David Hille
Personal information
Full name David Barry Hille
Date of birth (1981-06-02) 2 June 1981
Original team(s) Dandenong Stingrays (TAC Cup)
Draft No. 40, 1999 National Draft, Essendon
Height 202 cm (6 ft 8 in)
Weight 108 kg (238 lb)
Position(s) Ruckman
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2001–2013 Essendon 197 (153)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2013.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

David Barry Hille (born 2 June 1981) is a former Australian rules footballer with the Essendon Football Club.

Early life

In his senior year at high school, Hille and seven other schoolmates from Peninsula Grammar lodged themselves into a station wagon and crashed it 500m up the road from where they took off in South Frankston. Three of the boys in the car were killed, and the other three seriously injured, but Hille was not injured. The accident report claims that Hille was wearing his seatbelt, which is why he has appeared on commercials about buckling up when driving.[1]

Football career

He made his debut in 2001 with the Essendon Football Club and proved to be a solid ruckman for a number of years. In 2006, Hille was appointed stand-in captain after Matthew Lloyd suffered a season-ending hamstring injury in round three.[2]

He captained his first game in Round 6, 2006. From 2007 to 2012, he held the role of vice-captain of the Essendon Football Club which he shared with Mark McVeigh for the most part.

In the Round 17, 2006 clash between Essendon and Brisbane Lions (the first match Essendon won under his captaincy, and since the beginning of April that year), Brisbane ruckman Jamie Charman fell heavily in a contest, seriously injuring his shoulder. The image of David Hille comforting his opponent whilst medical help arrived was often replayed by the football media as a rare example of sportsmanship in such a competitive game.

At the 2008 Essendon Best and Fairest, Hille swept the floor by taking the most prestigious award of the night, the 'Best and Fairest'. Hille also came away with the 'Cheersquad award'.

Hille suffered a knee injury in the second minute of the Bombers' annual ANZAC Day match against Collingwood in Round 5, 2009. Scans confirmed he had ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament, requiring a full knee construction and ending his season.[3]

In 2009, Hille appeared alongside other AFL footballers in an AFL television advertisement titled "AFL: In a League of its Own", which featured prominent AFL players playing Australian rules football at famous sporting venues around the world, and in the middle of other sports being played, including basketball, Association football and American football. Hille is notably the second player featured in the advertisement, where he contests an opening bounce against West Coast Eagles player Dean Cox and wins the resultant contest, tapping the ball down to Brett Deledio on a basketball court.[4]

Retirement

On 29 August 2013, Hille announced his intention to retire from AFL Football at season's end. Hille's career at Essendon included captaining the team in 2006 in the absence of injured forward and captain Matthew Lloyd, winning Essendon's best and fairest, the W.S. Crichton Medal, in 2008 and winning the Yiooken Award in 2010, awarded for being adjudged best on ground in the annual Dreamtime at the 'G match between Essendon and Richmond.

Hille, along with 33 other Essendon players, was found guilty of using a banned performance-enhancing substance, thymosin beta-4, as part of Essendon's sports supplements program during the 2012 season. He and his team-mates were initially found not guilty in March 2015 by the AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal,[5] but a guilty verdict was returned in January 2016 after an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency. He was suspended for two years which, with backdating, ended in November 2016, although by this stage had already retired from football at all levels.[6]

Personal life

Studied a Bachelor of Business at RMIT University and currently lives in Sydney with his wife Kirsty. David and Kirsty have a two-year-old daughter, Matilda and will soon have a second child. David completed postgraduate studies at Sydney University and now works for Deloitte as a senior analyst.

Statistics

Statistics are correct to Round 6 of the 2013 season.[7][8]
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game)
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2001 Essendon346132312351330.20.53.82.05.82.20.5
2002 Essendon341911101006516577270.60.55.33.48.74.01.4
2003 Essendon192420141719126278320.80.67.13.810.93.21.3
2004 Essendon192325181499224183291.10.86.54.010.53.61.3
2005 Essendon19131078310018356190.80.56.47.714.14.31.5
2006 Essendon1921131513616430092290.60.76.57.814.34.41.4
2007 Essendon19187811311522870330.40.46.36.412.73.91.8
2008 Essendon19201918177147324103341.00.98.87.416.25.21.7
2009 Essendon195132534591540.20.65.06.811.83.00.8
2010 Essendon1916161112313926290241.00.77.78.716.45.61.5
2011 Essendon19192013147149296110271.00.77.77.815.65.81.4
2012 Essendon19997735412747101.00.88.16.014.15.21.1
2013 Essendon193142420441030.31.38.06.714.73.31
Career 196 153 131 1344 1182 2526 844 274 0.8 0.7 6.9 6.0 12.9 4.3 1.4
Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks

References

  1. ↑ Lane, Samantha (10 August 2010). "Footy star says: don't go down road I travelled". The Age. Melbourne.
  2. ↑ Hille appointed acting captain | Essendon Football Club | News Story
  3. ↑ "Hille out for season". Archived from the original on 27 April 2009. Retrieved 26 April 2009.
  4. ↑ "AFL Commercial 2009 - In A League Of It's [sic] Own - HD". YouTube. ALZ. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  5. ↑ Twomey, Callum (31 March 2015). "Thirty-four present and former Bombers cleared of all drug charges". AFL.com.au. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  6. ↑ Travis King (12 January 2016). "Guilty: court bans the Essendon 34 for 2016". Australian Football League. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  7. ↑ "David Hille statistics". AFL Tables. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  8. ↑ "David Hille of the Essendon Bombers Career AFL Stats". Retrieved 10 August 2013.
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