Tiger champion Andrew Bradley hangs up the boots

They say all good things must come to an end, and after 13 years of league footy we’ll say farewell to beloved Tiger icon Andrew Bradley.

‘Mr Reliable’ leaves us as a champion of the club in every way and a respected member of the SANFL community. He epitomises the club’s trademark culture, and his passion, loyalty, and the way he goes about his footy is second to none.

In the recent elimination final win against Sturt at Adelaide Oval, Andrew became just the 26^th footballer to play 200 league games for Glenelg, joining an elite group with the likes of Peter Carey, Graham Cornes, Peter Marker and more.

There isn’t much that Braddles hasn’t achieved in his fabulous career, but even more admirable is the hardships he’s had to overcome to achieve greatness.

Rising through the junior ranks in his early days, the boy from Kybybolite first tasted Tiger glory in the 2009 under-18 grand final win against Port Adelaide – a season where he was also named best and fairest.

In 2020, Braddles would become Glenelg player no 984 after making his League debut in Round 1 against Norwood. He went on to have a stellar season as a defender, earning the Stan Wickham award for Most Outstanding Junior.

Unfortunately, his string of injuries would begin with a broken right leg in Round 19 of 2010, before he suffered a broken left leg in 2011. These injuries saw him miss two years of finals – an opportunity he wouldn’t have again until 2019. Moving forward, he’d later suffer broken and dislocated collarbones in 2016 and 2017, and a broken jaw in 2020. But this has never stopped Andrew from playing the same courageous and desperate footy is he renowned for.

In 2013 and 2014 Andrew won the JH Ellers Best & Fairest, and is just the 10^th Glenelg player to win successive club champion awards. In 2016 he also featured in the SA State Team.

Highly regarded for his leadership skills, Braddles, at just 23 years old, was appointed co-captain – with Ty Allen – for season 2014, before taking the reins as sole captain in 2015. He would remain at the helm until the end of 2018, when he stepped away from his captaincy to focus on his football. This would prove to be a pivotal move, as Bradley was key in Glenelg’s 33-year drought-breaking premiership in 2019.

Over the last three years Andrew has continued to thrive, tackling covid and celebrating his 150^th milestone in 2020, while also welcoming two children to the family – Isabelle and Oliver. Most recently, he was awarded a Glenelg Player Life Membership along with Chris Curran, Max Proud, Matt Snook and Brad Agnew, as well as a SANFL Life Membership.

Andrew leaves a mighty legacy at the Bay, paved by both his own achievements and attitude, and his remarkable family history. His father David, uncle Phil, wife Jordana, and sisters Georgie and Alice, who is also a Tigers premiership player, have, or are, playing league football for Glenelg.

On behalf of the playing group, coaches, Board, staff, sponsors and members, we’d like to thank Andrew Bradley for his incredible contribution to the Glenelg Football Club and wish him all the best in his future endeavours.