SA Footy

Does anyone know a list of the youngest players to have played SANFL or perhaps a few could fill in the gaps here?
One of the parents at my kids' school is a good friend of Nick Wark and they wanted to know exactly where he fitted into the list of all time youngest players for a league player in the SANFL.

Players I have so far (thanks to spelly):

Dexter Kennedy 15 years 11 months and 2 days
Ben Hart 16 years, 2 months and 14 days old
David Niemann 16 years and 4 months old
Nick Wark 16 years, 7 months and 6 days

Peter Turner must be in the mix ... I recall he started same time and same age as Benny Hart

This is all North's 16 year old debutants (according to Statsman) to the end of last season.

Hart, BM - 16 y, 2 m, 20 d (1st S - 1990 South Adelaide Football Park) 7 games *
Mail, JM - 16y, 3 m, 5 d (Rd 1 - 1991 South Adelaide Prospect) 71 games
Stribing, TL - 16 y, 4 m, 27 d (Rd 19 - 2003 Glenelg Glenelg) 1 game
Moritz, AK - 16 y, 5 m, 2 d (Rd 18 - 2000 South Adelaide Adelaide) 16 games *
McAdam, GJ - 16 y, 6 m, 9 d (Rd 22 - 1977 Woodville Prospect) 103 games
Robertson, CJ - 16 y, 6 m, 10 d (Rd 16 - 1997 Glenelg@Prospect) 43
Rivers, JP - 16 y, 7 m, 8 d (Rd 9 - 2001 South Adelaide@Prospect) 20
Ladhams, CJ - 16 y, 7 m, 28 d (Rd 12 - 1997 West Adelaide @Richmond) 51*
Boyley, DV - 16 y, 8 m, 2 d (Rd 1 - 1965 Central District @Prospect) 4
Turner, PA - 16 y, 8 m, 6 d (1st S - 1990 South Adelaide@Football Park) 58
Pearce, FI - 16 y, 10 m, 0 d (Rd 1 - 1940 Glenelg@Prospect) 17
Wellman, SD - 16 y, 10 m, 0 d (Rd 22 - 1991 Norwood@Football Park) 18
Burford, MC - 16 y, 10 m, 15 d (Rd 21 - 1998 Woodville-West Torrens@Woodville) 21
Roberts, TM - 16 y, 11 m, 14 d (Rd 7 - 1994 Port Adelaide @Alberton) 2
Fleet, H - 16 y, 11 m, 25 d (Rd 9 - 1924 West Adelaide@Prospect) 144

Sam Fairclough when he played his 1st was one of our youngest to play League.

MightyEagles wrote:Sam Fairclough when he played his 1st was one of our youngest to play League.

16 years, 10 months and 10 days

Thanks LL, I'm keen for a list of up to Nick Wark at least, so far we have:

Dexter Kennedy 15 years 11 months and 2 days
Ben Hart 16 years, 2 months and 20 days old
Josh Mail 16 years, 3 months and 5 days old
David Niemann 16 years and 4 months old
Toby Stribling 16 years, 4 months and 27 days old
Andrew Moritz 16 years, 5 months and 2 days old
Greg McAdam, 16 years, 6 months and 9 days old
Chris Robertson 16 years, 6 months and 10 days old
Nick Wark 16 years, 7 months and 6 days old

I think it would be interesting to try and find out as many 16 year old debutants as possible. Here are a few more:

Bryce Gibbs - 16 years, 1 month, 25 days
Niemann was, to be exact, 16 years, 4 months and 22 days
Samuel Mardling - 16 years, 7 months, 13 days
Lindsay Head - 16 years, 9 months, 26 days

Wedgie wrote:Ben Hart 16 years, 2 months and 20 days old

I think that Hart was 16 y, 2 m and 14 days old. He was born on the 9th of July 1974, and made his debut on the 23rd of September 1990, so that would be 14 days past 16 years and 2 months.

Angus monfries ?

Matthew Golding was 16 on debut...dunno the details though.

Pretty sure Glenelg's Robyn Kidney was only 16 when he started.
And also Wayne Mahney & Gavin Wanganeen might have been 16 too.

Jamie Downs was the youngest to debut for West since Dexter Kennedy....

Shannon Hurn?

HeartBeatsTrue wrote:Shannon Hurn?

I know that he was a touch over 16 (a couple of weeks from memory) in the u19's GF in 03 and made his debut sometime in 04 - I am guessing about 16yrs 7-8 months for him and his debut. Maybe a month or two younger than that.

smithy wrote:Angus monfries ?

Angus Monfries was 16yr, 4mths, 12 days old when he made his debut against Glenelg in rd 10 2003

I need exact dates to update the list.

Updated list now:

Dexter Kennedy 15 years 11 months and 2 days
Ben Hart 16 years, 2 months and 14 days old
Josh Mail 16 years, 3 months and 5 days old
David Niemann 16 years and 4 months old
Angus Monfries 16yr, 4mths, 12 days old
Toby Stribling 16 years, 4 months and 27 days old
Andrew Moritz 16 years, 5 months and 2 days old
Greg McAdam, 16 years, 6 months and 9 days old
Chris Robertson 16 years, 6 months and 10 days old
Nick Wark 16 years, 7 months and 6 days old

Wayne Slattery was pretty young when he started at South. I need to find a DOB.

Leaping Lindner wrote:Wayne Slattery was pretty young when he started at South. I need to find a DOB.

I have found a DOB for Wayne Slattery 22 oct 1960
he made his debut in round 1 in 1977 on apr 2 so he would have been 16 yrs, 5 mths and 11 days

Did we get a definitive list on this? Interested to see where Sam Mardling ranks...

The list is a long way from being definitive, especially because it is difficult to find birthdates for many players born in the early years of the SANFL.