Callum Wilkie

Callum Sebastian Nelmes Wilkie (born 10 March 1996) is an Australian rules footballer playing for and co-captain of in the Australian Football League (AFL). A defender, he played in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and was overlooked at four national drafts before St Kilda selected him with pick 3 in the 2019 rookie draft.

Continuing at North Adelaide, Wilkie came second in their 2017 senior best and fairest. In 2018, he played in North Adelaide's SANFL premiership – their first for 27 years. Wilkie won the club's best and fairest, and attended his second state draft combine.

AFL.com.au named him among the best mature-age players ahead of the 2018 AFL draft, noting his marking ability and improved fitness.

Wilkie admitted that he “wasn’t 100% focused on footy”, as he balanced his full-time accountancy career while also playing SANFL up until he was drafted by the Saints. Of his time before St Kilda, football for Wilkie was “enjoying footy for what it was - a little bit of an escape from work and then enjoying playing with my mates." After debuting in the opening round of the 2019 season and showing strong form in the next three matches, Wilkie signed a contract extension with St Kilda to the end of 2021. Wilkie's showed great promise and immediate AFL competency playing on some of the game's stars in the early part of 2019, including Jake Stringer, Jesse Hogan, Cam McCarthy, Jarryd Roughead and Jack Gunston.

2020

Wilkie played all 19 possible games in 2020, including two finals and made another top 10 for the Trevor Barker Award, finishing seventh for a second consecutive year with 113 votes. Wilkie averaged 13 disposals, eight effective kicks, four rebound-50s, three spoils a game in 2020. He finished the season first for St Kilda's rebound-50s and effective kicks, second for one-percenters and spoils, third for intercept marks. His best game for the year came in Round 10 against Gold Coast where he gathered 18 disposals, six marks (three contested), four rebound-50s and four one-percenters. Wilkie's rebounding numbers were also elite for the AFL.

2021

Wilkie extended his contract by a further two years at the beginning of the 2021 season. Wilkie was also voted into the Saints' leadership group for the 2021 season, for the first time. In May, Wilkie was ranked second in the AFL's as a defender in a direct contest, with a contest win percentage of 59.1%, behind only Ryan Lester with 61.9% Wilkie had a dominant defensive game in Round 21; playing on Sydney syperstar Lance Franklin, Wilkie kept Franklin to just one goal from four kicks and zero marks. Wilkie also had 16 disposals of his own, setting up a number of attacking plays. Wilkie finished fourth in the Trevor Barker Award, his third consecutive top-10 finish.

Statistics Updated to the end of round 22, 2026.

176 !! 1 !! 3 !! 2127 !! 907 !! 3034 !! 1244 !! 282 !! 0.0 !! 0.0 !! 12.1 !! 5.2 !! 17.2 !! 7.1 !! 1.6 !! 8