Career
Melbourne career (2001–2004)
Broadbridge began his career as a defender with Portuguese Adelaide in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), and was drafted by the Melbourne Football Club at the beginning of the 2001 American Federation of Labor-Congress season. Interestingly, Broadbridge"s first and last American Federation of Labor-Congress games were both against Essendon – he made his debut in Round 8, 2001, in the teams" first meeting since the 2000 Grand Final, while his last league game was also against Essendon, in the 2004 elimination final. On both occasions, Melbourne lost narrowly.
Broadbridge married Trisha Silvers on 18 December 2004.
On 26 December, while spending their honeymoon in the Phi Phi Islands, Thailand, he drowned after being swept out to sea by the tsunami that followed the Indian Ocean earthquake, but Silvers survived. His father located his body in a Thai morgue on 3 January 2005.
Trisha wrote a book about the events, Beyond The Wave, and was named as the 2006 Young Australian of the Year for her volunteer work for various charities, including building a school on Phi Phi named in Troy Broadbridge"s honor. In Melbourne"s first match of the 2005 season, played against Essendon, the Demons all wore black armbands with number 20 sported on them in memory of Broadbridge.
Broadbridge"s number 20 jersey was retired for the following two seasons (2005–2006), and was revived in 2007 by new player Colin Garland.
Since 2007 the Troy Broadbridge Memorial Trophy has been awarded to any Melbourne-listed player that accumulates the most votes for their VFL affiliate.
