User:Ezuma
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[edit] Brent Evans
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Birth | 9 February 1986 , |
| Recruited from | Whitford Amateur Football Club (WAAFL) |
| Height and weight | 182cm / 84kg |
| Playing career¹ | |
| Debut | Round 2, 2004, Whitford Warriors vs. Swan Athletic, at McDonald Reserve |
| Team(s) | Whitford Warriors (2004- )
77 games, 72 goals |
| ¹ Statistics to end of 2007 season | |
| Career highlights | |
|
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Brent Evans (born February 9, 1986) is an Australian rules footballer for the Whitford Warriors in the Western Metropolitan Football Competition.
After an average debut season in 2004, Evans came into his own in 2005 and quickly established himself as one of the best and most dangerous young players in the competition. His remarkable long-passing skills and his deadly accuracy in front of goal have made him a permanent part of the Warriors lineup. He wears the number 32 for the Warriors, which he says is his lucky number.
Hailing from Perth, the West Australian capital, Evans was born from a Welsh-Italian father and an English mother. He started playing football at five years old for Whitford in his local Auskick competition, and grew up playing for the Whitford Junior Football Club, alongside teammates Sam Palm, Jason Hall and Sean McCullum, and against Nathan Bluett and Nathan Ogg, two other teammates. He often played in the backline against Nathan Ogg, but played against Bluett several times as well.
Evans was recruited from the Whitford Warriors Amateur Football Club in the WAAFL with the 18th selection in the 2003 WMFA draft and made his debut in 2004 for the Whitford Warriors. Debuting in round 2 of the 2004 season, Evans started the match in the forward pocket and booted five goals, which in 2007 was voted the best performance by a debutant in Metropolitan Football Association history. Evans continued his great form, kicking five goals the next week. Shockingly, he was dropped for the round four clash against bitter arch-rivals Swan Athletic, and only managed 8 games for the remainder of the year.
2005 was his breakthrough season. Playing off half-back, often in the absence of half-back flanker Michael Wilson, his rebound from defence, and his ability to mop up behind the play, saw the Warriors become the number one defensive side of the season, conceding the least amount of total points per game. A very attacking player, Evans would often drift up the field, getting most of his possessions in the midfield, and would often sneak into the forward line and kick goals. He was heavily criticised for this style of play, although coach James Tyler supported and encouraged Evans' style of play.
2006 and 2007 is when Evans really made a name for himself as one of the most dangerous players in the competition. With the arrival of Callum Rudrum at the club from the University Football Club, and the stability of the backline better than ever, with consistent performances from young players such as Sean McCullum and Jason Hall on the back half, Evans was often rotated through the forward line and centre line, where his extraordinary kicking skills and marking ability saw him kick three goals from over 55m out, all in one game.
He played arguably his best game in the 2007 second semi-final against arch rivals Swan Athletic, where he kicked the last three goals of the match in the space of 90 seconds to snatch victory for his side and send them into the Grand Final, where they would eventually play Swan Athletic again. The most miraculous of his goals was his third, the final kick of the game, and the winning goal. In the dying seconds of the game, the ball was in the Warriors' forward fifty, and was being heavily contested. Captain Steven Browne grabbed the ball and attempted a snap but his kick was smothered away and it rolled towards two Swan Athletic players, who had free men up the field. As Swan Athletic defenders Kieron Lyle and Ben Carr closed in on the ball, Evans ran between them, swept up the ball with one hand and kicked a goal without even taking a step. It was nominated for the 2007 WMFA Goal of the Year but it didn't win. Ironically, it went to teammate Sam Palm, who in the same match, somehow kicked the ball off the outside of his left foot whilst facing the other way and managed to hook it back in towards goal.
