Nathan Djerrkura is an Australian rules football player in the Australian Football League.
Background
Nathan Djerrkura was born to Gatjil and Jenny Djerrkura in the indigenous community of Yirrkala, Northern Territory on 19 September 1988. His father, Gatjil, was a former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) chairman before his death from a heart attack in May 2004.
Education
Djerrkura attended Scotch College, Melbourne on an Indigenous scholarship.
Career
He was drafted to the Geelong Football Club in 2006 and played four games for them before being traded to the Western Bulldogs during the 2010 Trade Week. He is of Indigenous Australian heritage and his ancestry can be traced to the Yolngu. Taken at pick 25 in the 2006 National American Federation of Labor-Congress Draft, Djerrkura is a highly rated young midfielder with a great work ethic and a strong body for his size.
He gets a lot of hard ball gets and can kick goals when required.
He has lightning pace and provides strong tackling pressure in the forward line. He was one of the best prospects from the Northern Territory in 2006, and was featured on Business School in a draft special.
Djerrkura played 2 National Association of Broadcasters Cup matches in 2007, and was close to making his debut in Rounds 1 and 2 after strong reserves form, until he received a setback when he was injured early in the season playing football in the VFL. Djerrkura"s nickname is Djidi which means "black magic." Djerrkura participated in the 2008 American Federation of Labor-Congress Grand Final sprint, coming 1st in his heat and going on to come 3rd overall. On 8 October 2010, he was traded to the Western Bulldogs in a deal which would see Geelong pick up draft pick 57.
Djerrkura retired from American Federation of Labor-Congress Football on 15th of September 2012 after playing 21 games for the Western Bulldogs.
He kicked 8 goals this season and said he wanted to move on to the next phase of his life.