| Chris McDermott OAM | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Nickname | Bone | ||
| Born | (1963-11-04)4 November 1963 (age 62)[1][2] | ||
| Original team | Glenelg (SANFL) | ||
| Draft | No. 21,1981 interstate draft No. 2,1987 national draft | ||
| Height | 182 cm (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Weight | 92 kg (203 lb) | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1981–1996 | Glenelg | 227 (154)[3] | |
| 1991–1996 | Adelaide | 117 (25) | |
| 1997 | North Adelaide | 10 (0) | |
| Total | 354 (179) | ||
| Representative team honours | |||
| Years | Team | Games (Goals) | |
| South Australia | 14 | ||
| Coaching career | |||
| Years | Club | Games (W–L–D) | |
| 1997–2000 | North Adelaide | ||
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1997. | |||
| Career highlights | |||
Club
Representative
| |||
| Sources:AFL Tables,AustralianFootball.com | |||
Christopher Stephen McDermottOAM[4] (born 4 November 1963) is a former professionalAustralian rules footballer who played for theAdelaide Football Club in theAustralian Football League (AFL), and theGlenelg Football Club andNorth Adelaide Football Club in theSouth Australian National Football League (SANFL).
He was an inaugural inductee into theSouth Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2002.[5]
McDermott was awarded anOrder of Australia Medal in the2025 King's Birthday Honours for service to Australian rules football, and to the community.[6]
He was initially signed by the VFL teamFitzroy in 1981,[2] but stayed in the SANFL withGlenelg after the South Australian player retention scheme was developed to pay top players to remain in South Australia.[7]
He was also chased byCarlton,[2] and eventually drafted byBrisbane in 1986,[8] but still did not make his VFL debut. He ultimately played 227 premiership games and 49 pre-season/night series matches for Glenelg.
In 1990, with talks ofPort Adelaide becoming the South Australian team in the national competition, that McDermott looked to Victoria for another club. However, when it became clear that theAdelaide Crows were going to be South Australia's entry into the AFL, he remained in his home state and became the inaugural captain of the Crows.[2]
McDermott is commonly referred to as "Bone",[2] a nickname referring to the damage done to his nose due to excessive facial trauma experienced whilst playing in both the SANFL and AFL.
McDermott served as playing coach for North Adelaide in 1997, playing ten games for the club, and then as non-playing coach from 1998 to 2000.[2]
At the time of his retirement, McDermott's career total of 354 premiership matches was ranked fourth in South Australian elite football behind longtime Glenelg teammate Peter Carey (423), Russell Ebert (373), and longtime coach Graham Cornes (356): as of April 2025, he is ranked seventh behind them, as well as Travis Boak (388), Tyson Edwards and Andrew McLeod (both 363).
McDermott also played 14 State of Origin matches for South Australia and a total of 61 pre-season/night series matches, 49 for Glenelg and 12 for Adelaide (these are counted as senior by the SANFL but not the VFL/AFL). If these are included, McDermott played a total of 429 senior career games.
The VFL/AFL lists McDermott's total as 417, excluding his pre-season/night series matches for Adelaide. Depending on the viewpoint taken, his total career senior games ranks tenth (using the AFL's total or his overall total) in elite Australian rules football, and ranks either fourth behind Carey (467), Boak (422) and Ebert (421) or second behind Carey in South Australian elite football.
McDermott set up theMcGuinness-McDermott Foundation, which raises funds to provide oncology treatment for South Australian children, with fellow former Crows team-mateTony McGuinness.
In July 2014 McDermott became a football and sports commentator for Adelaide talkback radio stationFIVEaa and hosted the station's weekday drive-time sports show with another former Adelaide Crows player,Stephen Rowe. In November 2014 McDermott was replaced on FIVEaa by former Adelaide Crows dual premiership captain,Mark Bickley.[9]
Australian stand up comedian and host of the Channel 10 programGood News Week,Paul McDermott is his first cousin.[2] His grandfather wasLes Dayman, an inductee into the SANFL Hall of Fame.