At the Adelaide Oval induction event for the South Australian Sport Hall of Fame, eight new members were unveiled, including Gavin Wanganeen.
Gavin Wanganeen, a former captain, premiership player, and club director, is congratulated by THE Port Adelaide Football Club on his admission into the South Australian Sport Hall of Fame.
This month, Wanganeen’s outstanding career was acknowledged as one of the 2023 inductees, making him the fifth player from Port Adelaide to receive the honor.
Between 1991 and 2006, Wanganeen participated in 300 AFL games, 173 of which were with Port Adelaide. In addition, he served as the team’s first AFL captain, donning the coveted number one guernsey after Essendon in 1997.
Wanganeen played for Port Adelaide’s historic 2004 AFL Premiership team as well as their 1990 SANFL Premiership team.
While with the Bombers, he also took home the 1993 Premiership and the Brownlow Medal.
Wanganeen represented South Australia in eight representative matches and was a five-time All-Australian.
His list of achievements also includes life memberships at Essendon and Port Adelaide, as well as inductions into the Halls of Fame of Port Adelaide, the Australian Football Hall of Fame, and the South Australian Football Hall of Fame.
In the South Australian Sport Hall of Fame, Wanganeen is inducted alongside fellow Port Adelaide players Fos Williams AM (2011 inductee), Russell Ebert OAM (2012), John Cahill (2018), and Bob Quinn MM (2023).
Ebert, a four-time Magarey Medallist, was made a Legend in 2021, the year before he passed away.
At the South Australian Sport Hall of Fame induction ceremony held at Adelaide Oval, Wanganeen was one of eight new inductees announced, including former Australian cricket captain Jill Kennare, pioneering sports administrator May Mills, footballer/cricketer John “Dinny” Reedman, footballer, umpire, and broadcaster Ken “KG” Cunningham, athlete Norma Thrower, the Murray Bridge rowing team known as “The Cods,” and tennis player Alicia Mollik.
Gavin Wanganeen record
DOB: 18 June 1973
AFL Games: 300 (1991-2006 – 127 Essendon, 173 Port Adelaide)
AFL Goals: 202 (64 Essendon, 138 Port Adelaide)
SANFL Games: 27 (1990-2006)
SANFL Goals: 48
Port Adelaide Captain (AFL): 1997-2000
Port Adelaide Best and Fairest (AFL): 2003
AFL Premierships: 1993 (Essendon), 2004 (Port Adelaide)
AFL Pre-season premierships: 1993, 1994 (Essendon), 2001, 2002 (Port Adelaide)
SANFL Premierships: 1990
Brownlow Medal: 1993
Michael Tuck Medal: 1993
South Australian Representative Matches: 8 games (State of Origin)
All-Australian: 1992-1993, 1995, 2001, 2003
Member of Essendon’s Team of the Century (Left back pocket)
Member of AFL’s Indigenous Team of the Century (Left half-back)
Port Adelaide Life Member: 2006
Essendon Life Member
AFL Life Member: 2004
Port Adelaide Football Club Hall of Fame (2008)
South Australian Football Hall of Fame (2012)
Australian Football Hall of Fame (2010)
