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Rod Owen

Rod Owen DOB: 31 January 1967

MFC Debut: Round 1, 1991 against West Coast at Subiaco
Last MFC Game: Round 10, 1991 against Adelaide at Football Park

From: Beaumaris/Melbourne Grammar/St. Kilda/Frankston, trade for Stephen Newport

Number: 7 (1991)

Games: 9 (78 total)
Goals: 19 (143 total)
Career Statistics

WinsDrawsLossesWinning %
60366.66

Owen was the 11th youngest player in league history when he debuted at the Saints just after his 16th birthday. They had signed him for $30,000, after he'd been part of their junior development squad since age 13.

Owen was considered one of the club's best prospects, but after playing the first seven games of 1983, his season was wrecked by an ankle injury. A knee injury in early 1984 required a reconstruction, and he was restricted to 69 games across eight seasons. He was renowned at Moorabbin as a hard drinker and big punter, later confessing to losing $150,000 gambling, and to missing training due to hangovers or if it clashed with race meetings he was interested in. Over 30 years later Owen revealed he had been sexually abused while at school, acknowledging that the trauma contributed to much of his self-destructive behaviour later in life.

After walking out on the Saints in July 1990 to join VFA side Frankston, Owen was traded to Melbourne for Stephen Newport. At 24-years-old he swore off the booze and kicked 19 goals in nine games before suffering a season knee injury in Melbourne's first trip to Football Park. He returned to play Reserves, but couldn't break back into the senior side due to the emergence of Allen Jakovich in the second half of the season.

Owen moved to the Brisbane Bears in 1992 where he played another nine games before retiring. Brisbane had been interested in drafting him in 1991 before the Demons organised a trade for 1991 National Draft selection #40.

In 1999 he served nine months in jail for assault.

YearGamesGoalsBrownlow
1991 9193

Lists
Brisbane Bears
St Kilda
Trades
VFA

Notes
1991 Football Records refer to him as being from Kew Rovers/St Kilda. Draftguru shows him being traded from St Kilda for pick #91 and from Mentone Grammar.

Media
Inside Football - 07/06/1989
Age - 03/07/1990
Age - 09/09/1990
Canberra Times - 13/06/1991
Age - 22/09/1991
abc.net.au - 04/03/2021

Links
Demonwiki image gallery
Draftguru profile
VFA Project profile
Wikipedia profile