page_title: Aaron vandenBerg
section_title: AFL career
hierarchical_section_title: Aaron vandenBerg / AFL career
caption_attribution_description: English: Aaron vandenBerg warming up prior to a pre-season match in February 2017
context_page_description: Aaron vandenBerg is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League. A midfielder, 1.88 metres tall and weighing 90 kilograms, vandenBerg has the ability to contribute as both an inside and outside midfielder, whilst also pushing into the forward line. After missing out on the draft at eighteen years of age, vandenBerg played in the North East Australian Football League with the Ainslie Football Club where he won two best and fairest awards and was twice named in the NEAFL team of the year. His performances in the NEAFL saw him recruited by the Melbourne Football Club with the second selection in the 2015 rookie draft and he made his AFL debut in the opening round of the 2015 season.
context_section_description: vandenBerg was drafted by the Melbourne Football Club with their first selection and second overall in the 2015 rookie draft. After a shoulder reconstruction at the end of 2014, Melbourne football operations manager, Josh Mahoney, stated vandenBerg was "exceeding expectations" and he made his debut in the 2015 opening round, twenty-six point win against Gold Coast at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He was named in the best players for Melbourne and recorded seventeen disposals, four marks and a goal. Lauded for his tenacity and ability to win the contested ball, he played the first ten matches of the year before suffering a hamstring strain in the annual Queen's Birthday clash against Collingwood. He returned to the side in round fifteen against Essendon, and played the next four matches before injuring his ankle in August, he was then ruled out for the rest of the season after playing fourteen matches in his debut season. After signing a contract extension until the end of the 2017 season, he was promoted from the rookie list to the senior list for the 2016 season onward.
  Despite suffering from an ankle injury during the 2016 pre-season, vandenBerg played the start of the season in the senior side. He played in the first three matches of the season before re-aggravating his ankle injury, and he was forced to miss a month of football. He made his return to football in the Victorian Football League (VFL), playing for Melbourne's  affiliate team, the Casey Scorpions. He returned to the senior side for the eighteen point loss against Hawthorn at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in round eleven. He played the next five matches before missing the round eighteen match against West Coast at Domain Stadium due to a hip injury. He returned the next week for the two point win against Gold Coast at the Melbourne Cricket Ground where he kicked a career high three goals and was named in Melbourne's best. He played the remainder of the season to finish with fourteen games.
caption: vandenBerg in February 2017
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