Australian rules footballer, born 1987
Australian rules footballer
Shannon William Hurn
(born 4 September 1987) is a former
Australian rules footballer
who played for the
West Coast Eagles
in the
Australian Football League
(AFL). From
South Australia
, he excelled at both
cricket
and football at junior level, and at one stage had a rookie contract with the
South Australian Cricket Association
(SACA). Prior to being drafted by West Coast, Hurn played for
Central District
in the
South Australian National Football League
(SANFL), playing in premiership sides in 2004 and 2005. At West Coast, he debuted during the
2006 season
, and played 333 games for the club. Generally playing as a half-back flanker, Hurn had one of the most penetrating kicks in the AFL. He served as
West Coast captain
for five seasons. On 1 August 2023 he announced he would retire at the end of the
2023 AFL season
.
Early life
[
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]
Hurn hails from a sporting family; his father
William
played 135 games with Central District, and his grandfather
Brian
was a member of
South Australia
's
1963-64 Sheffield Shield-winning
team.
[1]
Hurn was born in
Angaston, South Australia
in the
Barossa Valley
and attended Angaston Primary and
Nuriootpa High School
. Hurn was heavily involved in school and local sporting clubs, allowing him to excel in his favourite sports:
cricket
and Australian rules football.
Hurn’s more professional career began whilst playing his two favourite sports simultaneously. He took on a rookie contract with
SACA
(South Australian Cricket Association) in 2004, turning down a second one in 2005 to focus on his football. Hurn played football for Central District, making it to two premierships in 2004 and 2005. In 2005, Hurn was picked to captain the U-18 South Australian side and also picked in the U-18 All-Australian selection in football.
Hurn was picked 13th in the first round in the 2005 draft to West Coast Eagles.
AFL career
[
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]
Hurn made his debut for
West Coast
in round 5,
2006
against the
Brisbane Lions
. After playing 6 games in his debut season he solidified his spot in the team, playing every game in
2007
. He was nominated for the
2007 AFL Rising Star
for his 19 possession performance in round 11 against
Essendon
.
Hurn played just six games in 2008 because of injury, in what was a poor year for the Eagles, but he rebounded to play 22 games in 2009, and 15 in 2010.
[2]
In 2011, he truly established himself as an elite kick and a highly damaging player off of the half back line. He was crucial to the Eagles' success, as they rebounded from the wooden spoon the previous year to a top-four team the next. Hurn played every game, including the three finals, including 15 disposals and a goal in the nail biting semi-final win over Carlton.
In 2012, Hurn continued his strong form, playing all 24 games, including an 18 disposal and one goal effort in the Elimination Final demolition of North Melbourne. West Coast missed the finals in 2013,
[3]
their lack of penetration out of the half-back line noticeable as Hurn played only 12 games.
After
Darren Glass
retired midway through the
2014 season
, Hurn was named acting co-captain of the club for the remainder of the season, along with four other players.
[4]
On 8 December 2014 it was announced that Hurn would become the 10th captain of the
West Coast Eagles
.
[5]
Captaincy (2015?2019)
[
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]
Hurn started out his captaincy with a highly successful first season in charge, leading West Coast to a grand final berth in
2015
. The Eagles lost to Hawthorn by 46 points.
Over the next two years, Hurn continued to provide drive off halfback and through kick-ins. The club continued to reach the finals, but were defeated by the
Western Bulldogs
in an Elimination Final in 2016, and by
Greater Western Sydney
in a Semi Final in 2017.
In 2018, Hurn's form improved dramatically; in a change of role in defence, he established himself as one of the best defenders in the comp, earning a maiden
All-Australian
selection on the halfback flank. This coincided with a remarkable rise for West Coast, with the club expected to fall after losing a substantial amount of experience in the offseason. They made the
Grand Final
for the first time in three years, facing and defeating Collingwood by five points, with Hurn becoming the third premiership captain in the club's history. He and
Mark LeCras
were the only players from the Eagles' 2006 playing list to feature in the 2018 Grand Final, although neither he nor LeCras were selected for the
2006 Grand Final
.
He continued his strong form into 2019, finishing with a second consecutive
All-Australian selection
, where he was named as Vice-Captain. He stepped down as captain following the 2019 season, to be replaced by
Luke Shuey
.
[6]
Retirement
[
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]
On August 1 2023, Hurn announced he would retire from the AFL at the end of the 2023 season.
[7]
Honours and achievements
[
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]
Team
Individual
Statistics
[
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]
- Statistics are correct to the end of the 2023 season
[8]
Notes
- ^
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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]
External links
[
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]
|
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Glendinning?Allan Medals
(retrospective)
|
- Rd 7, 1995:
Heady
- Rd 22, 1995:
Heady
- Rd 1, 1996:
Jakovich
- Rd 16, 1996:
McKenna
- Rd 3, 1997:
Banfield
- Rd 18, 1997:
Kemp
- Rd 3, 1998:
Gehrig
- Rd 18, 1998:
Lewis
- Rd 1, 1999:
McKenna
- Rd 16, 1999:
A. Fletcher
- Rd 6, 2000:
Cummings
- Rd 21, 2000:
Waterhouse
|
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Ross Glendinning Medals
|
- Rd 4, 2001:
Banfield
- Rd 19, 2001:
Jakovich
- Rd 1, 2002:
C. Fletcher
- Rd 16, 2002:
Hasleby
- Rd 5, 2003:
Gardiner
&
Sampi
- Rd 22, 2003:
Hasleby
- Rd 6, 2004:
Hasleby
- Rd 21, 2004:
C. Fletcher
- Rd 3, 2005:
Judd
- Rd 20, 2005:
Judd
- Rd 6, 2006:
Judd
- Rd 21, 2006:
Bell
- Rd 3, 2007:
Braun
- Rd 18, 2007:
Carr
- Rd 3, 2008:
Pavlich
- Rd 18, 2008:
Pavlich
- Rd 6, 2009:
Hasleby
- Rd 17, 2009:
Sandilands
- Rd 6, 2010:
Barlow
- Rd 18, 2010:
Sandilands
- Rd 8, 2011:
Priddis
- Rd 18, 2011:
Cox
- Rd 9, 2012:
Rosa
- Rd 19, 2012:
Pavlich
- Rd 1, 2013:
Barlow
/
Mundy
- Rd 16, 2013:
Barlow
- Rd 7, 2014:
Neale
- Rd 15, 2014:
S. Hill
- Rd 3, 2015:
Neale
- Rd 20, 2015:
J. Hill
- Rd 3, 2016:
Priddis
- Rd 20, 2016:
Kennedy
- Rd 5, 2017:
Kennedy
- Rd 17, 2017:
Hurn
- Rd 6, 2018:
Hurn
/
Neale
|
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Glendinning?Allan Medals
|
- Rd 20, 2018:
Yeo
- Rd 4, 2019:
Hurn
- Rd 16, 2019:
Sheppard
- 2020:
Kennedy
- Rd 7, 2021:
Kelly
- Rd 22, 2021:
Serong
- Rd 3, 2022:
Schultz
- Rd 22, 2022:
Darcy
- Rd 3, 2023:
Serong
- Rd 22, 2023:
Schultz
- Rd 6, 2024:
Yeo
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* denotes current player
Italics
denote all-time record holder
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Full-back
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Half-back
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Centre
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Half-forward
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Full-forward
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Ruck
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Interchange
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Coach
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The position of coach in the
All-Australian team
has been awarded to the coach of the premiership-winning team since 1999.
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Full-back
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Half-back
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Centre
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Half-forward
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Full-forward
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Ruck
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Interchange
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Coach
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The position of coach in the
All-Australian team
has been awarded to the coach of the premiership-winning team since 1999.
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First round
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Second round
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Third round
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Fourth round
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Fifth round
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