Paul Duffield
Encyclopedia
Paul Duffield is 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...

er. He plays mainly as a half back flanker and began his football career at South Fremantle Football Club
South Fremantle Football Club
The South Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Bulldogs, is an Australian rules football club, based in Fremantle, Western Australia, playing in the West Australian Football League...

 in the West Australian Football League
West Australian Football League
The West Australian Football League is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The WAFL is the second-most popular in the state, behind the nation-wide Australian Football League...

.

Fremantle Dockers

Selected in the rookie draft at the 2003 AFL Draft
2003 AFL Draft
The 2003 AFL Draft was the 2003 instance of the AFL Draft, the annual draft of talented players by Australian rules football teams that participate in the main competition of that sport, the Australian Football League...

, he is a medium sized defender who has spent the 2004 and 2005 seasons on the rookie list, playing for South Fremantle. The nephew of The West Australian
The West Australian
The West Australian is the only locally-edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia, and is owned by ASX-listed Seven West Media . The West is published in tabloid format, as is the state's other major newspaper, The Sunday Times, a News Limited publication...

 newspaper sports journalist Mark Duffield, he was a member of South Fremantle's 2005 premiership team. His father, Wayne and uncles Brett and Mark, were all successful country footballers.

Due to the AFL rules restricting rookies to a maximum of two years before being elevated or delisted, Duffield was delisted at the end of the 2005 season. However, Fremantle reselected him in the 2005 rookie draft. Duffield made his AFL pre-season debut against Collingwood in the quarter-final and also played in the semi final loss to Geelong.

On 19 April 2006, it was announced that Duffield had been elevated to the senior list as a replacement for Daniel Haines, who had injured his achilles tendon
Achilles tendon
The Achilles tendon , also known as the calcaneal tendon or the tendo calcaneus, is a tendon of the posterior leg. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius and soleus muscles to the calcaneus bone.- Anatomy :The Achilles is the tendonous extension of 3 muscles in the lower leg:...

 the previous weekend playing for Peel Thunder
Peel Thunder Football Club
The Peel Thunder Football Club is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League . The team is based in Mandurah, Western Australia, with their home ground being Rushton Park...

. Duffield then made his debut a week later against St Kilda in the controversial game
AFL siren controversy, 2006
The AFL siren controversy of 2006 surrounded the conclusion and result of an Australian rules football match played on 30 April 2006 during Round 5 of the Australian Football League's 2006 season...

 at Aurora Stadium
Aurora Stadium
York Park is a sports ground in the Inveresk and York Park Precinct, Launceston, Australia. Holding 20,000 people—more than any other stadium in Tasmania—York Park has been known as Aurora Stadium under a six-year naming rights agreement signed with Aurora Energy in 2004...

 in Launceston, Tasmania
Launceston, Tasmania
Launceston is a city in the north of the state of Tasmania, Australia at the junction of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania after the state capital Hobart...

.

At Fremantle he has been allocated guernsey number 41.

After playing in the last six games in 2008, Duffield has cemented his spot in the Fremantle team, only missing one game. He is considered to be one of the leading contenders for 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.

Duffield is an old boy of Aquinas College, Perth
Aquinas College, Perth
Aquinas College is a Catholic independent, day and boarding school for boys, located in Salter Point, Western Australia. Its sister school is Santa Maria Ladies College located in Attadale...

 and was School Captain in his final year, 2002.

External links

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