Career
He is widely acknowledged as one of the finest defenders in the league"s history. Fletcher was recruited by the Essendon Football Club in the 1992 National Draft. He played his first senior game for the Bombers against Carlton in his senior year of high school at Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School.
He also holds the record of being the most watched VFL/American Federation of Labor-Congress football player of all time, with a cumulative attendance of 19,298,044 spectators at matches in which he has played from 1993 to present.
Fletcher holds the outright Essendon games record, having overtaken the previous record of 378 games held by Simon Madden in Round 1, 2014. Playing in his 384th career game in Round 7, 2014, he moved into third on the all-time VFL/American Federation of Labor-Congress games list, overtaking Robert Harvey.
He became the second oldest player to play VFL/American Federation of Labor-Congress at 39 years and 333 days, behind Vic Cumberland, in Round 1, 2015. Fletcher played his 400th game in Round 9, 2015, against Richmond, becoming the third player in VFL/American Federation of Labor-Congress history to reach the milestone, after Michael Tuck and Kevin Bartlett.
lieutenant would end up being his final game, as he was unable to recover from a groin injury sustained during the match.
On 12 January 2016 Fletcher was named as one of 34 past and present Essendon players found guilty over their use of illegal supplements during the 2012 American Federation of Labor-Congress season. As a result, Fletcher was suspended from playing at all levels for twenty four months, backdated to the 31st of March 2015, however, as he has already retired, his suspension cannot be served. Fletcher"s execution of the torpedo punt was often used as a set-play clearing strategy by coach Kevin Sheedy.
In a game in 2007, he kicked a torpedo punt goal from more than 70 metres.
According to The Sunday Age, it was the fifth longest kick in the history of the VFL/American Federation of Labor-Congress.
Fletcher served as the Australia international rules football team"s goalkeeper for four series: the 2005 series, the 2006 series the 2010 series and the 2014 series. Along with Barry Hall, Fletcher was one of Australia"s co-captains for the 2006 series.
He is regarded as Australia"s greatest keeper throughout the series. He retired from football with a final International rules match, at the 2015 series in Ireland.