Liam Stocker

Liam Stocker
Personal information
Date of birth (2000-01-23) 23 January 2000 (age 24)
Place of birth Camperdown, New South Wales
Original team(s) Sandringham Dragons
Draft #19, 2018 National Draft
Debut 5 May 2019, Carlton vs. North Melbourne, at Marvel Stadium
Height 184 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 83 kg (183 lb)
Position(s) Defender[1]
Club information
Current club St Kilda
Number 14
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2019–2022 Carlton 28 (2)
2023– St Kilda 20 (0)
Total 48 (2)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of round 2, 2023.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Liam Stocker (born 23 January 2000[2]) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), having initially been drafted to the Carlton Football Club. He was recruited with the 19th overall selection in the 2018 National Draft and was the first player to be drafted via a 'live trade'. Liam is from Victoria, and played for the Sandringham Dragons in the TAC Cup before being picked to represent Vic Metro at the 2018 AFL Under 18 Championships.

Early life and junior career

[edit]

Liam was born in Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.[3] His family moved to Beijing, China when Liam was 4 after his dad was given a job opportunity. Liam lived there until moving back to Australia at Sandringham in bayside Melbourne when he was 10.[4] He completed his schooling in 2017 at Haileybury College.[5] He started playing junior football at East Sandringham Zebras Junior Football Club in the South Metro Junior Football League.

Liam played for the Sandringham Dragons in the TAC Cup. In 2018, he had a standout season, averaging 22 disposals, 13 contested possessions, and 5 clearances. What stood out to a lot of people was his endurance, professionalism and ability to kick the ball well on both feet.[6] He was awarded the Morrish Medal, the best and fairest award for the TAC Cup, but sustained a jaw injury which saw him miss the AFL Under 18 Championships.[7] Nevertheless, he was still chosen by Vic Metro as one of their top prospects for the draft. A shoulder injury struck again and he missed the combine, leading him to admit that he 'had plans to TAC Cup footy next year'.[4]

AFL career

[edit]

Liam Stocker was selected by Carlton at No. 19 of the 2018 National draft. His recruitment made national headlines as he was the first player to be picked using the then-new system allowing draft picks to be traded live during draft night: Carlton made a live trade with the Adelaide Crows which saw the Blues receive Stocker's pick in exchange for the two clubs exchanging their first round picks in the following season's draft. For the early part of Stocker's debut season, the bold decision looked likely to backfire badly, and as late as Round 13, Adelaide was sitting in the top four while Carlton was on the bottom of the ladder, opening the possibility that it would lose the 2019 No. 1 selection for a low first-round pick; however, stronger end-of-season form saw it rise to 16th, and Adelaide lost seven of its last nine games to fall to 11th, such that in the end Carlton had traded pick No. 4 for Stocker and pick No. 9 (which in turn traded for the picks which secured Brodie Kemp and Sam Philp).[8][9]

Stocker made his AFL debut in round 7 of the 2019 season,[10] in a loss to North Melbourne, and finished the season with five games and averaging 14 disposals. He signed a 3-year contract keeping him at the club until 2022.[11] He did not play a senior match in the COVID-19 pandemic-interrupted 2020 season – ruling himself out after electing to return to Victoria when the club was forced to spend much of the season living on the Gold Coast to avoid interstate travel restrictions associated with the pandemic.[12] Stocker had his most successful season in 2021, playing 17 of 22 games; but, after being selected for only six matches in 2022, he was delisted at the end of the season.[13]

Stocker then joined St Kilda as a rookie during the supplemental selection period (SSP) ahead of the 2023 AFL season.[14]

Player profile

[edit]

An inside midfielder, Stocker's main qualities are his frame and his knack for getting the ball out of contests. Adept at kicking the ball on both feet, Stocker is also a scoreboard threat, using his versatility to attack the opposition around most of the playing area. Averaging 4 tackles in the TAC Cup and 5 clearances, he showed his grunt useful on the inside of contests along with his class on the outside.[1]

Statistics

[edit]

Updated to the end of round 2, 2023.[15]

Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game)
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2019 Carlton 13 5 0 0 42 26 68 12 9 0 0 8.4 5.2 13.6 2.4 1.8
2020[a] Carlton 13 0 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2021 Carlton 13 17 2 1 163 75 238 58 37 0.1 0.1 9.6 4.4 14.0 3.4 2.2
2022 Carlton 13 6 0 0 45 21 66 12 11 0 0 7.5 3.5 11.0 2.0 1.8
2023 St Kilda 14 17 0 0 23 15 38 17 7 0 0 11.5 7.5 19.0 8.5 3.5
Career 45 2 1 273 137 410 99 64 0.07 0.03 9.1 4.6 13.7 3.3 2.1

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

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  1. ^ a b "Pick 19: Liam Stocker". Carlton Football Club. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  2. ^ "Liam Stocker". Carlton Football Club. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  3. ^ CARLTON RECRUIT STOCKER “HAPPY TO HAVE” HIGH DRAFT PRESSURE from SEN.com.au 27 November 2018
  4. ^ a b "Stocker's surprise delight". Carlton Football Club. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  5. ^ "News".
  6. ^ "Tomorrow's Heroes: Inside mid who dominated TAC Cup". Australian Football League. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  7. ^ "Liam Stocker". Blueseum - History of the Carlton Football Club. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  8. ^ "AFL draft 2018: Liam Stocker Carlton, live trade with Adelaide". Fox Sports. 23 November 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  9. ^ Sam Landsberger (27 November 2019). "AFL draft 2019: Carlton reaps another windfall from Liam Stocker trade". Herald Sun. Melbourne, VIC. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  10. ^ "Stocker to debut". carltonfc.com.au. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  11. ^ "Blues Stock up for another three". carltonfc.com.au. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  12. ^ Marc McGowan (23 July 2020). "Confirmed: Promising Blue leaves Queensland hub, back in Victoria". Australian Football League. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  13. ^ "Carlton makes further list changes". Carlton Football Club. 5 September 2022. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
  14. ^ "Saints Stock up as ex-Blue becomes a Saint". saints.com.au. 20 January 2023. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  15. ^ "AFL Tables - Liam Stocker - Stats - Statistics". afltables.com. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
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