Alastair Lynch
Encyclopedia
Alastair Graeme Lynch is a former professional Australian rules football
er who played in the Australian Football League
(AFL). He is best known as a three time premiership full-forward
for the Brisbane Lions
.
The Tasmania
n began his career in defence where he became a club champion and leading goalkicker for Fitzroy
. He represented his home state at elite level and at the peak of his career in 1993 he was acknowledged as one of the league's best with All Australian status in 1993. However he left a financially struggling Fitzroy to become a prize recruit for a new look Brisbane Bears
after the club's move from the Gold Coast
. With the merger of his former club Fitzroy and Brisbane, Lynch rejoined with former teammates and became club captain.
A long battle with chronic fatigue syndrome
threatened his career; however, after many years in absence Lynch's return to form at a relatively late age in his career was hailed by the football community, and he became part of Brisbane Lions' celebrated premiership winning formula.
Lynch is a Tasmanian football legend, a favourite son at both Fitzroy and Brisbane clubs and holds the record for the most combined goals for the merged entity and one of the last remaining former Fitzroy players to play in the AFL.
in the 1986 VFL Draft
, Lynch began his senior football career at Fitzroy
in 1988
. He signed his first contract on 5 February. He was an intimidating player in defence, playing fullback and centre half back. In his early years his notable abilities were strong marking (his outstanding aerial abilities recognised when he won the 1989 Mark of the Year
award) and heavy tackling. His titanic battles with key forwards such as Tony Lockett
were highlights, and Lockett has commented on Lynch being one of his toughest opponents. In 1993, Fitzroy coach Robert Shaw moved Lynch to full forward, where he led the club's goal kicking with 68 goals and won the best and fairest award. Lynch also played fullback in the 1990 Tasmanian State of Origin
team, the first Tasmanian team to defeat Victoria in 30 years.
, like the Fitzroy Football Club, were experiencing lean times, but improving somewhat under the coaching of premiership coach Robert Walls
. The term of Lynch's contract, ten years, was unprecedented and at the time considered by outsiders to be a great risk for the club.
Lynch came full of promise to the Bears. In the early years, he became a poster boy recruit for the struggling club which lacked big name players.
In his first few games of the 1994 AFL season
Lynch had suffered a broken collarbone and knee surgery, making him unable deliver his best. In 1995, he contracted a mystery virus which was later revealed that he was suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome
which sidelined him for the entire 1995 season
. Some commentators believe that if Lynch had played that season, then the Bears could have won a premiership. Others believed that Lynch contracted chronic fatigue when overtraining during his rehabilitation from injury. Lynch was one of the first sportspeople in Australian to experiment with the ice bath
which proved to assist in his recovery, and became a public figure for the illness which was struggling for credibility at the time.
In his return the following season, the Bears, struggling for forward line talent and with an increasingly talented backline, first experimented playing Lynch up forward to relieve an ageing Roger Merrett
with some success. Successive seasons saw him interchanged between the two opposite ends of the ground.
to form the Brisbane Lions
, Lynch was made a semi-permanent forward but was unable to perform at his peak for the next two seasons due to minor recurrence of his illness.
Lynch was appointed as club co-captain with Michael Voss
in 1997, a position that he held until 2000, when Voss assumed the full captaincy.
Still struggling with intermittent lapses of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in 1998, Lynch discovered that the drug he had been prescribed at the beginning of the season, although with the permission of the Australian Sports Drug Agency (official AFL drug agents), had been added to the IOC list of banned substances. He took it upon himself to alert the AFL and was controversially charged for taking a prohibited substance before eventually being cleared.
A new beginning for Lynch and the Lions came in 1999, under champion coach Leigh Matthews
. He played some games in defence but usually at full forward. Improvements in his strength, kicking for goal and positioning during marking contests made him one of the most feared forwards in the competition.
Endured great success for the 2001
, 2002, and 2003
seasons becoming a multiple goal kicker against the game's most prominent fullbacks including Stephen Silvagni
, Matthew Scarlett
and Shane Wakelin
from Collingwood
, Brisbane's on-going rivals. Lynch now has played in three winning premierships. In 2004
, he was the competition's oldest player at 36 years of age.
Lynch announced his retirement after Brisbane's loss in the 2004 AFL Grand Final. It was a disappointing end to his career; he injured his quad early in the game, his only statistic for the day was giving away a free kick which led to Port Adelaide's first goal for the match, and he would have missed the first ten matches of 2005 after being reported a record-equalling seven times for exchanging punches in an all-out fight with Port Adelaide's Darryl Wakelin
, for which Lynch was also fined $15,000. Lynch has since admitted significant regret about his behaviour in the match.
Lynch would be remembered as a player who overcame great adversity to become one of the premier players with one of the greatest teams the game of Australian rules football
has seen.
radio as well as an occasional television commentary role with the Fox Footy Channel
. He has also been appointed head of a new company, Healthy Business, that works alongside Nyrstar. Lynch recently made an appearance at the 104th Smelters Picnic, a show in Port Pirie, representing Healthy Business.
He has also co-written a book with Peter Blucher titled, "Taking Nothing For Granted", which was released in 2005.
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
er who played in the Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
(AFL). He is best known as a three time premiership full-forward
Full-forward
Full-forward is a position in Australian rules football and Gaelic football with a key focus on kicking goals.Leading full-forwards of the Australian Football League are usually among those awarded with the Coleman Medal for the most goals in an AFL season....
for the Brisbane Lions
Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...
.
The Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
n began his career in defence where he became a club champion and leading goalkicker for Fitzroy
Fitzroy Football Club
The Fitzroy Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Lions, is an Australian rules football club formed in 1883 to represent the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League on its inception in 1897...
. He represented his home state at elite level and at the peak of his career in 1993 he was acknowledged as one of the league's best with All Australian status in 1993. However he left a financially struggling Fitzroy to become a prize recruit for a new look Brisbane Bears
Brisbane Bears
The Brisbane Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Bears was an Australian rules football club and the first Queensland-based club in the Victorian Football League . The club played its first match in 1987, but struggled on and off the field until it made the finals for the first time in 1995...
after the club's move from the Gold Coast
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
. With the merger of his former club Fitzroy and Brisbane, Lynch rejoined with former teammates and became club captain.
A long battle with chronic fatigue syndrome
Chronic fatigue syndrome
Chronic fatigue syndrome is the most common name used to designate a significantly debilitating medical disorder or group of disorders generally defined by persistent fatigue accompanied by other specific symptoms for a minimum of six months, not due to ongoing exertion, not substantially...
threatened his career; however, after many years in absence Lynch's return to form at a relatively late age in his career was hailed by the football community, and he became part of Brisbane Lions' celebrated premiership winning formula.
Lynch is a Tasmanian football legend, a favourite son at both Fitzroy and Brisbane clubs and holds the record for the most combined goals for the merged entity and one of the last remaining former Fitzroy players to play in the AFL.
Fitzroy Lions career (1988–1993)
Selected at pick 50 from the Hobart Football ClubHobart Football Club
Hobart Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in Hobart, Tasmania. They play their home fixtures at the TCA Ground on the Queens Domain, in Hobart and from 2009, the club has been a member of the Tasmanian State League.- Club history :...
in the 1986 VFL Draft
1986 VFL Draft
The 1986 VFL Draft was the first formal draft to provide recruitment opportunities to clubs participating in Australian rules football's elite Victorian Football League...
, Lynch began his senior football career at Fitzroy
Fitzroy Football Club
The Fitzroy Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Lions, is an Australian rules football club formed in 1883 to represent the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League on its inception in 1897...
in 1988
1988 VFL season
The 92nd Victorian Football League Premiership Season commenced in April 1988 and concluded on 24 September 1988, with Hawthorn winning their seventh Premiership in their sixth consecutive Grand Final appearance.-Night Series:...
. He signed his first contract on 5 February. He was an intimidating player in defence, playing fullback and centre half back. In his early years his notable abilities were strong marking (his outstanding aerial abilities recognised when he won the 1989 Mark of the Year
Mark of the Year
The annual Mark of the Year competition is a sporting award that celebrates each season's best mark...
award) and heavy tackling. His titanic battles with key forwards such as Tony Lockett
Tony Lockett
Anthony Howard "Tony" Lockett is a former Australian rules football player. 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...
were highlights, and Lockett has commented on Lynch being one of his toughest opponents. In 1993, Fitzroy coach Robert Shaw moved Lynch to full forward, where he led the club's goal kicking with 68 goals and won the best and fairest award. Lynch also played fullback in the 1990 Tasmanian State of Origin
Interstate matches in Australian rules football
Australian rules football matches between teams representing Australian colonies/states and territories have been held since 1879. For most of the 20th century, the absence of a national club competition and international matches meant that football games between state representative teams were...
team, the first Tasmanian team to defeat Victoria in 30 years.
Brisbane Bears career (1994–1996)
In 1994, Lynch transferred to the Brisbane Bears. At the time, the Brisbane BearsBrisbane Bears
The Brisbane Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Bears was an Australian rules football club and the first Queensland-based club in the Victorian Football League . The club played its first match in 1987, but struggled on and off the field until it made the finals for the first time in 1995...
, like the Fitzroy Football Club, were experiencing lean times, but improving somewhat under the coaching of premiership coach Robert Walls
Robert Walls
Robert Walls is a former Australian rules footballer and coach who now works primarily as a television commentator and newspaper columnist on the sport. On 22 June 2006 he was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.- Carlton :...
. The term of Lynch's contract, ten years, was unprecedented and at the time considered by outsiders to be a great risk for the club.
Lynch came full of promise to the Bears. In the early years, he became a poster boy recruit for the struggling club which lacked big name players.
In his first few games of the 1994 AFL season
1994 AFL season
-Ladder:All teams played 22 games during the home and away season, for a total of 165. An additional 9 games were played during the finals series. It was the first season that the AFL implemented a top 8 team finals series...
Lynch had suffered a broken collarbone and knee surgery, making him unable deliver his best. In 1995, he contracted a mystery virus which was later revealed that he was suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome
Chronic fatigue syndrome
Chronic fatigue syndrome is the most common name used to designate a significantly debilitating medical disorder or group of disorders generally defined by persistent fatigue accompanied by other specific symptoms for a minimum of six months, not due to ongoing exertion, not substantially...
which sidelined him for the entire 1995 season
1995 AFL season
Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 1995.-Round 1:-Round 2:-Round 3:-Round 4:*This was the first ANZAC Day clash held between Collingwood and Essendon which famously ended in a draw.-Round 5:-Round 6:...
. Some commentators believe that if Lynch had played that season, then the Bears could have won a premiership. Others believed that Lynch contracted chronic fatigue when overtraining during his rehabilitation from injury. Lynch was one of the first sportspeople in Australian to experiment with the ice bath
Cryotherapy
Cryotherapy is the local or general use of low temperatures in medical therapy or the removal of heat from a body part. The term "cryotherapy" comes from the Greek cryo meaning cold and the word therapy meaning cure...
which proved to assist in his recovery, and became a public figure for the illness which was struggling for credibility at the time.
In his return the following season, the Bears, struggling for forward line talent and with an increasingly talented backline, first experimented playing Lynch up forward to relieve an ageing Roger Merrett
Roger Merrett
Roger Merrett is a former Australian rules footballer who played in two Victorian Football League premiership sides with the Essendon Football Club in the mid-1980s before moving to the fledging Brisbane Bears, later captaining the new club for seven seasons...
with some success. Successive seasons saw him interchanged between the two opposite ends of the ground.
Brisbane Lions career (1997–2004)
When Fitzroy merged with the Bears after the 1996 season1996 AFL season
Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 1996.See List of Australian Football League premiers for a complete list.-Lighting Premiership:...
to form the Brisbane Lions
Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...
, Lynch was made a semi-permanent forward but was unable to perform at his peak for the next two seasons due to minor recurrence of his illness.
Lynch was appointed as club co-captain with Michael Voss
Michael Voss
Michael Voss is the senior coach of the Brisbane Lions Australian Football League team and a former professional Australian rules footballer....
in 1997, a position that he held until 2000, when Voss assumed the full captaincy.
Still struggling with intermittent lapses of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in 1998, Lynch discovered that the drug he had been prescribed at the beginning of the season, although with the permission of the Australian Sports Drug Agency (official AFL drug agents), had been added to the IOC list of banned substances. He took it upon himself to alert the AFL and was controversially charged for taking a prohibited substance before eventually being cleared.
A new beginning for Lynch and the Lions came in 1999, under champion coach Leigh Matthews
Leigh Matthews
Leigh Raymond "Lethal Leigh" Matthews AM is a former player and coach of Australian rules football. He played for Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League from 1969 to 1985, coached Collingwood from 1986–1995, and coached the Brisbane Lions from 1999 to 2008...
. He played some games in defence but usually at full forward. Improvements in his strength, kicking for goal and positioning during marking contests made him one of the most feared forwards in the competition.
Endured great success for the 2001
2001 AFL season
Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 2001.See List of Australian Football League premiers for a complete list.-National Cup:Port Adelaide defeated Brisbane Lions 17.9 to 3.8 in the Final....
, 2002, and 2003
2003 AFL season
Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 2003.See List of Australian Football League premiers for a complete list.-National Cup:...
seasons becoming a multiple goal kicker against the game's most prominent fullbacks including Stephen Silvagni
Stephen Silvagni
Stephen Silvagni is a former Australian rules footballer for the Carlton Football Club.During his long VFL/AFL career, from his debut in 1985, until his retirement in 2001, he gained the reputation as one of the greatest ever full-backs to play the game and was named as full-back in the AFL Team...
, Matthew Scarlett
Matthew Scarlett
Matthew Scarlett is an Australian rules footballer for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League . A fullback, tall and weighing , Scarlett is the eldest son of former Geelong footballer John Scarlett....
and Shane Wakelin
Shane Wakelin
Shane Wakelin is a former Australian rules footballer for St Kilda and Collingwood in the Australian Football League.-AFL career:...
from Collingwood
Collingwood Football Club
The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
, Brisbane's on-going rivals. Lynch now has played in three winning premierships. In 2004
2004 AFL season
Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 2004.See List of Australian Football League premiers for a complete list.-Wizard Home Loans Cup:The Wizard Home Loans Cup Final saw St...
, he was the competition's oldest player at 36 years of age.
Lynch announced his retirement after Brisbane's loss in the 2004 AFL Grand Final. It was a disappointing end to his career; he injured his quad early in the game, his only statistic for the day was giving away a free kick which led to Port Adelaide's first goal for the match, and he would have missed the first ten matches of 2005 after being reported a record-equalling seven times for exchanging punches in an all-out fight with Port Adelaide's Darryl Wakelin
Darryl Wakelin
Darryl Wakelin is a former Australian rules footballer who played for St Kilda and Port Adelaide in the Australian Football League as a defender.-St Kilda:...
, for which Lynch was also fined $15,000. Lynch has since admitted significant regret about his behaviour in the match.
Lynch would be remembered as a player who overcame great adversity to become one of the premier players with one of the greatest teams the game of Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
has seen.
Post-VFL/AFL career
Lynch is now enjoying his football retirement, and is spending it as a match commentator on Brisbane Lions matches with Triple MTriple M
The Triple M Network is an active rock radio network in Australia owned by media company Austereo, who also own the Today Network.- History :...
radio as well as an occasional television commentary role with the Fox Footy Channel
Fox Footy
Fox Footy is an upcoming Australian Rules football subscription television channel dedicated to screening Australian rules football matches and related programming. It will be owned by Premier Media Group, operated out of their Melbourne based studios and available on Foxtel, Austar and Optus...
. He has also been appointed head of a new company, Healthy Business, that works alongside Nyrstar. Lynch recently made an appearance at the 104th Smelters Picnic, a show in Port Pirie, representing Healthy Business.
He has also co-written a book with Peter Blucher titled, "Taking Nothing For Granted", which was released in 2005.
Career highlights
- Mark of the YearMark of the YearThe annual Mark of the Year competition is a sporting award that celebrates each season's best mark...
1989 - All Australian 1993
- Fiztory Best and Fairest 1993
- Fitzroy Leading Goalkicker 1993
- Brisbane BearsBrisbane BearsThe Brisbane Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Bears was an Australian rules football club and the first Queensland-based club in the Victorian Football League . The club played its first match in 1987, but struggled on and off the field until it made the finals for the first time in 1995...
Leading Goalkicker 1996 - Brisbane LionsBrisbane LionsThe Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...
Premiership player 2001, 2002, 2003 - Brisbane LionsBrisbane LionsThe Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...
Leading Goalkicker 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003