James Bell (Australian footballer)

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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

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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

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

Statistics

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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

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  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.
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