Introduction
Gavin Adrian Wanganeen (born 18 June 1973) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Essendon in the Australian Football League (AFL) and Port Adelaide in both the AFL and the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Wanganeen won the 1993 Brownlow Medal. Wanganeen is a descendant of the Kokatha Mula people. He is the first cousin of brothers Aaron and Alwyn Davey.
Early life
Wanganeen was born in Mount Gambier to a footballing family; his great-grandfather had played for the local team at the Koonibba mission near Ceduna. He is an Indigenous Australian of Kokatha Mula descent.
His family moved from Mount Gambier to Port Lincoln for a few years. By the time Wanganeen was 5 they moved again to Salisbury, a norther suburb in Adelaide.
Wanganeen played junior football for Adelaide based South Australian Amateur Football League club Salisbury North and attended Salisbury East High School.
At the age of 14, Wanganeen joined the Port Adelaide Under 17s side in the SANFL.
Football career
Port Adelaide: 1990
Wanganeen made his senior SANFL debut with Port Adelaide in 1990 at only 16 years of age. The 1990 SANFL season was the last year that the competition was the highest level of football in South Australia. He played 24 matches and kicked 46 goals, winning the SANFL Rookie of the Year award, starring in Port Adelaide's 1990 SANFL Grand Final win kicking two goals.
Essendon: 1991–1996
Drafted to Essendon, Wanganeen debuted for the club in 1991, Round 2 in a win against Richmond. He immediately finding a niche as an attacking defender. His quality was recognised in 1993 when he won the Brownlow Medal for the best and fairest player in the league, the first Aboriginal Australian to do so, as well as being a key player in South Australia's State of Origin Carnival Championship, and Essendon's Premiership win that year. In 2002, Wanganeen was voted the 19th best Essendon player of all time in the "Champions of Essendon" list.
Port Adelaide return: 1997–2006
Wanganeen returned to Port Adelaide in 1997 as the club's 59th captain and its inaugural captain in the AFL. He received 11 Brownlow votes for the year, but after his first season injuries conspired to minimise his impact. He relinquished the Port Adelaide captaincy at the end of the 2000 AFL season which saw a return to his best form. In 2003 Wanganeen was favourite to once again win the Brownlow (he finished equal second). In 2004 Wanganeen won his second premiership medal in Port's first AFL premiership side. Wanganeen played his 300th AFL game in the 2006 season, but then injured his right knee in a SANFL game for the Port Adelaide Magpies, which led him to retire from football. Wanganeen was the first Aboriginal player to play 300 AFL games. He was honoured by the Power by the naming of the best under 21 medal after him, the Gavin Wanganeen Medal.
Statistics
| Legend | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | Goals | B | Behinds | K | Kicks | H | Handballs | D | Disposals | M | Marks | T | Tackles |
| Season | Team | # | Games | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | G | B | K | H | D | M | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | Averages (per game) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1991 | Essendon | 4 | 18 | 12 | 13 | 155 | 89 | 244 | 39 | 38 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 8.6 | 4.9 | 13.6 | 2.2 | 2.1 |
| 1992 | Essendon | 4 | 21 | 11 | 17 | 238 | 121 | 359 | 55 | 73 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 11.3 | 5.8 | 17.1 | 2.6 | 3.5 |
| 1993 | Essendon | 4 | 22 | 5 | 3 | 267 | 146 | 413 | 69 | 30 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 12.1 | 6.6 | 18.8 | 3.1 | 1.4 |
| 1994 | Essendon | 4 | 22 | 12 | 9 | 286 | 101 | 387 | 82 | 42 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 13.0 | 4.6 | 17.6 | 3.7 | 1.9 |
| 1995 | Essendon | 4 | 23 | 10 | 10 | 267 | 124 | 391 | 60 | 27 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 11.6 | 5.4 | 17.0 | 2.6 | 1.2 |
| 1996 | Essendon | 4 | 21 | 14 | 8 | 242 | 111 | 353 | 64 | 43 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 11.5 | 5.3 | 16.8 | 3.0 | 2.0 |
| 1997 | Port Adelaide | 1 | 20 | 14 | 6 | 219 | 129 | 348 | 49 | 28 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 11.0 | 6.5 | 17.4 | 2.5 | 1.4 |
| 1998 | Port Adelaide | 1 | 15 | 8 | 9 | 176 | 60 | 236 | 52 | 28 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 11.7 | 4.0 | 15.7 | 3.5 | 1.9 |
| 1999 | Port Adelaide | 1 | 16 | 5 | 4 | 193 | 92 | 285 | 59 | 15 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 12.1 | 5.8 | 17.8 | 3.7 | 0.9 |
| 2000 | Port Adelaide | 1 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 120 | 55 | 175 | 36 | 9 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 12.0 | 5.5 | 17.5 | 3.6 | 0.9 |
| 2001 | Port Adelaide | 4 | 24 | 41 | 22 | 256 | 109 | 365 | 75 | 26 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 10.7 | 4.5 | 15.2 | 3.1 | 1.1 |
| 2002 | Port Adelaide | 4 | 20 | 12 | 7 | 201 | 83 | 284 | 64 | 21 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 10.1 | 4.2 | 14.2 | 3.2 | 1.1 |
| 2003 | Port Adelaide | 4 | 25 | 15 | 18 | 433 | 91 | 524 | 161 | 33 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 17.3 | 3.6 | 21.0 | 6.4 | 1.3 |
| 2004 | Port Adelaide | 4 | 19 | 24 | 10 | 193 | 103 | 296 | 86 | 17 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 10.2 | 5.4 | 15.6 | 4.5 | 0.9 |
| 2005 | Port Adelaide | 4 | 23 | 13 | 8 | 227 | 135 | 362 | 75 | 29 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 9.9 | 5.9 | 15.7 | 3.3 | 1.3 |
| 2006 | Port Adelaide | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Career | 300 | 202 | 149 | 3473 | 1558 | 5031 | 1027 | 460 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 11.6 | 5.2 | 16.8 | 3.4 | 1.5 | ||
Honours and Achievements
| Brownlow Medal votes | |
| Season | Votes |
|---|---|
| 1991 | 7 |
| 1992 | 11 |
| 1993 | 18 |
| 1994 | 6 |
| 1995 | 7 |
| 1996 | 4 |
| 1997 | 11 |
| 1998 | 3 |
| 1999 | 11 |
| 2000 | — |
| 2001 | 4 |
| 2002 | 2 |
| 2003 | 21 |
| 2004 | 2 |
| 2005 | 2 |
| 2006 | — |
| Total | 109 |
| Key: | |
| Green / Bold = Won | |
Essendon
Team
- AFL Premiership (Essendon): 1993
- McClelland Trophy (Essendon): 1993
- Pre-Season Cup (Essendon): 1993, 1994
Individual
- Champions of Essendon - No. 19
- Essendon F.C. Team of the Century - Back Pocket
Port Adelaide
Team
- AFL Premiership (Port Adelaide): 2004
- McClelland Trophy (Port Adelaide): 2002, 2003, 2004
- Pre-Season Cup (Port Adelaide): 2001, 2002
Individual
- John Cahill Medal (Port Adelaide F.C. Best & Fairest): 2003
- Port Adelaide F.C. Captain: 1997-2000
- Port Adelaide F.C Life Membership Recipient: 2006
Other Individual Awards
- Brownlow Medal: 1993
- All-Australian: 1992, 1993, 1995, 2001, 2003
- Michael Tuck Medal: 1993
- Inside Football - Player of the Year:2003
- Deadly Awards - Most Outstanding Achievement in AFL: 2004
- Indigenous Team of the Century - Half-Back Flank
- AFL Life Membership Recipient:2004
SANFL
Team
- SANFL Premiership (Port Adelaide): 1990
Individual
- SANFL Rookie of the Year: 1990
Personal life
Wanganeen has two children; a daughter, Mia and a son, Tex, from a previous relationship.
In July 2012, Wanganeen married Pippa Hanson, a former Miss World entrant, model and TV presenter. The couple have two daughters, Kitty Emerald and Lulu Allegra and are expecting their third child.
Since retiring from football, Wanganeen has focused on business interests involving ownership of three Anytime Fitness centres at Modbury, Port Adelaide and Essendon.
Wanganeen has served as a voluntary ambassador for the Australian branch of the White Ribbon Campaign which is a men's campaign that tackles violence against women. He also lent his name to the Gavin Wanganeen Indigenous Scholarship (GWIS) at the University of South Australia, which was established in 2005 to support disadvantaged Indigenous students to complete a university degree.
He is a third cousin of Rabbit Proof Fence actress Natasha Wanganeen.
In 2013, Wanganeen was appointed senior coach of Pulteney Grammar School's football team.