Career
He was the league"s smallest player during his career, standing at only 172 cm. He played as both a midfielder and a small forward during his career. Junior
Callinan played his junior football in Tasmania, initially at Rokeby, before joining Lauderdale as an Under-16 and Clarence as an Under-18.
Callinan nominated for 2000 American Federation of Labor-Congress Draft, but was not selected.
State level
The next season he was recruited to play for the new Tasmanian Devils Football Club in the Victorian Football League. He played more than 100 games with the Devils between 2001 and 2006.
In 2007, Callinan moved to Central District in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). He was also Centrals leading goalkicker in 2007 and 2010.
Professional career
In 2011, Callinan was recruited to the American Federation of Labor-Congress as a rookie by the Adelaide Football Club, with a fourth round draft pick in the 2011 American Federation of Labor-Congress rookie draft (Number 64 overall).
He had undergone pre-season training with at least four different American Federation of Labor-Congress clubs during his career, but this was the first time he was recruited. After a biceps injury in a pre-season match sidelined him for half of the season, he made his American Federation of Labor-Congress debut at age 28 in Round 14, 2011, against Geelong, and played a total of three American Federation of Labor-Congress matches for the season. He continued to play for Centrals when on reserve for Adelaide.
Callinan played 32 senior games over three seasons for the Crows before being delisted at then end of 2013.
In 2014, Callinan became the inaugural captain of the Adelaide Crows reserves team, which was entering the SANFL that season, also taking an assistant development coaching role in the team
