Tony Lockett

Personal information
Birth	March 9, 1966 (1966-03-09) (age 42), Ballarat
Recruited from	North Ballarat Roosters
Height and weight	191cm / 108 kg
Playing career¹
Debut	April 16, 1983, St Kilda vs. Events 590 - Bahram Chobin is crowned as king Barham VI of Persia. Year 1966 ( MCMLXVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. Ballarat (formerly spelt "Ballaarat" is a city in Victoria, Australia, and one of the country's largest inland cities The North Ballarat Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in Ballarat and is the current VFL Premiers Events 1178 BC - A Solar eclipse may have marked the return of Odysseus, legendary King of Ithaca, to his kingdom Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar) The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed The Saints, is an Australian Football League club based in Melbourne Victoria Australia Geelong, at Waverley Park
Team(s)	St Kilda (1983-1994) 183 games, 898 goals. Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based in the city of Geelong. Waverley Park (formerly VFL Park and then AFL Park) was an Australian rules football Stadium in Melbourne, Victoria The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed The Saints, is an Australian Football League club based in Melbourne Victoria Australia Sydney Swans (1995-1999, 2002) 98 games, 462 goals. The Sydney Swans is an Australian Football League (AFL club based in Sydney, New South Wales.
¹ Statistics to end of 2002 season
Career highlights
Brownlow Medal 1987 Leigh Matthews Trophy 1987 All time goalkicking record Coleman Medal 1987, 1991, 1996, 1998 All-Australian 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1998 Trevor Barker Award 1987, 1991 Bob Skilton Medal 1995 Victoria (State of Origin) 1996 Grand Final appearance Australian Football Hall of Fame Sydney Swans Team of the Century St Kilda Football Club Team of the Century

Anthony Howard "Tony" Lockett (born in Ballarat on March 9, 1966) is a former Australian rules football player. For the list of winners of the award see List of Brownlow Medal winners. The Leigh Matthews Trophy is an annual award given by the AFL Players Association to the Most Valuable Player in the Australian Football League. The Coleman Medal is awarded yearly to the Australian Football League player who kicks the most goals in regular-season matches in that year The All-Australian Team is an All star team of Australian rules footballers selected by a panel at the end of each season The Trevor Barker Award is an Australian Rules Football award awarded to the player from the St The Bob Skilton Medal is awarded to the Sydney Swans player adjudged the Best and Fairest over the Home and away season This article is about the general concept of State of Origin For specific information on the annual series of Rugby league games in Australia see the Rugby League The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996 the Centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Ballarat (formerly spelt "Ballaarat" is a city in Victoria, Australia, and one of the country's largest inland cities Events 590 - Bahram Chobin is crowned as king Barham VI of Persia. Year 1966 ( MCMLXVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. Australian (rules football, or simply known as football, footy or Aussie rules, is a Team sport played between two teams of 18 players Lockett is the highest goal scorer in the history of the VFL/AFL with 1,360 goals in a career of 281 games, that commenced in 1983 with the St Kilda Football Club, and finished in 2002 with the Sydney Swans. The Australian Football League (AFL is both the professional Australian national competition in the Sport of Australian Rules Football and its highest The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed The Saints, is an Australian Football League club based in Melbourne Victoria Australia The Sydney Swans is an Australian Football League (AFL club based in Sydney, New South Wales. Lockett is the only full-forward ever to win the coveted Brownlow Medal, in 1987, a season in which he was decorated with several honours. Full-forward is a position in Australian rules football and Gaelic football with a key focus on kicking goals For the list of winners of the award see List of Brownlow Medal winners. Year 1987 ( MCMLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar) He is a four-time Coleman Medallist, kicked more than 100 goals in a season on six occasions, and is a member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame. The Coleman Medal is awarded yearly to the Australian Football League player who kicks the most goals in regular-season matches in that year The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996 the Centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of

VFL/AFL career

Lockett was originally recruited from the North Ballarat Football Club. The North Ballarat Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in Ballarat and is the current VFL Premiers At 191 cm tall and weighing 104 kg, Lockett was a large footballer. A centimetre ( American spelling: centimeter, symbol cm) is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one hundredth His strong hands, acceleration, ability to leap and accurate kicking made him a formidable player.

Famous nickname

Tony's father Howard inherited the nickname "Plugger" from his own father who used to "plug around" in the garden. Tony's father, who himself played 500 games of country football,^[1] then saw it fit to pass down the nickname once more to Tony. The name became synonymous with the man's large size.

In Round 18, 1993, in a match at the Sydney Cricket Ground between St Kilda (then Lockett's club) and Sydney, a piglet (being a reference to Tony's size) was released by a member of the Sydney crowd onto the ground (with the wrongly spelled word "Pluga" and Lockett's playing number "#4" spray painted onto it) before being tackled to the ground and removed by an opposition player. The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG is a sports Stadium in Sydney. The Sydney Swans is an Australian Football League (AFL club based in Sydney, New South Wales. [1] The famous Channel Seven commentary of the incident had the exclamation of "There's a pig at full-forward!". The Seven Network is an Australian television network, owned by the Seven Media Group. Full-forward is a position in Australian rules football and Gaelic football with a key focus on kicking goals Lockett was absent from the match due to injury.

St Kilda

For several reasons, Lockett's best season was arguably 1991, when he kicked 127 goals in 17 games, at an average of 7. 47 goals per game, the highest average ever achieved in VFL/AFL history. He was also the spearhead for St Kilda's first finals appearance since 1973. In the Qualifying Final against Geelong, Lockett kicked nine goals, five behinds, although the Saints were beaten by seven points.

Sydney Swans

In 1995, Lockett transferred to the Sydney Swans, where he played for another five seasons. The Sydney Swans is an Australian Football League (AFL club based in Sydney, New South Wales. Lockett was an instant success with the Swans, helping the team into the finals, and drawing huge crowds.

Lockett's career-best goal-scoring performance came in Round 19, 1995, against Fitzroy at the Western Oval, when he scored 16 goals straight. Fitzroy Football Club, most recently nicknamed The Lions, is an Australian rules football club formed in 1883 to represent the inner Melbourne Whitten Oval is a stadium in the western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria Australia located at 417 Barkly Street Footscray West.

Lockett became a cult figure in Sydney. At the height of his popularity the song "There's only one Tony Lockett" was released (sung to the tune of "Guantanamera"). " Guantanamera " ("girl from Guantánamo " is perhaps the best known Cuban song and that country's most noted Patriotic song. A groin injury threatened his appearance in the 1996 AFL Grand Final in which his team lost to the Kangaroos Football Club. In Human anatomy, the groin areas are the two creases at the junction of the Torso with the Legs on either side of the Pubic Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is an Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League.

In 1996, Lockett was the subject of much hype in the clash between Geelong and Sydney in which Gary Ablett was playing at the other end of the ground. Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based in the city of Geelong. Gary Robert Ablett senior (born 1 October 1961 After a disastrous debut season with Hawthorn, the Geelong Football Club managed to lure Ablett back The match was billed by the media as Plugger vs God and set a ground record attendance at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG is a sports Stadium in Sydney. He broke the record of 1299 career goals (set by Gordon Coventry) at the SCG in 1999, hitting an Australian dancer with his goal, and sparking one of the biggest pitch invasions seen in Aussie Rules. This is a list of records from the Australian Football League since its inception in 1897 (previously known as the Victorian Football League Gordon 'Nuts' Coventry (25 September 1901 - 7 November 1968 was an Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian A pitch invasion, known as rushing the field in the United States occurs when a crowd of people who are watching a sports game run onto the field to celebrate or protest about

Tony Lockett is perhaps remembered most famously for his role in taking the Sydney Swans into their first Grand Final in over 50 years. The 1996 AFL Grand Final took place on September 28, 1996 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground between AFL clubs North Melbourne and With the scores tied and only seconds left on the clock, Tony Lockett marked 50 metres out from goal. Taking his kick after the final siren, Lockett missed the goal, but the resulting behind was still enough to see the Swans win. In Australian rules football, if a player takes a mark or is awarded a free kick before or as the siren sounds the player is allowed to take their kick Since then this score has been called 'That Point' and is seen as the second most important point of all time, second only to Barry Breen's 1966 Grand Final-winning point. Barry Breen (born 7 January 1948 was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League, playing with St Kilda Football Club.

Lockett initially retired after 1999. However, he was coerced out of retirement in 2002, but played only two games and added only three goals to his record.

Controversy

Lockett's spectacular career was marred by several high profile tribunal appearances. The most famous was in an 11 goal match for St Kilda against his future club Sydney in 1994, when he broke Peter Caven's cheek-bone as he led out from full-forward and the unaware Caven was back-tracking for the ball. Peter Caven (born 16 May 1970 is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League. The incident resulted in an eight week suspension for charging.

Post-football

Lockett was inducted to both the St Kilda and Sydney Swans respective Teams of the Century in 2001 and 2003 respectively. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar.

Lockett's aversion of the media has been well documented. Since his retirement he has been elusive and has had little involvement in the game.

He has appeared in various television commercials, including Advanced Hair and Lowes menswear (in Sydney). Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic While at a taping session for a Lowes commercial, Lockett engaged in a friendly wrestling match with former amateur rugby player Ace (Adrian) Mueller, who was at the time working for Lowes corporate division. According to some reports, the friendly wrestle developed into something quite competitive, with Mueller (an exponent of the Israeli self defence system, Krav Maga) pinning Lockett. Krav Maga (קרב מגע lit contact combat is a military Hand-to-hand combat system developed in Israel, which assumes No quarter will be ^[2] More recently Tony starred along with Stephen Curry and Dave Lawson in a Toyota Memorable Moments advertisement which takes a lighthearted look at many moments in his career including: the piglet 'Pluga', 'One Tony Lockett', 'That Point' and his 1,300th goal (including the pitch invasion). Stephen Curry (basketball Stephen Curry (born 1976 in Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian comedian and actor who has appeared in many television drama Dave Lawson is an Australian comedian and TV and Radio personality

The Lockett End at the Telstra Dome

Tony is also well known for his main interest outside of football, greyhound racing and is the trainer of famous dog Brett Lee (which is believed to be worth upwards of A$1million) among others. Docklands Stadium, known as Telstra Dome, and originally as Victoria Stadium and Colonial Stadium, is a multi purpose sports and entertainment Greyhound racing is the Sport of Racing Greyhounds The Dogs chase a lure (traditionally an artificial Hare or Rabbit

On May 13, 2006, Lockett gave a rare interview to Triple M's AFL pre-match coverage. Events 1497 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Triple M is a network of radio stations owned by the Austereo Radio Network. In it he revealed that he currently lives near Bowral, New South Wales and has little interest in the AFL. Bowral is a town located in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. He said he felt ashamed of his playing career, describing himself as a "thug who could play a bit" and cited outside interests as the reason for his non-involvement in the game.

On June 22, 2006, Lockett was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. Events 217 BC - Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996 the Centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of

He has had one goal end at Telstra Dome named after him (the Lockett End of the Telstra Dome), the other end being named after the man whose record he broke, Gordon Coventry. Docklands Stadium, known as Telstra Dome, and originally as Victoria Stadium and Colonial Stadium, is a multi purpose sports and entertainment

Trivia

The Ballarat Football League award for the leading goalscorer for the home and away season is named after Lockett. The Ballarat Football League (BFL is an Australian rules football competition that operates in the Ballarat region of Victoria Australia. Lockett was a product of Ballarat Football League club North Ballarat. The North Ballarat Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in Ballarat and is the current VFL Premiers

See also

• After the siren kicks in Australian rules football

References

External links

• Tony Lockett profile on the Official AFL Website of the Sydney Swans Football Club
• St Kilda Hall of fame profile
• Tribute site