| Ben Long | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Long playing for St Kilda in April 2019 | |||
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Ben Long | ||
| Born | (1997-08-21)21 August 1997 (age 28) Darwin, Northern Territory | ||
| Original teams | St Mary's (NTFL) Footscray Bulldogs (VFL) NT Thunder (NEAFL) | ||
| Draft | No. 25,2016 national draft | ||
| Debut | Round 4, 2017,St Kilda vs.Collingwood, atEtihad Stadium | ||
| Height | 183 cm (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Weight | 81 kg (179 lb) | ||
| Position | Defender/Forward | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Gold Coast | ||
| Number | 22 | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 2017–2022 | St Kilda | 79(31) | |
| 2023– | Gold Coast | 54(69) | |
| Total | 133 (100) | ||
| Representative team honours | |||
| Years | Team | Games (Goals) | |
| 2025 | Indigenous All-Stars | 1 (0) | |
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of round 24, 2025. | |||
| Career highlights | |||
| |||
| Sources:AFL Tables,AustralianFootball.com | |||
Ben Long (born 21 August 1997) is a professionalAustralian rules footballer playing for theGold Coast Suns in theAustralian Football League (AFL).
Long was born inDarwin, Northern Territory[1] into a family ofIndigenous Australian descent (Anmatjerre,Malak-Malak &Tiwi).[2] His grandfather, Jack Long Sr, and his father, Chris Long, were both premiership winning footballers forSt Mary's in theNorthern Territory Football League.[3][4] As a member of theRioli-Long family he shares numerous relations with other notable footballers including dualEssendon premiership player and 1993Norm Smith MedallistMichael Long (uncle), four-timeHawthorn premiership player and 2015 Norm Smith MedallistCyril Rioli (cousin), three-timeRichmond premiership playerDaniel Rioli (nephew), 2018West Coast premiership playerJunior Rioli (cousin) and dualAdelaideAFLW premiership playerDanielle Ponter (cousin).[5][6]
Ben grew up playing junior football forSt Mary's in theNTFL junior leagues[7] and in 2014, at the age of 16, he moved interstate to Victoria when he accepted a scholarship to attendMelbourne Grammar.[8] In 2016, he played inFootscray'sVFL premiership winning team.[9] Along with football, Long playedrugby union for the Casuarina Cougars as a youngster alongside future AFL playerBrandan Parfitt before quitting to focus solely on football as a teenager.[10]
Long was drafted by the St Kilda Football Club with their first selection and twenty-fifth overall in the2016 national draft.[11] He made his debut in the fourteen point win againstCollingwood atEtihad Stadium in round four of the 2017 season.[12] Long was nominated for theAFL Rising Star for his performance in the draw againstGreater Western Sydney at Etihad Stadium in round five of the2018 AFL season, during which he recorded fifteen disposals, eight tackles, four marks and a goal.[13] In the final game of St Kilda's 2022 season, Long compiled a career-best performance against theSydney Swans which included 27 disposals, 17 marks, 13 intercepts and one goal with a disposal efficiency of 96 per cent on his 25th birthday.[14]
Following his2022 season, Long requested a trade toGold Coast after playing six seasons at St Kilda. He was traded on 5 October 2022.[15]
Long spent his first season in defence for the Suns. After struggling to cement his position in the team, new coachDamian Hardwick made a move to push Long forward and he became a prolific goalkicker. In round 12,2024, Long kicked a career-best four goals againstEssendon. He equalled this feat in the opening game of the following year againstWest Coast. The second of these performances began a string of career-best form in2025 for Long, joining Champion Data's list of the ten best players in the competition early in the year.[16]
Updated to the end of 2024.[17]
G | Goals | K | Kicks | D | Disposals | T | Tackles |
B | Behinds | H | Handballs | M | Marks |
| Season | Team | No. | Games | Totals | Averages (per game) | Votes | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | B | K | H | D | M | T | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | |||||
| 2017 | St Kilda | 21 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 21 | 36 | 6 | 13 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 3.8 | 5.3 | 9.0 | 1.5 | 3.3 | 0 |
| 2018 | St Kilda | 21 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 58 | 62 | 120 | 28 | 27 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 5.8 | 6.2 | 12.0 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 0 |
| 2019 | St Kilda | 21 | 16 | 14 | 9 | 101 | 51 | 152 | 59 | 45 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 6.3 | 3.2 | 9.5 | 3.7 | 2.8 | 0 |
| 2020[a] | St Kilda | 21 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 90 | 94 | 184 | 49 | 30 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 6.0 | 6.3 | 12.3 | 3.3 | 2.0 | 2 |
| 2021 | St Kilda | 21 | 15 | 2 | 9 | 94 | 49 | 143 | 52 | 35 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 6.3 | 3.3 | 9.5 | 3.5 | 2.3 | 0 |
| 2022 | St Kilda | 21 | 19 | 8 | 6 | 128 | 97 | 225 | 74 | 58 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 6.7 | 5.1 | 11.8 | 3.9 | 3.1 | 2 |
| 2023 | Gold Coast | 22 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 114 | 57 | 171 | 42 | 34 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 7.6 | 3.8 | 11.4 | 2.8 | 2.3 | 0 |
| 2024 | Gold Coast | 22 | 17 | 26 | 17 | 122 | 51 | 173 | 62 | 46 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 7.2 | 3.0 | 10.2 | 3.6 | 2.7 | 0 |
| 2025 | Gold Coast | 22 | 24 | 45 | 24 | 192 | 67 | 259 | 109 | 46 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 8.0 | 2.8 | 10.8 | 4.5 | 1.9 | 1 |
| Career | 135 | 102 | 75 | 914 | 549 | 1463 | 481 | 334 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 6.8 | 4.1 | 10.8 | 3.6 | 2.5 | 5 | ||
Notes
