Tyler Sonsie

Tyler Sonsie
Tyler Sonsie
Personal information
Date of birth	27 January 2003 (age 21)
Original team(s)	Eastern Rangers (NAB League), Lysterfield
Draft	No. 28, 2021 AFL National Draft: Richmond
Debut	Round 18, 2022, Richmond vs. North Melbourne, at Marvel Stadium
Height	181 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	73 kg (161 lb)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Richmond
Number	40
Playing career1
Years	Club
2022–	Richmond
	1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2024 season.
	Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Tyler Sonsie (born 27 January 2003) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Sonsie was drafted by Richmond with the 28th pick in the 2021 AFL Draft, and made his AFL debut in round 18 of the 2022 season.

Early life and junior football

Sonsie played junior football in Melbourne's outer eastern suburbs, the Lysterfield Wolves Junior Football Club, as well as at Scoresby and Rowville, and completed high school studies at Rowville Secondary College in 2020.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

In 2019, Sonsie made his NAB League debut, playing top level junior football for the Eastern Ranges at age 16, including in the side's grand final loss.^[5] The same season he was selected to play national representative football for the Victorian Metropolitan Under 16s side, where he earned MVP honours as the team's best player in its national championship winning run.^[6]

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic saw the 2020 junior football season cancelled entirely.^[5]

In the lead in to the 2021 season, Sonsie was projected by AFL Media and ESPN as a likely top five pick in the forthcoming AFL draft.^[5]^[7] During the year he played junior representative football with the Eastern Ranges, top level exhibition games for the AFL Academy side and made his VFL debut for Box Hill where he starred with 24 disposals and two goals.^[2] At the end of the NAB League season, he was rewarded with Team of the Year selection honours in what was a partially COVID interrupted season.^[2]^[8] Despite occasional starring performances, Sonsie's draft ranking progressively fell over the course of the season, as pundits considered his output uneven and inconsistent.^[9]^[10]

Across his junior career, Sonsie was lauded for his ability to play inside and outside of midfield stoppages and his disposal accuracy.^[11]

Immediately prior to the AFL draft, Sonsie was projected to be taken with the 17th and 23rd picks by AFL Media and ESPN, respectively.^[12]^[13]

AFL career

Sonsie was drafted by Richmond with the club's third pick and the 28th selection overall in the 2021 AFL draft.^[14]

He made his debut in Round 18 of the 2022 season and held his spot for the remainder of the season, as well as in the club's elimination final loss to Brisbane.^[15]^[16] He played a total of seven AFL games that season.^[17] In Round 22 of the 2023 VFL season he was suspended for three weeks after violently punching North Melbourne's Tom Cappellari in the head. ^[18]

AFL statistics

Updated to the end of the 2022 season.

**Legend**
G	Goals	K	Kicks	D	Disposals	T	Tackles
B	Behinds	H	Handballs	M	Marks


Season	Team	No.	Games	Totals							Averages (per game)
Season	Team	No.	Games	G	B	K	H	D	M	T	G	B	K	H	D	M	T
2022	Richmond	40	7	3	3	71	52	123	18	13	0.4	0.4	10.1	7.4	17.6	2.6	1.9
Career			7	3	3	71	52	123	18	13	0.4	0.4	10.1	7.4	17.6	2.6	1.9

References

^ "Tyler Sonsie". Eastern Ranges. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c Sheehan, Kevin (11 November 2021). "Kevin Sheehan reveals his top NAB AFL Draft Prospects: Small forwards/defenders/midfielders". AFL Media. Telstra Media. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
^ "FOUR SPORTS ACADEMY STUDENTS SELECTED IN 2021 AFL DRAFT". Rowville Secondary College. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
^ Beveridge, Riley (3 December 2021). "Melbourne public school hits draft home run, Bombers great proud". AFL Media. Telstra Media. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c Twomey, Callum (16 February 2021). "COVID challenges keep hitting No.1 pick contender Tyler Sonsie". AFL Media. Telstra Media. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
^ Beveridge, Riley (12 July 2019). "Vic Metro takes out U16 Championships with big win over WA". AFL Media. Telstra Media. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
^ Doerre, Chris (24 March 2021). "The biggest AFL Draft questions answered: Top prospects, unluckiest players and 2020's impact". ESPN. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
^ Cencic, Daniel (10 November 2021). "NAB League: Top Eastern Ranges prospect Tyler Sonsie opens up on football journey to the AFL draft". Herald Sun. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
^ Doerre, Chris (5 July 2021). "AFL Draft - July's Power Rankings: Daicos, Horne and Darcy duke it out for top billing". ESPN. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
^ Waterworth, Ben (16 September 2021). "AFL Draft Power Rankings Top 20: A 'fab four', a peloton and an even spread from there". Fox Sports. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
^ "Tyler Sonsie". Rookie Me. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
^ Twomey, Callum (22 November 2021). "Cal Twomey's 2021 Phantom AFL Draft: Top 30, late picks, club whispers". Fremantle FC. Telstra Media. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
^ Doerre, Chris (23 November 2021). "Every club, every pick: ESPN's full AFL phantom draft". ESPN. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
^ Greenberg, Tony (29 November 2021). "Tiger Tyler a top talent". Richmond FC. Telstra Media. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
^ "Tyler Sonsie to make AFL debut". Richmond FC. Telstra Media. 14 July 2022. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
^ Waterworth, Ben (2 September 2022). "Captain's colossal effort… but stars amid five fails: Tigers player ratings". Fox Sports. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
^ Greenberg, Tony (27 October 2022). "Sonsie steps up in style". Richmond FC. Telstra Media. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
^ "Tiger's 'woefully inadequate' ban for brutal 'king hit' stands as VFL's appeal dismissed". Fox Footy. Fox Sports. 28 August 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2022.

External links

Tyler Sonsie's profile on the official website of the Richmond Football Club
Tyler Sonsie's playing statistics from AFL Tables

[1] "Tyler Sonsie". Eastern Ranges. Retrieved 25 August 2023.

[Sheehan21-2] Sheehan, Kevin (11 November 2021). "Kevin Sheehan reveals his top NAB AFL Draft Prospects: Small forwards/defenders/midfielders". AFL Media. Telstra Media. Retrieved 25 August 2023.

[3] "FOUR SPORTS ACADEMY STUDENTS SELECTED IN 2021 AFL DRAFT". Rowville Secondary College. Retrieved 25 August 2023.

[4] Beveridge, Riley (3 December 2021). "Melbourne public school hits draft home run, Bombers great proud". AFL Media. Telstra Media. Retrieved 25 August 2023.

[Feb21profile-5] Twomey, Callum (16 February 2021). "COVID challenges keep hitting No.1 pick contender Tyler Sonsie". AFL Media. Telstra Media. Retrieved 25 August 2023.

[6] Beveridge, Riley (12 July 2019). "Vic Metro takes out U16 Championships with big win over WA". AFL Media. Telstra Media. Retrieved 25 August 2023.

[7] Doerre, Chris (24 March 2021). "The biggest AFL Draft questions answered: Top prospects, unluckiest players and 2020's impact". ESPN. Retrieved 25 August 2023.

[HSprofile21-8] Cencic, Daniel (10 November 2021). "NAB League: Top Eastern Ranges prospect Tyler Sonsie opens up on football journey to the AFL draft". Herald Sun. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 25 August 2023.

[9] Doerre, Chris (5 July 2021). "AFL Draft - July's Power Rankings: Daicos, Horne and Darcy duke it out for top billing". ESPN. Retrieved 25 August 2023.

[10] Waterworth, Ben (16 September 2021). "AFL Draft Power Rankings Top 20: A 'fab four', a peloton and an even spread from there". Fox Sports. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 25 August 2023.

[11] "Tyler Sonsie". Rookie Me. Retrieved 25 August 2023.

[12] Twomey, Callum (22 November 2021). "Cal Twomey's 2021 Phantom AFL Draft: Top 30, late picks, club whispers". Fremantle FC. Telstra Media. Retrieved 25 August 2023.

[13] Doerre, Chris (23 November 2021). "Every club, every pick: ESPN's full AFL phantom draft". ESPN. Retrieved 25 August 2023.

[14] Greenberg, Tony (29 November 2021). "Tiger Tyler a top talent". Richmond FC. Telstra Media. Retrieved 29 September 2022.

[15] "Tyler Sonsie to make AFL debut". Richmond FC. Telstra Media. 14 July 2022. Retrieved 29 September 2022.

[16] Waterworth, Ben (2 September 2022). "Captain's colossal effort… but stars amid five fails: Tigers player ratings". Fox Sports. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 29 September 2022.

[17] Greenberg, Tony (27 October 2022). "Sonsie steps up in style". Richmond FC. Telstra Media. Retrieved 25 August 2023.

[18] "Tiger's 'woefully inadequate' ban for brutal 'king hit' stands as VFL's appeal dismissed". Fox Footy. Fox Sports. 28 August 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2022.

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v t e 2021 AFL national draft
First round	1. Jason Horne-Francis 2. Sam Darcy (F/S) 3. Finn Callaghan 4. Nick Daicos (F/S) 5. Mac Andrew 6. Josh Rachele 7. Josh Ward 8. Jye Amiss 9. Josh Gibcus 10. Neil Erasmus 11. Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera 12. Josh Sinn 13. Ben Hobbs 14. Campbell Chesser 15. Leek Aleer 16. Darcy Wilmot 17. Tom Brown 18. Angus Sheldrick 19. Jacob van Rooyen 20. Kai Lohmann
Second round	21. Matthew Johnson 22. Josh Goater 23. Sam Butler 24. Toby Conway 25. Mitch Knevitt 26. Connor MacDonald 27. Jesse Motlop 28. Tyler Sonsie 29. Sam Banks 30. Judson Clarke 31. Brady Hough 32. James Willis 33. Mitch Owens (academy selection) 34. Matthew Roberts 35. Paul Curtis 36. Jake Soligo 37. Rhett Bazzo 38. Miller Bergman 39. Blake Howes
Third round	40. Corey Warner 41. James Tunstill 42. Josh Fahey (academy selection) 43. Arthur Jones 44. Zac Taylor 45. Arlo Draper 46. Alastair Lord 47. Marcus Windhager (academy selection) 48. Flynn Kroeger 49. Cooper Murley 50. Garret McDonagh 51. Oscar Adams 52. Harvey Harrison
Fourth round	53. Jai Serong 54. Eric Benning (academy selection) 55. Hugh Jackson 56. Dante Visentini 57. Jack Williams 58. Lachlan Rankin 59. Jackson Archer (F/S) 60. Jase Burgoyne (F/S) 61. Luke Cleary 62. Greg Clark 63. Charlie Constable 64. Cooper Whyte 65. Taj Woewodin (F/S)