Reilly O'Brien

Reilly Mark O'Brien (born 20 August 1995) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A Malcolm Blight Medal winner in 2020, He played his junior representative football with the Calder Cannons in the TAC Cup. He grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Ascot Vale.

O'Brien was drafted by the Adelaide Football Club with their first selection and ninth overall in the 2014 rookie draft.

AFL career

Reilly O'Brien made his debut in the 138-point win against the in round 20, 2016, at the Adelaide Oval. He didn't play much football between 2016 and 2019, but broke into the side after Sam Jacobs sustained an injury. Jacobs was traded to at the end of the 2019 AFL season, leaving O'Brien as Adelaide's primary ruckman going into the 2020 AFL season.

O'Brien faced controversy when he accidentally tweeted that ruckman Nic Naitanui is "lazy and unfit", attributing the mistake to a broken smartphone. Naitanui responded by gifting O'Brien a new phone after that weekend's game between their clubs.

O'Brien won the Malcolm Blight Medal in his first season as the primary ruck. This led to a contract extension to keep him at Adelaide until 2025.

In 2023, with Riley Thilthorpe as his backup ruckman, O'Brien led the competition for hit-outs. Partway through 2024, the struggling Crows chose to drop O'Brien to the SANFL in favour of Kieran Strachan in an attempt to revive the club's season. O'Brien returned after two games on the sidelines, and he still led the competition for hit-outs and average hit-outs by the conclusion of the season.

In 2025, O'Brien played every game and led his team to the minor premiership as a vice-captain, and played all 25 games for the Crows. However, O'Brien was stripped of his leadership role in 2026 as he fell out of favour, playing only one game in the first half of the season. Ruckman Lachlan McAndrew became Adelaide's first-choice ruckmen following a rule change involving the ruck contest at a center stoppage.

Personal life Outside of football, O’Brien has completed a medical science degree at Flinders University. He has since undertaken post graduate study, both in business administration and public health through Torrens University. He has also completed postgraduate study in neuroscience through King’s College. O’Brien graduated from high school with an ATAR of 99.75.

In 2024, O'Brien won the league-wide Jim Stynes Community Leadership Award for his advocacy and community work for mental health in South Australia. After achieving automatic eligibility by playing 100 games over 10 years, O'Brien was granted Life Membership with the Adelaide Football Club.

In May 2026, O'Brien and wife Chloe announced that they are expected the birth of their first child.

Statistics Updated to the end of round 22, 2026.

148 !! 17 !! 21 !! 919 !! 1018 !! 1937 !! 448 !! 528 !! 5237 !! 0.1 !! 0.1 !! 6.2 !! 6.9 !! 13.1 !! 3.0 !! 3.6 !! 35.4 !! 24