Darren Bartsch

Darren Andrew Bartsch (born 26 April 1969) is a former Australian rules footballer who played as a ruckman for West Adelaide and Port Adelaide in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL).

Bartsch, standing at 196 cm and weighing 89 kg, was smaller than many others in his position, but his adaptiveness, powerful jump and speed – unusual for a player his size – helped compensate.

He is primarily known for being listed on five separate occasions by different Australian Football League (VFL/AFL) clubs – West Coast, Geelong, Adelaide, Brisbane and Essendon – the most of any footballer who never played an AFL match.

Bartsch grew up in Loxton, a town in South Australia's Riverland region, and attended Loxton High School.

In his youth, he gave up football for basketball.

However, when he was 16, the local under-18 team coaxed him into a return to the sport.

Joining midway through Loxton's season with teammates including Tony Modra, Bartsch played the last six matches, including the grand final; the team ultimately went unbeaten through the year.

Bartsch showed enough to be recruited by West Adelaide for the 1986 SANFL season.

He moved to a house across from Richmond Oval, the club's home ground, where he lived with four other players, including Modra and Kieran Sporn.

By the time of the 1988 VFL draft, held in November, he had played nine SANFL games.

Ahead of the draft, multiple clubs called Bartsch to inquire about whether he was open to playing for them, including West Coast.

Bartsch told them he had just re-signed with West Adelaide and did not intend to leave.

West Coast nevertheless selected Bartsch with pick 52 in the draft.

(In those days, clubs were allowed to draft any player they desired. There was no requirement for players to nominate themselves for the draft).

West Coast, using their sixth pick, could afford to be speculative, having already selected players among the best in Perth.

Bartsch's coach, Kevin Morris, advised him to decline the move to West Coast because he needed more time to develop.

True to his word, Bartsch remained with his club in Adelaide.

West Coast would eventually give up on their prospect and delist him, though Bartsch himself only found out through a newspaper.

However, Bartsch continued to attract attention from VFL clubs.

In 1990, Geelong was interested enough to arrange for Bartsch to fly out to Melbourne to play in a non-senior game against Hawthorn.

Geelong would go on to select him in that year's mid-season draft with their first selection, pick 7.

Bartsch seriously contemplated moving across to Geelong, but was swayed by the news an Adelaide team would enter the AFL for the 1991 season.

He reasoned holding out to join this new club instead would allow him to play AFL and stay in Adelaide at the same time.

To help form their inaugural squad, Adelaide was allowed to recruit ten SANFL players listed by other AFL clubs.

Bartsch was named among these ten.

He attended the club's pre-season, including their first-ever training session, but stress fractures in his shins prevented him from playing early in the season.

Bartsch returned with West Adelaide, playing in the 1991 SANFL Grand Final on the losing side, but did not regain form in time for the end of Adelaide's AFL season.

Ahead of the 1992 AFL season, Bartsch's stress fractures recurred.

These, combined with his diminishing commitment to football, led Adelaide to delist him.

Bartsch consulted a specialist about his injuries, who advised him to either have an operation or take a year off from football.

He choose the latter option, since he had just bought a landscaping company and could not afford to miss time for surgery.

Bartsch continued to garner attention from AFL clubs; this time, the Brisbane Bears were interested.

Bartsch explained he intended neither to play football that year nor move to Brisbane, but the club nevertheless drafted him with pick 29 in the 1992 pre-season draft, their third selection.

Following through on his decision, Bartsch did not play in 1992.

Initially, Bartsch did not even intend to play in 1993, but a West Adelaide friend persuaded him to return to the club.

Bartsch returned to training in February – at that point, he had been absent from football for 18 months.

Meanwhile, Bartsch's former coach Morris had joined Essendon as a recruiter.

He urged the club to select Bartsch in the upcoming pre-season draft, though he faced ridicule from some who did not believe Bartsch would ever leave Adelaide.

Morris's push ultimately succeeded, with Essendon hoping his personal connection to Bartsch would be enough to persuade the player to make an interstate move.

Two weeks after Bartsch returned to training, Morris called to inform him Essendon were intending to select him in the next day's preseason draft.