Tyson Edwards (born 6 August 1976) is a former Australian rules footballer with the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Raised in the small Mallee town of Wynarka, around 120 km from Adelaide, he is widely regarded as one of the most consistent and durable players to have played the game.[1]

Tyson Edwards
Personal information
Full name Tyson Edwards
Date of birth (1976-08-06) 6 August 1976 (age 48)
Place of birth Adelaide, Australia
Original team(s) West Adelaide (SANFL)
Draft 21st overall, 1994 Pre-Season draft
Adelaide
Height 178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 81 kg (179 lb)
Position(s) Midfielder
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1995–2010 Adelaide 321 (192)
International team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
2002 Australia 2 (?)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2010.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Between the ages of 11 and 15, Edwards' mother Jan would drive him the 250 km round trip to Adelaide at least twice a week so that he could train with West Adelaide's junior teams.

Recruited from West Adelaide in the SANFL, Edwards made his AFL debut in 1995 and subsequently established himself as one of the AFL's most consistent and underrated midfielders. This is to such an extent that he has not won any of the AFL's major awards, or even a club best-and-fairest award; his greatest honours were being a member of Adelaide's 1997 and 1998 premiership sides.

In 2008, he placed fourth in the Crows Club Champion voting, with 137 votes,[2] again highlighting his consistency within the playing group.

Edwards played his 300th game for the Adelaide Crows against Essendon in Round 11, 2009. The Crows won the match 21.4 (130) – 18.6 (114), and Edwards celebrated by gathering an equal-career-best 41 possessions. Four games later, he and dual-premiership teammate Andrew McLeod played their 290th match together, setting a new VFL/AFL record in the process; they extended this record to 307 games, which, as of the end of the 2022 AFL season, remains the league record.

On 27 May 2010, Edwards announced his retirement from the AFL, effective immediately, after being dropped from the Adelaide side.[3] Coach Neil Craig later agreed to allow Edwards a farewell game, his 321st, the next week against Fremantle in Adelaide. The decision worked wonders, with the Crows upsetting the second-placed Dockers by 23 points, with Edwards again celebrating his milestone with a best-on-ground effort featuring 32 possessions and two goals.

On 19 March 2011, Edwards revealed he had battled testicular cancer in his final year at the Adelaide Crows, in what he described as his "year from hell".[4]

Edwards was an assistant coach at the Port Adelaide Football Club from seasons 2012 to 2015.

Personal life

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He is married to Mandy with three sons: Jackson, Luke, and Brodie.

Jackson was drafted as a father–son selection in the 2017 Rookie draft but was delisted after one season without playing a match, while Luke was drafted by the West Coast Eagles as the 52nd pick in the 2020 AFL draft.

Playing statistics

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[5]
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
1995 Adelaide 37 12 2 2 82 69 151 26 8 0.2 0.2 6.8 5.8 12.6 2.2 0.7
1996 Adelaide 37 17 7 3 94 61 155 41 26 0.4 0.2 5.5 3.6 9.1 2.4 1.5
1997 Adelaide 9 17 5 3 108 69 177 57 34 0.3 0.2 6.4 4.1 10.4 3.4 2.0
1998 Adelaide 9 15 11 1 93 52 145 42 13 0.7 0.1 6.2 3.5 9.7 2.8 0.9
1999 Adelaide 9 20 20 5 144 85 229 72 31 1.0 0.3 7.2 4.3 11.5 3.6 1.6
2000 Adelaide 9 22 14 12 313 122 435 114 47 0.6 0.5 14.2 5.5 19.8 5.2 2.1
2001 Adelaide 9 23 12 16 322 159 481 102 62 0.5 0.7 14.0 6.9 20.9 4.4 2.7
2002 Adelaide 9 25 16 7 335 153 488 109 57 0.6 0.3 13.4 6.1 19.5 4.4 2.3
2003 Adelaide 9 23 19 11 276 163 439 96 49 0.8 0.5 12.0 7.1 19.1 4.2 2.1
2004 Adelaide 9 22 18 20 303 135 438 108 62 0.8 0.9 13.8 6.1 19.9 4.9 2.8
2005 Adelaide 9 25 17 3 317 237 554 106 73 0.7 0.1 12.7 9.5 22.2 4.2 2.9
2006 Adelaide 9 22 15 4 301 241 542 116 79 0.7 0.2 13.7 11.0 24.6 5.3 3.6
2007 Adelaide 9 23 7 8 348 231 579 132 94 0.3 0.3 15.1 10.0 25.2 5.7 4.1
2008 Adelaide 9 23 19 15 306 195 501 140 71 0.8 0.7 13.3 8.5 21.8 6.1 3.1
2009 Adelaide 9 22 8 12 289 265 554 125 86 0.4 0.5 13.1 12.0 25.2 5.7 3.9
2010 Adelaide 9 10 2 3 127 99 226 55 38 0.2 0.3 12.7 9.9 22.6 5.5 3.8
Career 321 192 125 3758 2336 6094 1441 830 0.6 0.4 11.7 7.3 19.0 4.5 2.6

References

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  1. ^ "Tyson Edwards". portadelaidefc.com.au. Port Adelaide Football Club. Retrieved 23 August 2015.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ "2008 Club Champion Votes". afc.com.au. Archived from the original on 8 October 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2008.
  3. ^ "Tyson Edwards walks out on Crows". Heraldsun.com.au. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  4. ^ "Crows star Tyson Edwards in secret cancer battle | Adelaide Now". www.adelaidenow.com.au. Archived from the original on 21 March 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  5. ^ "AFL Tables - Tyson Edwards - Stats - Statistics". Afltables.com. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
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