Darren Bennett (born 9 January 1965) is a former Australian rules football player and American football punter in the National Football League. As an Australian rules footballer, he played for East Fremantle in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) between 1982 and 1987 and then in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the West Coast Eagles and the Melbourne Football Club. He was most successful at Melbourne, where he was named as one of the club's 150 Heroes of the last 150 years, kicking 208 goals from just 74 games for the club. As an American football player, following a three-club career in the National Football League he is regarded as one of the greatest players of the 1990s and a member of the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team. This combination made him notable as arguably the most successful of the Australian sportsmen linked to professional American Football in history. Australian rules football career Born in Sydney, Bennett grew up in Perth, Western Australia where he began playing Australian rules football, first playing senior football with East Fremantle in the West Australian Football League. His career with the Sharks was severely affected by injuries to his knee, which kept him out for over a season during 1985 and 1986 – in the interim denying him a WAFL premiership. However, training with former star Harry Neesham allowed Bennett to be fit for the 1986 finals, and in the second semi he became the first player ever to score ten goals in a WA(N)FL final. As a consequence of his devastating late-1986 form, which included eleven goals in the last round against Claremont as well as his second semi effort, Bennett was recruited to be a member of the West Coast Eagles' inaugural squad in 1987. A serious knee injury curtailed his career with the Eagles after four games. Released by the Eagles, at the end of the 1988 season, he was drafted by the Melbourne Demons with the 13th selection in the 1988 VFL Draft. In both 1989 (34 goals) and 1990 (87 goals) Bennett led the Demons' goal kicking. Bennett was known for kicking long goals, torpedo punts and taking strong marks. Bennett was regarded as one of Melbourne's finest players in the early 1990s. But injuries caught up with him, and he played just two games in 1993. After the season, Bennett quietly retired from the Australian Football League, having