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James Bell (Australian footballer)

James Bell
Bell playing for Sydney in July 2019
Personal information
Full name James Bell
Date of birth (1999-02-10) 10 February 1999 (age 25)
Place of birth Shellharbour, New South Wales
Original team(s) Shellharbour Swans (AFL South Coast)/Sydney Swans Academy
Draft Category B Rookie Selection, 2017 rookie draft
Height 183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 81 kg (179 lb)
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current club Sydney
Number 32
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2018-2022; Sydney 28 (10)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of the 2022 season.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

James Bell (born 10 February 1999) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Early life

Bell was born and raised in Shellharbour in the Illawarra region of New South Wales[1] and is of Indigenous Australian heritage (Yuin).[2] He grew up playing soccer and was linked to the Western Sydney Wanderers for a number of years as a teenager.[3] He began playing Australian rules football at the age of 13 and was placed in the Sydney Swans developmental academy shortly after.[4] When Bell was 15, he was given an ultimatum to choose between his two sporting interests and elected to pursue Australian rules football after attending a three-day training camp with his childhood idol - Sydney Swans player and two-time Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes.[5] Bell subsequently moved to Sydney and joined the club's academy program full-time. The decision paid off when the Swans elected to pre-select Bell as a Category B rookie during the 2017 AFL draft.[6]

AFL career

Bell made his AFL debut for Sydney in 2019 in their round 21 fixture against Port Adelaide.[7]

Statistics

Updated to the end of the 2022 season.[8]

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
2017 Sydney 32 0
2018 Sydney 32 0
2019 Sydney 32 2 1 1 9 5 14 7 5 0.5 0.5 4.5 2.5 7.0 3.5 2.5
2020[a] Sydney 32 8 3 2 37 32 69 13 28 0.4 0.3 4.6 4.0 8.6 1.6 3.5
2021 Sydney 32 12 2 2 38 37 75 24 25 0.2 0.2 3.2 3.1 6.3 2.0 2.1
2022 Sydney 32 6 4 3 33 12 45 15 9 0.7 0.5 5.5 2.0 7.5 2.5 1.5
Career 28 10 8 117 86 203 59 67 0.4 0.3 4.2 3.1 7.3 2.1 2.4

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. ^ "AFL 2019: Sydney Swans team news, James Bell to debut". Daily Telegraph. 6 August 2019.
  2. ^ "AFL Indigenous Player Map 2018" (PDF). AFL Player's Association. 6 March 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 March 2019. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
  3. ^ Mee, Cameron (28 November 2017). "Swans select Shellharbour junior in AFL Rookie Draft". Illawarra Mercury.
  4. ^ "Bell to do Illawara proud". Sydney Swans. 7 August 2019.
  5. ^ Rugari, Vince (23 May 2019). "Goodes passes the torch to the AFL's next Indigenous leaders". The Age.
  6. ^ Mee, Cameron (28 November 2017). "Swans select Shellharbour junior in AFL Rookie Draft". Illawarra Mercury.
  7. ^ "Bell to debut". Sydney Swans. 6 August 2019.
  8. ^ "James Bell Stats". AFL Tables. Retrieved 30 August 2022.