Drew Banfield

DOB

27/2/1974

Height

184cm

Weight

89 kg

Junior club

Subiaco/Quairading JFC

Arrived

Pick 1 in the 1992 national draft

Number

31 (1993)
6 (1994 – 2006)

Debut

Round 16 1993 vs Essendon – 84th Eagles player

Games

265

Goals

76

Honours

Premiership medals (1994, 2006)
Club Champion (1996)
Rookie of the Year (1993)
Best Clubman (2002)
Team 20 selection (2006)

B&F Top 10

6 (1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001)

Best Finish

1st (1996)

Last app.

Grand Final 2006 vs Sydney

Departed

Retired at the end of the 2006 season

Other clubs

Subiaco (WAFL) 1992-2006
University (WAAFL) 2011

The unassuming Drew Banfield was a popular and successful player, being the only Eagle whose career spanned the premierships of the 1990s and the 2000s.

West Coast career

A highly-rated junior, Banfield was selected by the reigning premiers in 1992 after they somehow hoodwinked Sydney into trading the top pick in the draft for Scott Watters and Tony Begovich.

Banfield managed just 7 games in 1993, all coming in the second half of the regular season, but it was enough to win the club’s Rookie of the Year award.

The following season he played 24 games, starting on the bench in the grand final and collecting the first of his premiership medals as West Coast easily accounted for Geelong.

A tenacious midfielder early in his career, Banfield was seen as the logical successor to an ageing Dwayne Lamb. It was in 1996 after Lamb had retired that he had his best season, playing every game, averaging almost 20 touches and being crowned the Club Champion at the end of the season. Banfield almost repeated that effort in 1999, as he, Ben Cousins and Michael Braun finished a single vote behind best and fairest Guy McKenna.

After displaying remarkable resilience with injury during the first half of his career, a knee injury curtailed his 2001 after just 9 games.

Never the quickest guy in the team, as age began to slow Banfield further he moved from the midfield into the backline, where he performed impressively as a shut-down small defender. Having found himself as the sole survivor from the 1992/94 premiership teams in 2005, he played every match that season, notching up his 250th game in the preliminary final and blanketing dangerous Swans forward Nick Davis in the grand final, his second in 11 years.

Turning 32 years old during the 2006 preseason, Banfield struggled for selection and spent some rare time at Subiaco in the early part of the season before breaking into the seniors in round 9. After a qualifying final loss to Sydney, he was dropped for the semi-final but returned a week later to replace an injured David Wirrpanda. After some no doubt sleepless nights he narrowly retained his spot for the grand final, allowing him to renew his battle with Davis. The Swans goalsneak finished with 3 goals but Banfield had the last laugh, winning a second premiership medal to go with his first from 12 years before.

Banfield bowed out on a high after the 2006 season, finishing with the then-third-most games in Eagles history and a number of other accolades to go with his two premiership wins.

Post-AFL career

As well as a short stint doing special comments on Fox Footy, Banfield won another premiership medal in 2011 as a member of the University A-Reserves amateur side.

Stats

AFL	Gm	G	B	K	M	H	D	T	Cl	WAFL	Gm	G	B	K	M	H	D
1993	7	2	2	57	14	19	76	9		Subi	16	3
1994	24	7	4	192	39	116	308	46			0
1995	23	6	7	180	53	179	359	48			0
1996	24	9	3	240	72	220	460	48			0
1997	21	14	8	229	70	176	405	53			0
1998	22	11	4	217	60	148	365	51	71		0
1999	24	6	8	259	59	173	432	18	92		0
2000	17	6	3	162	44	138	300	40	54		0
2001	9	4	1	76	24	69	145	23	24		0
2002	22	1	2	168	55	123	291	56	49		1	0
2003	22	3	4	145	54	142	287	38	23		0
2004	11	2	0	110	42	56	166	21	11		3	0
2005	25	3	2	197	90	145	342	46	33		0
2006	14	2	0	106	53	88	194	27	7		3	0	0	36	15	29	65
Tot	276	75	48	2338	729	1792	4130	524	364
Avg		0.3		8.8	2.8	6.8	15.6	2.0	2.2