Darryl and Shane Wakelin are identical twin brothers who, until Darryl retired at the end of the 2007 season after playing in his last Grand Fianl, both played AFL football. Surprisingly, the brothers do not share a birthday as Darryl was born on 11th August and Shane was born minutes later on 12th August 1974 in Whyalla SA.

The brothers grew up in the small town of Kimba which is situated on the Eyre Peninsula in SA.

Shane was the first brother to be drafted in to the AFL; he landed himself a spot in the St Kilda team in 1994, and a year later his brother also joined the Saints.

The brothers were so similar looking that team mates and coaches could only tell the pair apart by their Guernsey numbers, Darryl 12 and Shane 15. Their coach at the time, Stan Alves was tempted at one stage to swap the brothers in a crucial match. Darryl had been reported for charging and was under a two game suspension and Shane was suffering from an ankle injury. According to some sources, it came up as a joke that they could swap the suspended Darryl to play instead of the injured Shane, but of course the repercussions if found out would have been tremendous.

The brothers left St Kilda to play for different clubs, in 2001 Shane moved to Collingwood and Darryl went to Port Adelaide.

In 2005 the brothers became the record holders of the most games played by twins in the AFL.

The brothers have played in several Grand Finals but it is Darryl whose team Port Adelaide won the grand final in 2004, his brother Shane has played in 2 consecutive grand finals with Collingwood but they had failed to win either games.

Darryl has played 260 games over 12 straight seasons and retired after Port Adelaide was served a crushing defeat by Geelong in the 2007 Grand Final. Shane decided to continue playing in 2008, and when asked about his brother's retirement, said "It will be a tough one for the family but I want a premiership medallion and that's all I'm worried about. He's got his."

Shane and Darryl's mum Libby won the AFL Mother of the Year in 2006 for her ability to show ample commitment to both her son's football careers.

On a personal note Shane is married to Ligita in and they have 2 children, a daughter Charlie Elizabeth and a son Tom Leo.

Darryl is married to Karmen and they have a daughter Amelie and a son Gillon.