Fletcher debuted as a 17-year-old in 1993 and went on to play in a premiership in the same season. He was also a member of the 2000 premiership team. Fletcher received All Australian selection in 2000 and won the club’s best and fairest award in the same year.
Dustin Fletcher’s playing record:
Height: 197cm
Weight: 92kg
Date of birth: 7/5/1975
First played: 1993
Total games: 199
Total goals: 59
Previous club: Western Jets
Recruited from: 1992 draft, father-son rule
One of Fletcher’s most recent accolades came last season when he was ranked 30 in the Champions of Essendon. The following profile on Fletcher was taken from the Champions of Essendon book. The Bomberland team will catch up with Fletcher later today to hear his thoughts on the 200 game milestone.
At 28 years of age, Dustin Fletcher may one day be recognised as the greatest full-back this club has ever seen. He reads the play magnificently, and even when he appears out of position he has an uncanny knack of still making the contest. He is outstanding in the air, and has a booming kick that rarely misses a target. Fletcher is the complete defensive package.
Fletcher has arms that seem to run the length of his body - it wouldn't surprise if he could scratch his ankles without bending over. It is an attribute that has frustrated the great full-forwards of the modern era. Opponents will seemingly have a mortgage on the football, only for Fletcher's fist to appear from nowhere and spoil the moment.
Fletcher always looked to have a future when coming through the junior ranks, according to Essendon's recruiting manager at the time, Noel Judkins. ""He was tall and gangly but he had pace and was very competitive,"" Judkins said.
Teammate Gary Moorcroft played with Fletcher in the Victorian Primary School team. ""He hasn't changed a bit. He was big and lanky and kicking a ball 50m when he was in grade 6. He's a great bloke and a super full-back. When he plays well we rarely get beaten and he does a lot of stuff that goes unnoticed,"" Moorcroft said.
Fletcher joined Essendon from Essendon Grammar in 1993, after being taken under the father-son rule (his father Ken played 264 games for the Bombers between 1967 and 1980). Fletcher, who was still doing his VCE studies at the time, made his senior debut in round 2 that season against Carlton and played all but six senior games that year - he had to miss some matches because of commitments to school football.
Fletcher was handed jobs on the likes of Gary Ablett, Jason Dunstall, and Tony Locket. For a 17-year-old, who at 197cm and 81 kg could have hidden behind the point post, it was a massive task. But Fletcher had both the talent and the temperament to handle it. Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy knew full well the size of the tasks that were being thrown his way. ""We were asking him to do a mammoth but he did it amazingly well. He's a very well-rounded athlete and I think his laconic nature helped him cope with it,"" Sheedy said.
Mark Harvey played alongside Fletcher in the 1993 Premiership side. He, too, was staggered by Fletcher's ability to go calmly about his business. ""Nothing ever bothers him, not even in 1993. I'm not sure whether Sheeds saw that temperament in him back then or if was just a fluke but he was certainly the right kid to put into that position,"" Harvey said.
Fletcher has become the rock on which Essendon's defence is built each season, and he can also do damage when thrown forward. He gives the defensive unit a real sense of confidence. Mark Johnson has played alongside Fletcher in a back pocket for the past four seasons. ""Fletch is just great to play alongside. He is so honest and reliable - he never lets the side down. And he is exactly the same off the ground,"" Johnson said.
Season 2000 was Fletcher's best to date, and it left him rated as the best full-back in the game at that time. He also scored a runaway win in the Crichton Medal, in a Premiership team regarded as one of the best ever, and was named All-Australian as well.
Fletcher is a player of tremendous courage. He went into the 2001 finals with painful stress fractures in his shins. A lesser player would have hung up the boots for the rest of the season. But Fletcher knew that his side needed him, so he played, and was an excellent contributor despite his injuries.
A quiet, modest person, Fletcher doesn't enjoy the off-field pressures that come with being an AFL footballer. "" I don't like doing a lot of media. I'd rather be seen as the guy just doing his job every week,"" Fletcher said.
That is exactly what Dustin Fletcher does. It's just that he does it so much better than most others.
