Gary Moorcroft

Gary Moorcroft
Personal information
Date of birth (1976-04-16) 16 April 1976
Original team(s) Northern Knights
Debut Round 5, 1995, Essendon
vs. St Kilda, at Optus Oval, Melbourne
Height 173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Weight 86 kg (190 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1995–2002 Essendon 95 (102)
2003 Melbourne 03 00(2)
Total 98 (104)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2003.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Gary Moorcroft (born 16 April 1976) is a former Australian rules football player for Essendon and Melbourne in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Moorcroft caught the attention of talent scouts with his winning of the Morrish Medal in 1994 whilst playing for the Northern Knights.

Moorcroft was a short, stocky and explosive goalsneak who participated in a premiership with Essendon in 2000 and a Grand Final side against the Brisbane Lions in 2001. He was delisted by Essendon in 2002 after playing 95 games and struggling to retain his spot in a talented side. It was the Demons, who Essendon beat in the 2000 final in which Moorcroft was an outstanding player, who picked him up in the draft.

Moorcroft played in three losing games with Demons, and after a lacklustre debut suffered a severe season ending knee injury. This effectively brought an end to his chances of working his way back into the side and he was almost immediately delisted. The then-27-year-old's 98-game, nine-year AFL career ended there.

Moorcroft is best known for winning the 2001 Mark of the Year, with a spectacular high-flying mark in round 14, 2001 against the Western Bulldogs, taking the mark over Bulldogs' forward Brad Johnson. The mark was particularly notable in that Moorcroft first jumped onto Johnson's back, then leapt higher into the air by leveraging himself off Johnson; this is very rare, as players will usually jump onto their opponent's back, then appear to hang at the same height while taking the mark (hence the colloquial term hanger for such a mark). For a similar reason, Johnson is often referred to as the springboard for this mark, when the term stepladder is used for the player underneath a hanger.

Moorcroft played for Silvan in the Yarra Valley Mountain Football League after retiring from the AFL. He topped the goalkicking tables of all leagues with 156 goals.

In 2009, Moorcroft was playing for the Romsey Redbacks in the Riddell District Football League (RDFL).

In 2011 he joined Bundoora in the Northern Football League (NFL) and has played in 3 Premierships with the Bulls (2011, 2013 & 2017). As a 41 year old kicking the winning goal in the 2017 Grand Final.

Playing statistics

[1]
Season Team No. Games G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
Totals Averages (per game)
1995 Essendon 46101325120.01.03.02.05.01.02.0
1996 Essendon 460——————————————
1997 Essendon 4611751025315536270.60.59.34.814.13.32.5
1998 Essendon 29171491145316753280.80.56.73.19.83.11.6
1999 Essendon 291730191576822555321.81.19.24.013.23.21.9
2000 Essendon 29182391445419854201.30.58.03.011.03.01.1
2001 Essendon 29161591175016759150.90.67.33.110.43.70.9
2002 Essendon 291513101134716054130.90.77.53.110.73.60.9
2003 Melbourne 7320211031870.70.07.03.310.32.72.3
Career 98 104 62 771 337 1108 320 144 1.1 0.6 7.9 3.4 11.3 3.3 1.5

References

  1. ↑ Gary Moorcroft's player profile at AFL Tables
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.