Adam Ramanauskas

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 one 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 eight 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, Ramanauskas' courage and determination both on and off the field has inspired many. Since 2007, 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.

Ramanauskas announced his retirement from AFL Football at the end of the 2008 season.

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 in 2009. Alongside his duties at Essendon, Ramanauskas will also work within the management team at Elite Sports Properties - a sports talent management agency. Ramanauskas has also joined the football commentary team at 774 ABC Radio.

Career highlights

• Essendon Football Club, VFL Reserves Premiership, 1999
• Essendon Football Club, VFL Reserves Best & Fairest Player, 1999
• Essendon Football Club, AFL Pre-Season Premiership, 2000
• Essendon Football Club, AFL Premiership, 2000
• AFL Rising Star Award, Runner-Up, 2000
• Represented Australia, International Rules Series against Ireland, 2001
• Essendon Football Club, Crichton Medal (Best & Fairest Award), 3rd Runner-Up, 2001
• Essendon Football Club, "Best Clubman", 2005
• Essendon Football Club, "Most Courageous Player", 2007
• AFLPA, "Community Spirit Award Winner", 2008

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.^[2][3] On Wednesday, 4 July, Ramanauskas was elevated to the senior list and played his first AFL match in two years against the Geelong Football Club on Friday 6 July 2007.

Retirement

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

Media Career

Ramanauskas is now an expert AFL commentator for 774 ABC ,as well as a Foxtel Cup commentator for Fox Footy.

Personal life

Ramanauskas was born to Joseph and 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.^{[citation needed]}

Ramanauskas married his high school sweetheart, Belinda Henneman in January 2006. They have two sons - Aidan (born October 2008)^[5] and Lucas (born August 2010).

References

1. ^ Rohan Connolly/Mike Gleeson, Bomber facing new fight with cancer, The Age, 11 February 2006.
2. ^ Essendon retains ill Ramanauskas, The Australian, 21 November 2006.
3. ^ Rookie list OK for Rama, Sportal, 21 November 2006.
4. ^ http://www.essendonfc.com.au/news/news.asp?nid=6045
5. ^ [1],'Rama's new baby boy', 31 October 2008.

External links

• Adam Ramanauskas's statistics from AFL Tables

v t e Australian squad – 2001 International Rules Series Captain: Voss Black Bowden Bradley Caracella Chick Francou Gaspar Goodes Goodwin Hardwick Harvey Hay Johnson King M. Lappin N. Lappin Lloyd Maxfield McLeod Nicks Ottens Ramanauskas Smith Stevens Tredrea White Coach: Lyon