Representative Overall Craig Edwin Bradley (born 23 October 1963)[1] is a former Australian rules footballer and first-class cricketer.
At the end of 1981 Victorian Football League club Essendon approached Bradley to join them but he turned down the offer, wishing to remain in South Australia with Port Adelaide and to build on his promising cricket career.
In his final few seasons, Bradley spent more time acting as a loose, sweeping half-back flanker, and much of Carlton's drive forward came from his play through the wings.
Bradley's final AFL game, against Port Adelaide, was in Round 19, 2002, polling 3 Brownlow Votes at the age of 38 years and 289 days, making him the sixth-oldest player in the history of the league.
In November 2002, following Carlton's salary cap breach which lost the club valuable draft picks, Bradley had contemplated reversing his decision to retire[5] and attempt to rebuild a club in crisis, but he eventually stood by his initial decision to retire from the game, which was made three weeks before the salary cap drama occurred.
[6] Bradley holds the distinction as the last active VFL/AFL player to win a Victorian district cricket premiership, achieving the feat in 1988/89,[7] and had an agreement with the Carlton Football Club that district cricket finals took precedence over early season home-and-away football games if there was a clash.
Craig Bradley is the all-time games record holder in elite Australian rules football with 464 premiership (home-and-away and finals) matches: 89 for Port Adelaide in the SANFL from 1981 to 1985 (despite missing the last eight matches of the 1983 season touring England with the Young Australia cricket team),[9] and 375 for Carlton in the VFL/AFL from 1986 to 2002, including 31 finals (7 for Port Adelaide and 24 for Carlton).