# Toby Bedford

Toby Bedford (born 27 May 2000) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL), having initially been drafted to Melbourne in the 2018 AFL draft. A small forward, he made his AFL debut in the opening round of the 2020 season.

## Junior career

During his junior career, Bedford played for the Dandenong Stingrays in the TAC Cup and was part of Melbourne's Next Generation Academy, which allowed Melbourne to match any other club's bid on Bedford during a draft. He also represented Vic Country at the 2018 AFL Under 18 Championships. He also played for his school side Melbourne Grammar School in the APS competition. Bedford's strong performance in a TAC Cup preliminary final victory over the Sandringham Dragons, in which he amassed three goals, six tackles and 13 disposals, was highlighted by Fox Sports and ESPN. His speed and tackling were noted as strengths; ESPN likened his play to West Coast defender Lewis Jetta. Bedford was expected to attract a second-round bid in the upcoming 2018 AFL draft.

## AFL career

Bedford was drafted by Melbourne as an academy selection with pick 75 in the 2018 draft. He spent his first year at the club playing for Casey, Melbourne's Victorian Football League (VFL) affiliate; he played 21 matches in 2019. He made his AFL debut in the opening round of the 2020 season.
Bedford was traded to Greater Western Sydney at the conclusion of the 2022 AFL season.

## Statistics

Updated to the end of the 2024 season.
| Season | Team | No. | Games | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Votes |
| Season | Team | No. | Games | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | Votes |
| 2019 | Melbourne | 12 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2020 | Melbourne | 12 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 3 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 8.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 0 |
| 2021 | Melbourne | 12 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2022$^#$ | Melbourne | 12 | 16 | 9 | 3 | 33 | 32 | 65 | 13 | 21 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 4.1 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 0 |
| 2023 | Greater Western Sydney | 14 | 19 | 12 | 16 | 105 | 145 | 250 | 44 | 97 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 5.5 | 7.6 | 13.1 | 2.3 | 5.1 | 0 |
| 2024 | Greater Western Sydney | 14 | 23 | 10 | 7 | 103 | 165 | 268 | 41 | 141 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 4.5 | 7.2 | 11.7 | 1.8 | 6.1 | 2 |
| Career | Career | Career | 60 | 31 | 27 | 247 | 352 | 599 | 101 | 263 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 4.1 | 5.9 | 10.0 | 1.7 | 4.4 | 2 |
Notes
* ↑ The 2020 season was played with 17 home-and-away matches per team (down from 22) and 16-minute quarters with time on (down from 20-minute quarters with time on) due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
* ↑ 2022 statistics include two games in which Bedford was a used medical substitute (rounds 1 and 10) and eight games in which he was an unused medical substitute (rounds 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12 and 19).

## Personal life

Bedford has Bunuba Indigenous Australian ancestry and is a cousin of Melbourne footballer Krstel Petrevski, who plays in the AFL Women's.