Adam Ramanauskas
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Adam Ramanauskas (born 19 November 1980) is a former Australian rules footballer for the Essendon Football Club.

Of Lithuanian descent, Ramanauskas was selected at no. 12 in the 1998 AFL Draft and was mainly a defender or midfielder. In 2000 he was a regular selection on the wing in Essendon Football Club's 2000 premiership season, in which they lost just 1 game for the entire year.

Biography

Adam Ramanauskas debuted with the Essendon Football Club in 1999 after being selected at no. 12 in the 1998 AFL Draft. Playing mainly as a defender or midfielder, Ramanauskas was an integral member of the dominant 2000 Bombers Premiership team, which lost just 1 game for the entire season.

Regarded as one of AFL's up-and-coming young stars, Ramanauskas was runner-up in the AFL Rising Star Award in 2000, and placed 3rd in Essendon Football Club's Crichton Medal the following year, before being diagnosed with cancer in 2003.

After surgery, Ramanauskas missed 8 matches but made a quick recovery to play a handful of games again in 2003 before a recurrence of his cancer. Adam endured weeks of radiotherapy treatment, but admirably managed to come back and compete a solid 2004 season where he played in all of the Bombers' 24 games.

Ramanauskas had more misfortune in 2005 when he underwent a season-ending knee reconstruction after a Round 4 training mishap. After he had completed his recovery, Adam was set to make another come back. However in February 2006, a recurrence of the cancer appeared and Adam underwent further invasive surgery and six months of chemotherapy treatment.

At the end of 2006, Essendon Football Club sought special consideration from the AFL to place Ramanauskas on a mature-aged rookie list for the 2007 season. In July 2007, Ramanauskas was elevated to the senior list and against all odds, played his first AFL match in two years.

Named as one of The Australian Newspapers' "Most Inspirational People" in 2007, Adam's courage and determination both on and off the field has inspired many. For the past 2 years, Adam has worked passionately with the Essendon Football Club Community Affairs Department coordinating youth programs and developing a strong alliance with the Cancer Council of Victoria.

The much-loved former Essendon player will again call Windy Hill home after accepting a new part-time role that will see him focus on fast-tracking the development of Essendon’s youngsters. Alongside his duties at Essendon Adam will also work within the management team at Elite Sports Properties - a highly successful sports talent management business.

Career Highlights

• Essendon Football Club Reserves Grand Final, 1999
• Runner up, AFL Rising Star Award, 2000
• Grand Final Premiership side team member, 2000
• Played for Australia in the International Rules Series 2001 against Ireland
• 3rd Runner-up in Essendon Football Club's Crichton Medal (Best & Fairest Award), 2001
• Essendon Football Club's "Best Clubman", 2005
• Essendon Football Club's "Most Courageous Player", 2007

Best games

• 32 disposals (26 kicks 6 handballs), 8 marks and a goal in Round 10, 2002: 8-pt loss to the North Melbourne Football Club
• 31 disposals (17 kicks 14 handballs) and 14 marks in Round 11, 2000: 58-pt win over Geelong Football Club

Football, Cancer and Injury

In 2003, Ramanauskas was diagnosed with a low grade cancer (fibromatosis) in his neck after Round 3. He missed the next 8 matches and luckily made a quick recovery to play again in 2003. Following this was a solid 2004 season where he played in all of the Bombers' 24 games.

Ramanauskas had more misfortune in 2004 when he underwent a knee reconstruction after a Round 4 training mishap. After he had completed his recovery, however, in February 2006, a recurrence of the cancer appeared.¹

At the end of 2006, Ramanauskas was delisted by Essendon, who asked for special consideration in placing him on a mature-aged rookie list for the 2007 season. After long deliberation by the AFL Commission on this issue, Essendon were granted permission for this to go ahead. Ramanauskas was re-drafted by Essendon with pick 33 in the 2006 Rookie Draft.²³ On Wednesday, the 4th of July, Ramanauskas was elevated to the senior list and played his first AFL match in two years against the Geelong Cats on Friday the 6th of July 2007.

Retirement

On the 25th of August 2008, Ramanauskas and long time teammate Jason Johnson announced their collective retirements from AFL effective at the end of the season.⁴

Personal life

Ramanauskas was born to Joseph & Lucy Ramanauskas and grew up in Doveton, Victoria. He has an older brother, Daniel and younger sister, Kayla. Ramanauskas attended Doveton Primary School. He later graduated high school from St John's Regional College, Dandenong in 1998. Growing up Ramanauskas supported the Richmond Football Club.

Ramanauskas married his high school sweetheart, Belinda Henneman on 14th January 2006. They have a son, Aiden Adam, born on October 30, 2008.

References

1. ^ Rohan Connolly/Mike Gleeson, Bomber facing new fight with cancer, The Age, February 11, 2006.
2. ^ Essendon retains ill Ramanauskas, The Australian, November 21, 2006.
3. ^ Rookie list OK for Rama, Sportal, November 21, 2006.
4. ^ http://www.essendonfc.com.au/news/news.asp?nid=6045

External links

• Adam Ramanauskas's statistics from AFL Tables