Sam Reid
WESTERN BULLDOGS FC
Born: 7 November 1989
Height: 188cm
Weight: 80kg
Junior Club: Lavington, Caloundra
Senior Club: Zillmere Eagles
Schools: Talara Primary, Caloundra State High
Regional Selection: U15 (2005), U18 (2007)
Queensland Selection: U17 (1994)
Draft Details: Selection #35 (3rd round) 2007 National Draft
AFL Debut: Western Bulldogs v Adelaide Crows, AAM Stadium, Round 22, 2008 (30 August)
Jumper Number: 11
AT A GLANCE: A young man with very much a two-pronged challenge in his life … wanting to make it in the AFL and needing to combat type 1 diabetes. Having played five games with the Western Bulldogs in 2008-09, his life changed forever when in November 2009 he was diagnosed with the life-time illness. Suddenly it put everything in perspective. Life would never be the same again. He would require four insulin injections daily for the rest of his life. He would need to test his blood sugar levels using a small machine, learn how to tell how much insulin he needed and how to inject it into his stomach. How to cope when occasionally he would become hypoglycaemic when his blood sugar dipped too low. And how to make it all fit into and complement his football. Bulldogs officials have been overjoyed with how quickly Reid came to grips with the whole thing, and are delighted by medical advice that there is no reason why he cannot still be the same young footballer who narrowly missed the Bulldogs 2009 finals campaign, and looms as a valuable member of the club’s playing list.
Born in Bundaberg, Reid grew up in the Bundaberg/Sunshine Coast region, and shared the football love of his father, who was a top country player in Victoria and trialed at Geelong and St.Kilda. He had actually started playing football as a four-year-old in Lavington in 1994 when the family was living in the area, but had a three-year break and didn’t take it up again until 2000. Thereafter, though, he was always a top-level junior. He represented Queensland at U16 level in 2005 and U18s in 2007, and was a member of the 2007 AIS/AFL Academy. Twice Caloundra Footballer of the Year, he was an emergency for the Queensland U18 side as a 16-year-old in 2006, when he played QAFL State League football as a top-up player with the Suncoast Lions. Graduating from a running wingman to a genuine on-baller in 2007, he joined the Zillmere Eagles to further his career and was a member of the State U18 team’s leadership group under coach Danny Craven.
After a solid performance in what was a disappointing U18 campaign for the Scorpions, he was one of two Queenslanders drafted in 2007 – he went to the Bulldogs at No.35 after Brendan Whitecross was picked up by Hawthorn at No.29. He made his AFL debut in Round 22 of his first season in front of 37,543 people at AAMI Stadium. He added four further games in 2009 in Rounds 14-20-21-22, confirming his potential with an outstanding performance against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba in Round 20. He was an emergency for the Dogs’ first final and trained with the senior squad right through the September campaign, very much in the selection mix. He’d carried a debilitating groin condition through the 2009 season and it was in the rehabilitation period following painful groin surgery that his diabetes was discovered. Still, he had impressed no end with his attack on the ball and his all-round game off half back, and had every reason despite his illness to look forward to an extended career at Whitten Oval as a tall midfielder.
