Ben Stratton

Who is Ben Stratton?

Benjamin "Ben" Stratton is an Australian rules footballer with the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League.

Stratton was educated at MacKillop Catholic College in Busselton. He played for the Augusta Margaret River Football Club before being recruited to East Perth. He then spent three years playing in the West Australian Football League, playing 23 senior games and kicked three goals for East Perth. A medium-sized defender, Stratton was drafted from East Perth with the 46th selection in the 2009 AFL Draft.

Stratton made his AFL debut against Western Bulldogs in round 3 of the 2010 AFL season. Despite being a mature-age rookie, Stratton was awarded the AFL Rising Star nomination for round 14, against the same team. During the game, Stratton accumulated 12 kicks, 7 handballs, 7 marks and 4 tackles.

He dislocated his knee in the third quarter of the Hawks’ win against Richmond in round 3 of the 2011 season and had surgery to repair his posterior cruciate ligament and have the lateral ligament in his right knee stabilised. He missed the most of the remainder of the year, he returned to play in the last home and away game of the season against the Gold Coast Suns and all the 2011 final series.