Jeff Farmer

Jeff Farmer (born 24 June 1977) is a former Australian rules footballer of Aboriginal descent. He was the first Indigenous player to kick 400 goals in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Early life Farmer hails from Tambellup, Western Australia.

AFL career Melbourne Known as "The Wizard" (or "The Wiz") 2005 and 2006 seasons.

In 2006, Farmer was instrumental in the Dockers reaching the finals for only the second time with 50 goals from just 19 matches.

On 18 August 2007, in the third quarter of a match against St Kilda at Telstra Dome, Farmer received facial injuries from a behind the play incident and was assisted from the playing area, bleeding and suffering a concussion. The incident was not witnessed by umpires, nor by any of the TV broadcast cameras. Network Ten commentator Michael Voss stated soon afterwards that he saw what happened and added that St Kilda tagger Steven Baker would be hoping it had not been captured by TV cameras. Farmer took no further part in the match, which St Kilda won by 30 points. Baker was later handed a 7-game suspension by the AFL tribunal, after being charged with rough conduct on Farmer. St Kilda appealed the decision, and included a letter from Farmer to the AFL pleading for leniency on Baker, describing Baker as one of his most respected opponents. The letter could not be accepted in the appeal, because it was new evidence. The appeal was rejected and the suspension remained.

At the end of the 2008 AFL season, Farmer announced his retirement from the AFL, ending his career with 249 career games.

Post-AFL career In 2009, Farmer was a premiership player with South Fremantle Football Club in the West Australian Football League.

Statistics

249 483 285 1988 888 2876 728 399 1.9 1.1 8.0 3.6 11.6 2.9 1.6

Controversial incidents In November 2004, Farmer pleaded guilty to assaulting his long-time girlfriend and was fined $2,000. No charges were laid.

Farmer was arrested in April 2007 and charged with assault for knocking out a security guard at a Perth nightclub after being refused entry. The Fremantle Football Club fined him $5,100 and suspended him for a further 6 weeks on top of his existing AFL enforced suspension for eye gouging another player during a pre-season game, which was his 10th suspension and his 14th appearance before the tribunal. In court, Farmer pleaded guilty to assault and was fined $3,000.

After serving his full suspension, Farmer returned to the Fremantle side on 30 June in the round 13 game against Carlton at Subiaco Oval. Farmer together with Des Headland, who was himself implicated in another nightclub fight during the week, were amongst the best players on the field and led the way to a 77-point thrashing. This was Fremantle's second highest ever score and their greatest winning margin ever against Carlton. Headland kicked 5 goals and Farmer kicked 4 goals and each set up many more for their teammates.

In July 2007, police charged Farmer with criminal damage after he smashed a car's side mirror in a rage after being ejected from Burswood Casino. In court he pleaded guilty to the charge and was fined $750 (with $400 compensation and $58 costs). Despite the previous conviction which was considered his last chance at the club, Fremantle did not suspend him, but fined him $10,000 (the maximum allowed under the AFL Players Association rules) and requested he donate $20,000 to charity. He was recalled to play for Fremantle the following week against league leaders Geelong.

On 25 June 2008 it was announced that Farmer was suspended for a week by the Fremantle Football Club for not attending a compulsory recovery session after the weekend's loss to St Kilda in Melbourne.

Personal life In 2025 Farmer, alongside his parents and former teammate Roger Hayden, helped design Fremantle's Indigenous jumper for the annual Sir Doug Nicholls Round.