James Bell (Australian footballer)

James Bell (born 10 February 1999) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL).

James Bell
Bell playing for Sydney in July 2019
Personal information
Full name	James Bell
Date of birth	(1999-02-10) 10 February 1999 (age 26)
Place of birth	Shellharbour, New South Wales
Original team(s)	Shellharbour Swans (AFL South Coast)/Sydney Swans Academy
Draft	Category B Rookie Selection, 2017 rookie draft
Height	183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	81 kg (179 lb)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
2018-2022;	Sydney	28 (10)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of the 2022 season.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Early life

Bell was born and raised in Shellharbour in the Illawarra region of New South Wales^[1] and is of Indigenous Australian heritage (Yuin).^[2] He grew up playing soccer and was linked to the Western Sydney Wanderers for a number of years as a teenager.^[3] He began playing Australian rules football at the age of 13 and was placed in the Sydney Swans developmental academy shortly after.^[4] When Bell was 15, he was given an ultimatum to choose between his two sporting interests and elected to pursue Australian rules football after attending a three-day training camp with his childhood idol - Sydney Swans player and two-time Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes.^[5] Bell subsequently moved to Sydney and joined the club's academy program full-time. The decision paid off when the Swans elected to pre-select Bell as a Category B rookie during the 2017 AFL draft.^[6]

AFL career

Bell made his AFL debut for Sydney in 2019 in their round 21 fixture against Port Adelaide.^[7]

Statistics

Updated to the end of the 2022 season.^[8]

Legend

G	Goals	K	Kicks	D	Disposals	T	Tackles
B	Behinds	H	Handballs	M	Marks

Season	Team	No.	Games	Totals							Averages (per game)
				G	B	K	H	D	M	T	G	B	K	H	D	M	T
2017	Sydney	32	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
2018	Sydney	32	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
2019	Sydney	32	2	1	1	9	5	14	7	5	0.5	0.5	4.5	2.5	7.0	3.5	2.5
2020[a]	Sydney	32	8	3	2	37	32	69	13	28	0.4	0.3	4.6	4.0	8.6	1.6	3.5
2021	Sydney	32	12	2	2	38	37	75	24	25	0.2	0.2	3.2	3.1	6.3	2.0	2.1
2022	Sydney	32	6	4	3	33	12	45	15	9	0.7	0.5	5.5	2.0	7.5	2.5	1.5
Career			28	10	8	117	86	203	59	67	0.4	0.3	4.2	3.1	7.3	2.1	2.4

Notes

1. The 2020 season was played with 17 home-and-away matches per team (down from 22) and 16-minute quarters with time on (down from 20-minute quarters with time on) due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.