Keegan Brooksby

Keegan Brooksby (born 27 April 1990) is a professional Australian rules footballer who plays for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played for South Adelaide in the South Australian National Football League and was their best and fairest in 2014 before being selected in the 2015 rookie draft by Gold Coast. He was delisted at the end of 2016, re-drafted in the 2017 rookie draft and subsequently delisted again at the end of 2017.

Brooksby was recruited by South Adelaide in 2008 from a basketball background. He started his career mainly playing for South Adelaide's reserves team but by 2012 was starting to push his way into the league side, even playing for South Adelaide in a Foxtel Cup match against Port Melbourne. In spite of being considered short for a ruckman, his career went on the up in 2013 when he was the most improved player for South Adelaide, giving them a major advantage in ruck contests. In 2014 he consistently played well and was South Adelaide's best and fairest. His good form was rewarded when he was selected with pick 42 in the 2015 rookie draft by Gold Coast.

Brooksby was elevated from the rookie list and made his debut against Hawthorn in round 9 of the 2015 season. As he was Gold Coast's third choice ruckman, behind Tom Nicholls and Zac Smith, all of his AFL matches came filling in as a key forward or defender even though his specialty was ruckwork. After playing three AFL games, his season was brought to an early finish when doctors discovered a blood clot in his arm. Later in the year, one of his ribs had to be removed due to the blood clot.

In 2016 Brooksby continued to be Gold Coast's third choice ruckman, now behind Tom Nicholls and Daniel Currie. However, when both of them were injured, Brooksby got his first opportunities to play as a specialist ruckman at AFL level. His final game in 2016 was his best, collecting 17 disposals and winning 29 hit-outs against Port Adelaide in round 23. At the conclusion of the 2016 season, he was delisted by Gold Coast. He was subsequently re-drafted by Gold Coast in the 2017 rookie draft.

Brooksby traveled with the team for the first ever AFL games in China against Port Adelaide. He wasn't initially selected to play, but when teammate Rory Thompson injured his hamstring in the warm-up, Brooksby had to be rushed into the team at the last minute. In 2017 he continued to struggle to play in AFL matches because now he was relegated to fourth ruckman in line thanks to the addition of Jarrod Witts to the team. In spite of this, all three other ruckmen were injured simultaneously towards the end of the season, giving Brooksby another opportunity at AFL level. He was again delisted by Gold Coast at the conclusion of the 2017 season. He joined West Coast via the newly implemented pre-season supplemental selection period. .Brooksby captained South Adelaide in the SANFL for 2018, where he was the standout ruckman in the state league competition. West Coast thought he could fill a void as he had averaged 35 hitouts and 15 disposals per game in 2018.

In March 2020, Brooskby was signed to a one-year rookie deal by Hawthorn in the pre-season supplemental selection period.

Statistics are correct to the end of the 2017 season