Trent Croad
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| Personal Info | |
|---|---|
| Birth | March 9, 1980, New Zealand |
| Recruited from | Dandenong U18 (TAC Cup) |
| Height/Weight | 190cm / 96kg |
| Playing Career¹ | |
| Debut | Round 1, March 28, 1998, Hawthorn vs. Collingwood, at Melbourne Cricket Ground |
| Team(s) | Hawthorn (1998-2001, 2004-)
126 games, 101 goals Fremantle (2002-2003) 38 games, 60 goals |
| ¹ Statistics to end of 2005 season | |
| Career Highlights | |
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Trent Eric Croad (born March 9, 1980), is an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.
Starting with Hawthorn as an 18-year-old after being picked up at number 3 in the 1997 AFL Draft, Croad started out as a defender, playing at either centre half-back or fullback. But he showed his versatility as his career went on, being able to play in any number of key positions. An example of this was in 2002, when he was Fremantle's leading goalkicker with 42 goals.
Croad, was born in New Zealand and is one of only ten VFL/AFL players to have been born in New Zealand. Croad's grandfather Eric Bloggs was an All Blacks rugby union player. Trent grew up in Narre Warren in Victoria where he began playing Aussie Rules.
[edit] Fremantle debacle
Croad was traded from Hawthorn at the end of 2001, where he went to the Fremantle Dockers. In another in the long list of draft failures of the Dockers, they gave up picks 1, 20 and 36. The picks given up turned out to be current Hawthorn star Luke Hodge, Daniel Elstone (who had a very unsuccessful career), and star midfielder Sam Mitchell. While Croad was reasonable but not spectacular at the Dockers, he cited homesickness and asked to be traded back to Victoria at the end of 2003. As fate would have it, he was traded back to Hawthorn, his old club. But not only that, he was traded only for pick 10, which turned out to be promising current Fremantle youngster Ryley Dunn. Needless to say, Croad's career improved once he went back to the Hawks, winning All-Australian selection in 2005. The net result for the Dockers was disastrous.
[edit] Off the field
Croad not only has a successful football career, but his good looks have been used to appear at several social functions, including the 2005 Flemington Spring Racing Carnival fashion launch, and appearances on Western Australian food and wine TV shows.
On the 14th October 2006 Croad married stripper Tanya Stewart. Together they run a male hair-care company called Gear.
