Fremantle Dockers legend Aaron Sandilands made AFL Life Member after 17-year playing career and charity work

Fremantle legend Aaron Sandilands has been made a life member of the AFL. The league announced on Monday the former Dockers ruckman was among seven figures with a long and storied history in the game to have the awarding of life membership endorsed by the AFL Commission at a meeting in December. Sandliands has received the honour alongside WA football legend Graham Moss, former Sydney star Mark Browning, boundary umpire Ian Burrows, recruiter Scott Clayton and club doctor Garry Zimmerman, while former Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes was also bestowed the honour at the AFL Origin opening event earlier this month. Raised in Mt Barker in the State’s Great Southern before moving to Perth as a teenager, Sandliands instantly became the league’s tallest player when he was plucked out of East Fremantle by Fremantle in 2002 rookie draft, a title he retained until retiring in 2019. He played 271 games over the course of his 17-year career for the Dockers, earning selection in the All Australian team four times, claiming the Doig Medal as his side’s best and fairest player in both 2009 and 2015 and being awarded the Ross Glendinning Medal after the 30th and 32nd western derbies. Sandilands has also been a key figure in Fremantle’s partnership with the Starlight Children’s Foundation, who he has been involved with for more than 20 years. He has personally raised more than $120,000 for the charity, with the Dockers’ contribution totalling $3.4 million. Sandilands’ daughter Sloane was supported by the foundation when she fell ill with an internal infection in 2021, which he said had given him an even greater appreciation for the impact it had on sick children. “When it’s your own child, and to see the impact that actual Captain Starlights had on Sloane when she was in a pretty bad state, was very touching, and made her hospital stay so much better,” Sandilands said.