders, winner of the prestigious Brownlow Medal in 2011 with a record tally of 34 votes...
  
  
• Paul Chapman
• Jude Bolton
  Jude Bolton
  Jude Bolton is an Australian rules football player with the Sydney Swans of the AFL. Bolton currently holds the record for most tackles in a VFL/AFL career....
  
  
• Darren Milburn
  Darren Milburn
  Darren Milburn , is an AFL assistant Coach for the Adelaide Crows and a retired Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League...
  
  
• Brent Reilly
  Brent Reilly
  Brent Reilly is an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.Debuting with the Adelaide Football Club in 2003 as a 19-year-old, Reilly took his time to develop, struggling to retain his spot in the side under the coaching of Gary Ayres...
  
  
• Andrew Welsh
  Andrew Welsh (footballer)
  Andrew Welsh is an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.He was picked up at Draft Pick Number 47 in the 2001 AFL Draft. He is a backline player who has played halfback or back pocket for much of his career...
  
  
• David Rodan
  David Rodan
  David Rodan is a professional Australian rules footballer currently playing for the Port Adelaide Football Club.Rodan is the first Fijian-born player to reach 100 AFL games.-Early life:...
  
  
• Brock McLean
  Brock McLean
  Brock "Chooka" McLean is a professional Australian rules footballer currently with the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League...
  
  
• James Kelly
• Ryan Crowley
  Ryan Crowley
  Ryan Crowley is an Australian rules footballer. He plays as a midfielder, half forward flanker or small forward and began his football career at Calder Cannons Football Club in the TAC Cup.-Fremantle career:...
  
  
• Addam Maric
  Addam Maric
  Addam Maric is a professional Australian rules footballer currently playing for the Melbourne Demons in the Australian Football League ....
  
  
• Eddie Betts
  Eddie Betts
  Eddie Betts is an Australian rules footballer playing for Carlton in the Australian Football League .-Early life:Betts grew up in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia and played for the Mines Rovers Football Club...
  
  
• Shaun McKernan
  Shaun McKernan
  Shaun McKernan is an Australian rules football player for the Adelaide Football Club.He was Adelaide’s second selection in the 2008 National Draft, taken at pick 28, and recorded strong results at the 2007 NAB AFL Draft Camp ranking second for the standing vertical leap behind number 2 draft pick...
  
  
• Mitch Wallis
  Mitch Wallis
  Mitchell "Mitch" Wallis is an Australian rules footballer who currently plays with the Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League...
  
  
• Tom Liberatore
  Tom Liberatore
  Tom Liberatore is an Australian rules footballer who currently plays with the Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League. He is the son of former Bulldogs legend Tony Liberatore....
  
  
• Cameron Guthrie
  Cameron Guthrie
  Cameron Guthrie is an Australian rules footballer for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League .-AFL career:...