David Strooper is a former 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...

er who played with 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...

, Sydney Swans

Sydney Swans

The Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney...

 and St Kilda in the Victorian/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...

 (VFL/AFL).

Originally from South Colac, Strooper was a utility player who was often used as a key forward. He spent much of his time at Fitzroy in the reserves and had his best return in 1990 with 14 senior games. After playing just six league games the following year, Strooper nominated for the 1991 AFL Draft

1991 AFL Draft

- History :When the competition was known as the Victorian Football League , the league introduced the first incarnation of a draft system in 1981, where teams had two selections each of interstate players determined by reverse finishing position order...

 and was picked by Sydney with the 43rd selection.

He made an immediate impression at Sydney in 1992, with four goals in his first game and a five goal haul in his second. His final tally of 44 goals, from 22 games, was enough to finish second in the goal-kicking behind another new recruit; Simon Minton-Connell

Simon Minton-Connell

Simon Minton-Connell is a former Australian rules footballer in the VFL/AFL, and nephew of the great full-forward, Peter Hudson.-VFL/AFL career:...

. Strooper's 131 marks was easily the most by a Swans player that season. He was unable to repeat these efforts with a struggling Sydney side in 1993 and added just 10 more games, all of which were in losses. Delisted, he was given another chance by St Kilda, who secured him with the fourth pick of the 1994 Pre-Season Draft

1993 AFL Draft

The 1993 AFL Draft consisted of a mid-season draft, a national draft at the end of the season and a Pre-season draft, held before the 1994 AFL season....

. He appeared in the opening two rounds 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...

 but was hampered by injuries during the year and played just four more games.

Strooper was later part of a successful Northcote Park

Northcote Park Football Club

The Northcote Park Football Club, nicknamed the Cougars, is an Australian rules football club, located 6 km north of Melbourne, in the suburb of Northcote, currently playing in the Northern Football League....

 side, which competed in the Diamond Valley Football League.