Ben Long (footballer)

Ben Long
Long playing for St Kilda in April 2019
Personal information
Full name Ben Long
Date of birth (1997-08-21) 21 August 1997
Place of birth Darwin, Northern Territory
Original team(s) St Mary's (NTFL)
Footscray Bulldogs (VFL)
NT Thunder (NEAFL)
Draft No. 25, 2016 national draft
Debut Round 4, 2017, St Kilda vs. Collingwood, at Etihad Stadium
Height 183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 81 kg (179 lb)
Position(s) Defender/Forward
Club information
Current club Gold Coast
Number 22
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2017–2022 St Kilda 79 (31)
2023– Gold Coast 46 (53)
Total 125 (84)
Representative team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
2025 Indigenous All-Stars 1 (0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of round 17, 2025.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Ben Long (born 21 August 1997) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Gold Coast Suns in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Early life

Long was born in Darwin, Northern Territory[1] into a family of Indigenous Australian descent (Anmatjerre, Malak-Malak & Tiwi).[2] His grandfather, Jack Long Sr, and his father, Chris Long, were both premiership winning footballers for St Mary's in the Northern Territory Football League.[3][4] As a member of the Rioli-Long family he shares numerous relations with other notable footballers including dual Essendon premiership player and 1993 Norm Smith Medallist Michael Long (uncle), four-time Hawthorn premiership player and 2015 Norm Smith Medallist Cyril Rioli (cousin), three-time Richmond premiership player Daniel Rioli (nephew), 2018 West Coast premiership player Junior Rioli (cousin) and dual Adelaide AFLW premiership player Danielle Ponter (cousin).[5][6] Ben grew up playing junior football for St Mary's in the NTFL junior leagues[7] and in 2014, at the age of 16, he moved interstate to Victoria when he accepted a scholarship to attend Melbourne Grammar.[8] In 2016, he played in Footscray's VFL premiership winning team.[9]

AFL career

St Kilda

Long was drafted by the St Kilda Football Club with their first selection and twenty-fifth overall in the 2016 national draft.[10] He made his debut in the fourteen point win against Collingwood at Etihad Stadium in round four of the 2017 season.[11] Long was nominated for the AFL Rising Star for his performance in the draw against Greater Western Sydney at Etihad Stadium in round five of the 2018 AFL season, during which he recorded fifteen disposals, eight tackles, four marks and a goal.[12] In the final game of St Kilda's 2022 season, Long compiled a career-best performance against the Sydney Swans which included 27 disposals, 17 marks, 13 intercepts and one goal with a disposal efficiency of 96 per cent on his 25th birthday.[13]

Following his 2022 season, Long requested a trade to Gold Coast after playing six seasons at St Kilda. He was traded on 5 October 2022.[14]

Gold Coast

Long spent his first season in defence for the Suns. After struggling to cement his position in the team, new coach Damian Hardwick made a move to push Long forward and he became a prolific goalkicker. In round 12, 2024, Long kicked a career-best four goals against Essendon. He equalled this feat in the opening game of the following year against West Coast. The second of these performances began a string of career-best form in 2025 for Long, joining Champion Data's list of the ten best players in the competition early in the year.[15]

Statistics

Updated to the end of 2024.[16]

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
2017 St Kilda 21 4 0 2 15 21 36 6 13 0.0 0.5 3.8 5.3 9.0 1.5 3.3 0
2018 St Kilda 21 10 7 4 58 62 120 28 27 0.7 0.4 5.8 6.2 12.0 2.8 2.7 0
2019 St Kilda 21 16 14 9 101 51 152 59 45 0.9 0.6 6.3 3.2 9.5 3.7 2.8 0
2020[a] St Kilda 21 15 0 1 90 94 184 49 30 0.0 0.1 6.0 6.3 12.3 3.3 2.0 2
2021 St Kilda 21 15 2 9 94 49 143 52 35 0.1 0.6 6.3 3.3 9.5 3.5 2.3 0
2022 St Kilda 21 19 8 6 128 97 225 74 58 0.4 0.3 6.7 5.1 11.8 3.9 3.1 2
2023 Gold Coast 22 15 0 1 114 57 171 42 34 0.0 0.1 7.6 3.8 11.4 2.8 2.3 0
2024 Gold Coast 22 17 26 17 122 51 173 62 46 1.5 1.0 7.2 3.0 10.2 3.6 2.7
Career 111 57 49 722 482 1204 372 288 0.5 0.4 6.5 4.3 10.8 3.4 2.6 4

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. ^ Ryan, Michael (23 April 2020). "Country music, family and spear-fishing: Self-isolation in the Top End with Ben Long". Saints Media. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  2. ^ "AFL Players' Indigenous Map 2021" (PDF). AFL Players Association. 1 June 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Australian sporting patriarch Jack Long Senior farewelled in Darwin". ABC.net.au. 13 July 2010. Retrieved 13 May 2025.
  4. ^ "Family ties and Tiwi pride: Why Long's homecoming matters most". AFL.com.au. 16 May 2025. Retrieved 18 May 2025.
  5. ^ Ryan, Peter (19 March 2019). "It's a Long way to the top as Ben stays a Saint until 2022". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  6. ^ Sarah, Black (17 October 2018). "Rioli-Long lineage set to continue in AFLW". AFL.com.au. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  7. ^ Morris, Grey (28 September 2016). "Ben Long confident of strong showing at AFL draft combine". NT News. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  8. ^ "Draft Watch: Footscray's Ben Long". VFL. 2 November 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  9. ^ "Ben Long boosts draft chances with strong performance in Footscray VFL win". VFL. 26 September 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  10. ^ Bowen, Nick (25 November 2016). "Famous Long name continues at St Kilda". AFL.com.au. Telstra Media. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  11. ^ Cherney, Daniel (13 April 2017). "Ben Long to debut for St Kilda against Collingwood". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  12. ^ "Long breaks Saints' Rising Star dry spell". AFL.com.au. Telstra Media. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  13. ^ "Long takes to the skies, electrifies, in 2022 closer". saints.com.au. 22 August 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  14. ^ @AFL_House (5 October 2022). "Trade paperwork lodged" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  15. ^ Scanlon, Connor (6 May 2025). "Champion Data's top 10 players after Round 8". sen.com.au. 1116 SEN.
  16. ^ "Ben Long". AFL Tables. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ben Long (footballer).
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.