Tony Liberatore
Encyclopedia
Anthony "Tony" Liberatore (born 11 February 1966) is a former Australian rules football
er who played for Footscray
(renamed the Western Bulldogs during his playing career) in the Australian Football League
(AFL).
Liberatore is the only player to have won best-and-fairest medals in the Victorian under-19, Reserves and VFL/AFL. Liberatore is one of the shortest players to have played in the VFL/AFL competition and the shortest player to have won a Brownlow Medal
.
The tough rover for a long time held the record in the VFL/AFL for the most career tackles. He was much-hated by opposition fans for his ability to play close, pestering tagging roles.
Tony Liberatore was born in Australia to Italian
parents.
Liberatore moved to Footscray in 1986 and, although he made his senior debut for the Bulldogs in 1986, he mainly played in the reserves, winning the Gardiner Medal
in 1986 and 1988.
Standing at 163 cm, "Libba" had played only 18 league games in his first four seasons, before he had a breakout season in 1990, playing 19 games and winning the Brownlow Medal
for the best and fairest player in the league.
He finished his career with 283 games in a career that included 13 finals, life membership, and selection on the interchange bench in the club's Team of the Century.
At times during his career, however, he drew attention and criticism. His tackling style was heavily scrutinised and as he developed into one of the league's first specialist tagger
s during the late 1990s he had many controversial incidents with opposition players, including Paul Kelly
, Steven Lawrence and Matthew Knights
.
Liberatore is recorded to have lain 1225 tackles in his career, at an average of 4.39 tackles per game. Such high tackle counts were unheard of for a player of Liberatore's era, a time when the league average was 20-30 tackles per team per game. In 1992 he became the first player to lay 100 tackles in a season, and repeated the feat every season until 1996, no other player achieved the feat until 2001.
Liberatore's tackling records were all surpassed during the latter half of the 2000s decade, largely because of a fundamental change in playing style which saw the league's average tackle count increase to between 60-70 tackles per team per game by 2009 - more than double the average during Liberatore's time. His season tally of 142 tackles in 1994 stood as the record until 2006, when James McDonald
bettered it by one. His record of 1225 career tackles stood until 2010, when it was surpassed by Brett Kirk
(who finished his career with 1278 tackles). His tackles-per-game average of 4.39 has also been surpassed several times, with the best modern players now averaging more than five tackles per game.
Liberatore coached the Box Hill Hawks
in the Victorian Football League
in 2003 taking them to the Grand Final. From 2003 to 2007, Liberatore held an assistant coaching position at the Carlton Football Club
. In 2008, he implied that Carlton had tanked at the end of the season to secure the number one draft selection, Matthew Kreuzer
.
In 2008, Liberatore was the senior coach of the Sunbury Lions Football Club in the Ballarat Football League
. In 2009, Liberatore joined the Western Region Football League
as senior coach of the West Footscray Roosters.
In February 2008 Liberatore strongly criticised the current Western Bulldogs administration, including president David Smorgon
and chief executive Campbell Rose
. In June 2009 he apologised for his comments, stating that his comments were based on incorrect information and that he was going through personal problems at the time, including a separation from his wife Jane.
His son, Thomas, represented Victoria at under 16 level in 2008 and has been selected as a father-son selection
at the 2010 AFL Draft
.
Anthony "Tony" Liberatore (born 11 February 1966) is a former Australian rules football
er who played for Footscray
(renamed the Western Bulldogs during his playing career) in the Australian Football League
(AFL).
Liberatore is the only player to have won best-and-fairest medals in the Victorian under-19, Reserves and VFL/AFL. Liberatore is one of the shortest players to have played in the VFL/AFL competition and the shortest player to have won a Brownlow Medal
.
The tough rover for a long time held the record in the VFL/AFL for the most career tackles. He was much-hated by opposition fans for his ability to play close, pestering tagging roles.
Tony Liberatore was born in Australia to Italian
parents.
Liberatore moved to Footscray in 1986 and, although he made his senior debut for the Bulldogs in 1986, he mainly played in the reserves, winning the Gardiner Medal
in 1986 and 1988.
Standing at 163 cm, "Libba" had played only 18 league games in his first four seasons, before he had a breakout season in 1990, playing 19 games and winning the Brownlow Medal
for the best and fairest player in the league.
He finished his career with 283 games in a career that included 13 finals, life membership, and selection on the interchange bench in the club's Team of the Century.
At times during his career, however, he drew attention and criticism. His tackling style was heavily scrutinised and as he developed into one of the league's first specialist tagger
s during the late 1990s he had many controversial incidents with opposition players, including Paul Kelly
, Steven Lawrence and Matthew Knights
.
Liberatore is recorded to have lain 1225 tackles in his career, at an average of 4.39 tackles per game. Such high tackle counts were unheard of for a player of Liberatore's era, a time when the league average was 20-30 tackles per team per game. In 1992 he became the first player to lay 100 tackles in a season, and repeated the feat every season until 1996, no other player achieved the feat until 2001.
Liberatore's tackling records were all surpassed during the latter half of the 2000s decade, largely because of a fundamental change in playing style which saw the league's average tackle count increase to between 60-70 tackles per team per game by 2009 - more than double the average during Liberatore's time. His season tally of 142 tackles in 1994 stood as the record until 2006, when James McDonald
bettered it by one. His record of 1225 career tackles stood until 2010, when it was surpassed by Brett Kirk
(who finished his career with 1278 tackles). His tackles-per-game average of 4.39 has also been surpassed several times, with the best modern players now averaging more than five tackles per game.
Liberatore coached the Box Hill Hawks
in the Victorian Football League
in 2003 taking them to the Grand Final. From 2003 to 2007, Liberatore held an assistant coaching position at the Carlton Football Club
. In 2008, he implied that Carlton had tanked at the end of the season to secure the number one draft selection, Matthew Kreuzer
.
In 2008, Liberatore was the senior coach of the Sunbury Lions Football Club in the Ballarat Football League
. In 2009, Liberatore joined the Western Region Football League
as senior coach of the West Footscray Roosters.
In February 2008 Liberatore strongly criticised the current Western Bulldogs administration, including president David Smorgon
and chief executive Campbell Rose
. In June 2009 he apologised for his comments, stating that his comments were based on incorrect information and that he was going through personal problems at the time, including a separation from his wife Jane.
His son, Thomas, represented Victoria at under 16 level in 2008 and has been selected as a father-son selection
at the 2010 AFL Draft
.
Anthony "Tony" Liberatore (born 11 February 1966) is a former Australian rules football
er who played for Footscray
(renamed the Western Bulldogs during his playing career) in the Australian Football League
(AFL).
Liberatore is the only player to have won best-and-fairest medals in the Victorian under-19, Reserves and VFL/AFL. Liberatore is one of the shortest players to have played in the VFL/AFL competition and the shortest player to have won a Brownlow Medal
.
The tough rover for a long time held the record in the VFL/AFL for the most career tackles. He was much-hated by opposition fans for his ability to play close, pestering tagging roles.
Tony Liberatore was born in Australia to Italian
parents.
Liberatore moved to Footscray in 1986 and, although he made his senior debut for the Bulldogs in 1986, he mainly played in the reserves, winning the Gardiner Medal
in 1986 and 1988.
Standing at 163 cm, "Libba" had played only 18 league games in his first four seasons, before he had a breakout season in 1990, playing 19 games and winning the Brownlow Medal
for the best and fairest player in the league.
He finished his career with 283 games in a career that included 13 finals, life membership, and selection on the interchange bench in the club's Team of the Century.
At times during his career, however, he drew attention and criticism. His tackling style was heavily scrutinised and as he developed into one of the league's first specialist tagger
s during the late 1990s he had many controversial incidents with opposition players, including Paul Kelly
, Steven Lawrence and Matthew Knights
.
Liberatore is recorded to have lain 1225 tackles in his career, at an average of 4.39 tackles per game. Such high tackle counts were unheard of for a player of Liberatore's era, a time when the league average was 20-30 tackles per team per game. In 1992 he became the first player to lay 100 tackles in a season, and repeated the feat every season until 1996, no other player achieved the feat until 2001.
Liberatore's tackling records were all surpassed during the latter half of the 2000s decade, largely because of a fundamental change in playing style which saw the league's average tackle count increase to between 60-70 tackles per team per game by 2009 - more than double the average during Liberatore's time. His season tally of 142 tackles in 1994 stood as the record until 2006, when James McDonald
bettered it by one. His record of 1225 career tackles stood until 2010, when it was surpassed by Brett Kirk
(who finished his career with 1278 tackles). His tackles-per-game average of 4.39 has also been surpassed several times, with the best modern players now averaging more than five tackles per game.
Liberatore coached the Box Hill Hawks
in the Victorian Football League
in 2003 taking them to the Grand Final. From 2003 to 2007, Liberatore held an assistant coaching position at the Carlton Football Club
. In 2008, he implied that Carlton had tanked at the end of the season to secure the number one draft selection, Matthew Kreuzer
.
In 2008, Liberatore was the senior coach of the Sunbury Lions Football Club in the Ballarat Football League
. In 2009, Liberatore joined the Western Region Football League
as senior coach of the West Footscray Roosters.
In February 2008 Liberatore strongly criticised the current Western Bulldogs administration, including president David Smorgon
and chief executive Campbell Rose
. In June 2009 he apologised for his comments, stating that his comments were based on incorrect information and that he was going through personal problems at the time, including a separation from his wife Jane.
His son, Thomas, represented Victoria at under 16 level in 2008 and has been selected as a father-son selection
at the 2010 AFL Draft
.
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 for Footscray
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
(renamed the Western Bulldogs during his playing career) 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).
Liberatore is the only player to have won best-and-fairest medals in the Victorian under-19, Reserves and VFL/AFL. Liberatore is one of the shortest players to have played in the VFL/AFL competition and the shortest player to have won a Brownlow Medal
Brownlow Medal
The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
.
The tough rover for a long time held the record in the VFL/AFL for the most career tackles. He was much-hated by opposition fans for his ability to play close, pestering tagging roles.
Tony Liberatore was born in Australia to Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
parents.
Footscray/Western Bulldogs (1986–2002)
Liberatore started his football at Brunswick City. He was recruited by North Melbourne and played both under-19s and reserve grade football.Liberatore moved to Footscray in 1986 and, although he made his senior debut for the Bulldogs in 1986, he mainly played in the reserves, winning the Gardiner Medal
Gardiner Medal
The Gardiner Medal was an Australian rules football award, formerly awarded to the best and fairest player in the VFL Reserves competition.Officially named the Seconds prior to 1959 and the Reserves from 1959 onwards, the competition ran from 1919 until 1999 and the medal was first awarded in...
in 1986 and 1988.
Standing at 163 cm, "Libba" had played only 18 league games in his first four seasons, before he had a breakout season in 1990, playing 19 games and winning the Brownlow Medal
Brownlow Medal
The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
for the best and fairest player in the league.
He finished his career with 283 games in a career that included 13 finals, life membership, and selection on the interchange bench in the club's Team of the Century.
At times during his career, however, he drew attention and criticism. His tackling style was heavily scrutinised and as he developed into one of the league's first specialist tagger
Tagger
Tagger may refer to:* a method for doing part-of-speech tagging, or grammatical tagging, for example Brill tagger* Tag editor, software that supports editing metadata of multimedia file formats* A position in Australian rules football...
s during the late 1990s he had many controversial incidents with opposition players, including Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly (footballer)
Paul Kelly is a former Australian rules footballer, winner of the Brownlow Medal and captain of the Sydney Swans for ten seasons. He was and still is known to Swans fans everywhere as "Captain Courageous"....
, Steven Lawrence and Matthew Knights
Matthew Knights
Matthew Knights is a former Australian rules football player, having played in the midfield for the Richmond Football Club from 1988 to 2002. He went on to a coaching career, most notably as head coach of the Essendon Football Club from 2008 to 2010...
.
Liberatore is recorded to have lain 1225 tackles in his career, at an average of 4.39 tackles per game. Such high tackle counts were unheard of for a player of Liberatore's era, a time when the league average was 20-30 tackles per team per game. In 1992 he became the first player to lay 100 tackles in a season, and repeated the feat every season until 1996, no other player achieved the feat until 2001.
Liberatore's tackling records were all surpassed during the latter half of the 2000s decade, largely because of a fundamental change in playing style which saw the league's average tackle count increase to between 60-70 tackles per team per game by 2009 - more than double the average during Liberatore's time. His season tally of 142 tackles in 1994 stood as the record until 2006, when James McDonald
James McDonald (footballer)
James McDonald is an Australian rules footballer, currently contracted to in the Australian Football League . He previously played for and captained the Melbourne Football Club.- Career :...
bettered it by one. His record of 1225 career tackles stood until 2010, when it was surpassed by Brett Kirk
Brett Kirk
Brett Kirk is a former Australian rules football player of the Sydney Swans, and is known colloquially as "Kirky", "Captain Kirk", during the 2005 AFL Finals Series, "Captain Blood" and by teammates as "Hippy". Kirk is a hard working and onfield leader who has played in a premiership with the...
(who finished his career with 1278 tackles). His tackles-per-game average of 4.39 has also been surpassed several times, with the best modern players now averaging more than five tackles per game.
Post AFL
Since retiring Liberatore has appeared in the E J Whitten Legends Game for Victoria on multiple occasions since 2003 and was the Man of the Match in 2007.Liberatore coached the Box Hill Hawks
Box Hill Hawks
Box Hill Hawks Football Club is an Australian rules football club playing in the Victorian Football League. It has an alliance with the Hawthorn Football Club which plays in the Australian Football League....
in the Victorian Football League
Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League which evolved from the former Victorian Football Association , taking its new name as from the 1996 season, is the premier Australian rules football league in Victoria The Victorian Football League (VFL) which evolved from the former Victorian Football Association...
in 2003 taking them to the Grand Final. From 2003 to 2007, Liberatore held an assistant coaching position at the Carlton Football Club
Carlton Football Club
The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
. In 2008, he implied that Carlton had tanked at the end of the season to secure the number one draft selection, Matthew Kreuzer
Matthew Kreuzer
Matthew Kreuzer is an Australian rules footballer for the Carlton Football Club. He was selected with the first pick overall in the 2007 AFL National Draft....
.
In 2008, Liberatore was the senior coach of the Sunbury Lions Football Club in the Ballarat Football League
Ballarat Football League
The Ballarat Football League is an Australian rules football competition that operates in the Ballarat region of Victoria, Australia.The competition formed in 1893 as the Ballarat Football Association and was renamed Ballarat Football League in 1908 and was briefly known as the Ballarat-Wimmera...
. In 2009, Liberatore joined the Western Region Football League
Western Region Football League
The Western Region Football League is an Australian rules football semi-professional league, based in the western suburbs of Melbourne, for both seniors and juniors.-History:The league was formed in 1931, as the Footscray District Football League...
as senior coach of the West Footscray Roosters.
In February 2008 Liberatore strongly criticised the current Western Bulldogs administration, including president David Smorgon
David Smorgon
David Smorgon is an Australian businessman. He is most noted for holding the presidency of the Western Bulldogs, an Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League...
and chief executive Campbell Rose
Campbell Rose
Campbell Alan Rose is the Chief Executive of Stralliance Developments and Watersun Homes, a Melbourne based development and construction company...
. In June 2009 he apologised for his comments, stating that his comments were based on incorrect information and that he was going through personal problems at the time, including a separation from his wife Jane.
His son, Thomas, represented Victoria at under 16 level in 2008 and has been selected as a father-son selection
Father-son rule
The father-son rule is a rule that allows clubs to select the sons of players who have made a major past contribution to the team in Australian rules football, most notably the Australian Football League...
at the 2010 AFL Draft
2010 AFL Draft
The 2010 AFL Draft consists of four opportunities for player acquisitions during the 2010/11 Australian Football League off-season. These are the Trade Week; held between , the National Draft; held on the , the Pre-Season Draft and the Rookie Draft .This is the first national draft to feature the...
.
Footnotes
- 1. The true number of tackles is likely slightly higher than 1225, as tackle statistics were not recorded during 1986, in which Liberatore played the first four of his 263 games.
External links
Anthony "Tony" Liberatore (born 11 February 1966) 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 for Footscray
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
(renamed the Western Bulldogs during his playing career) 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).
Liberatore is the only player to have won best-and-fairest medals in the Victorian under-19, Reserves and VFL/AFL. Liberatore is one of the shortest players to have played in the VFL/AFL competition and the shortest player to have won a Brownlow Medal
Brownlow Medal
The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
.
The tough rover for a long time held the record in the VFL/AFL for the most career tackles. He was much-hated by opposition fans for his ability to play close, pestering tagging roles.
Tony Liberatore was born in Australia to Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
parents.
Footscray/Western Bulldogs (1986–2002)
Liberatore started his football at Brunswick City. He was recruited by North Melbourne and played both under-19s and reserve grade football.Liberatore moved to Footscray in 1986 and, although he made his senior debut for the Bulldogs in 1986, he mainly played in the reserves, winning the Gardiner Medal
Gardiner Medal
The Gardiner Medal was an Australian rules football award, formerly awarded to the best and fairest player in the VFL Reserves competition.Officially named the Seconds prior to 1959 and the Reserves from 1959 onwards, the competition ran from 1919 until 1999 and the medal was first awarded in...
in 1986 and 1988.
Standing at 163 cm, "Libba" had played only 18 league games in his first four seasons, before he had a breakout season in 1990, playing 19 games and winning the Brownlow Medal
Brownlow Medal
The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
for the best and fairest player in the league.
He finished his career with 283 games in a career that included 13 finals, life membership, and selection on the interchange bench in the club's Team of the Century.
At times during his career, however, he drew attention and criticism. His tackling style was heavily scrutinised and as he developed into one of the league's first specialist tagger
Tagger
Tagger may refer to:* a method for doing part-of-speech tagging, or grammatical tagging, for example Brill tagger* Tag editor, software that supports editing metadata of multimedia file formats* A position in Australian rules football...
s during the late 1990s he had many controversial incidents with opposition players, including Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly (footballer)
Paul Kelly is a former Australian rules footballer, winner of the Brownlow Medal and captain of the Sydney Swans for ten seasons. He was and still is known to Swans fans everywhere as "Captain Courageous"....
, Steven Lawrence and Matthew Knights
Matthew Knights
Matthew Knights is a former Australian rules football player, having played in the midfield for the Richmond Football Club from 1988 to 2002. He went on to a coaching career, most notably as head coach of the Essendon Football Club from 2008 to 2010...
.
Liberatore is recorded to have lain 1225 tackles in his career, at an average of 4.39 tackles per game. Such high tackle counts were unheard of for a player of Liberatore's era, a time when the league average was 20-30 tackles per team per game. In 1992 he became the first player to lay 100 tackles in a season, and repeated the feat every season until 1996, no other player achieved the feat until 2001.
Liberatore's tackling records were all surpassed during the latter half of the 2000s decade, largely because of a fundamental change in playing style which saw the league's average tackle count increase to between 60-70 tackles per team per game by 2009 - more than double the average during Liberatore's time. His season tally of 142 tackles in 1994 stood as the record until 2006, when James McDonald
James McDonald (footballer)
James McDonald is an Australian rules footballer, currently contracted to in the Australian Football League . He previously played for and captained the Melbourne Football Club.- Career :...
bettered it by one. His record of 1225 career tackles stood until 2010, when it was surpassed by Brett Kirk
Brett Kirk
Brett Kirk is a former Australian rules football player of the Sydney Swans, and is known colloquially as "Kirky", "Captain Kirk", during the 2005 AFL Finals Series, "Captain Blood" and by teammates as "Hippy". Kirk is a hard working and onfield leader who has played in a premiership with the...
(who finished his career with 1278 tackles). His tackles-per-game average of 4.39 has also been surpassed several times, with the best modern players now averaging more than five tackles per game.
Post AFL
Since retiring Liberatore has appeared in the E J Whitten Legends Game for Victoria on multiple occasions since 2003 and was the Man of the Match in 2007.Liberatore coached the Box Hill Hawks
Box Hill Hawks
Box Hill Hawks Football Club is an Australian rules football club playing in the Victorian Football League. It has an alliance with the Hawthorn Football Club which plays in the Australian Football League....
in the Victorian Football League
Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League which evolved from the former Victorian Football Association , taking its new name as from the 1996 season, is the premier Australian rules football league in Victoria The Victorian Football League (VFL) which evolved from the former Victorian Football Association...
in 2003 taking them to the Grand Final. From 2003 to 2007, Liberatore held an assistant coaching position at the Carlton Football Club
Carlton Football Club
The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
. In 2008, he implied that Carlton had tanked at the end of the season to secure the number one draft selection, Matthew Kreuzer
Matthew Kreuzer
Matthew Kreuzer is an Australian rules footballer for the Carlton Football Club. He was selected with the first pick overall in the 2007 AFL National Draft....
.
In 2008, Liberatore was the senior coach of the Sunbury Lions Football Club in the Ballarat Football League
Ballarat Football League
The Ballarat Football League is an Australian rules football competition that operates in the Ballarat region of Victoria, Australia.The competition formed in 1893 as the Ballarat Football Association and was renamed Ballarat Football League in 1908 and was briefly known as the Ballarat-Wimmera...
. In 2009, Liberatore joined the Western Region Football League
Western Region Football League
The Western Region Football League is an Australian rules football semi-professional league, based in the western suburbs of Melbourne, for both seniors and juniors.-History:The league was formed in 1931, as the Footscray District Football League...
as senior coach of the West Footscray Roosters.
In February 2008 Liberatore strongly criticised the current Western Bulldogs administration, including president David Smorgon
David Smorgon
David Smorgon is an Australian businessman. He is most noted for holding the presidency of the Western Bulldogs, an Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League...
and chief executive Campbell Rose
Campbell Rose
Campbell Alan Rose is the Chief Executive of Stralliance Developments and Watersun Homes, a Melbourne based development and construction company...
. In June 2009 he apologised for his comments, stating that his comments were based on incorrect information and that he was going through personal problems at the time, including a separation from his wife Jane.
His son, Thomas, represented Victoria at under 16 level in 2008 and has been selected as a father-son selection
Father-son rule
The father-son rule is a rule that allows clubs to select the sons of players who have made a major past contribution to the team in Australian rules football, most notably the Australian Football League...
at the 2010 AFL Draft
2010 AFL Draft
The 2010 AFL Draft consists of four opportunities for player acquisitions during the 2010/11 Australian Football League off-season. These are the Trade Week; held between , the National Draft; held on the , the Pre-Season Draft and the Rookie Draft .This is the first national draft to feature the...
.
Footnotes
- 1. The true number of tackles is likely slightly higher than 1225, as tackle statistics were not recorded during 1986, in which Liberatore played the first four of his 263 games.
External links
Anthony "Tony" Liberatore (born 11 February 1966) 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 for Footscray
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
(renamed the Western Bulldogs during his playing career) 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).
Liberatore is the only player to have won best-and-fairest medals in the Victorian under-19, Reserves and VFL/AFL. Liberatore is one of the shortest players to have played in the VFL/AFL competition and the shortest player to have won a Brownlow Medal
Brownlow Medal
The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
.
The tough rover for a long time held the record in the VFL/AFL for the most career tackles. He was much-hated by opposition fans for his ability to play close, pestering tagging roles.
Tony Liberatore was born in Australia to Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
parents.
Footscray/Western Bulldogs (1986–2002)
Liberatore started his football at Brunswick City. He was recruited by North Melbourne and played both under-19s and reserve grade football.Liberatore moved to Footscray in 1986 and, although he made his senior debut for the Bulldogs in 1986, he mainly played in the reserves, winning the Gardiner Medal
Gardiner Medal
The Gardiner Medal was an Australian rules football award, formerly awarded to the best and fairest player in the VFL Reserves competition.Officially named the Seconds prior to 1959 and the Reserves from 1959 onwards, the competition ran from 1919 until 1999 and the medal was first awarded in...
in 1986 and 1988.
Standing at 163 cm, "Libba" had played only 18 league games in his first four seasons, before he had a breakout season in 1990, playing 19 games and winning the Brownlow Medal
Brownlow Medal
The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
for the best and fairest player in the league.
He finished his career with 283 games in a career that included 13 finals, life membership, and selection on the interchange bench in the club's Team of the Century.
At times during his career, however, he drew attention and criticism. His tackling style was heavily scrutinised and as he developed into one of the league's first specialist tagger
Tagger
Tagger may refer to:* a method for doing part-of-speech tagging, or grammatical tagging, for example Brill tagger* Tag editor, software that supports editing metadata of multimedia file formats* A position in Australian rules football...
s during the late 1990s he had many controversial incidents with opposition players, including Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly (footballer)
Paul Kelly is a former Australian rules footballer, winner of the Brownlow Medal and captain of the Sydney Swans for ten seasons. He was and still is known to Swans fans everywhere as "Captain Courageous"....
, Steven Lawrence and Matthew Knights
Matthew Knights
Matthew Knights is a former Australian rules football player, having played in the midfield for the Richmond Football Club from 1988 to 2002. He went on to a coaching career, most notably as head coach of the Essendon Football Club from 2008 to 2010...
.
Liberatore is recorded to have lain 1225 tackles in his career, at an average of 4.39 tackles per game. Such high tackle counts were unheard of for a player of Liberatore's era, a time when the league average was 20-30 tackles per team per game. In 1992 he became the first player to lay 100 tackles in a season, and repeated the feat every season until 1996, no other player achieved the feat until 2001.
Liberatore's tackling records were all surpassed during the latter half of the 2000s decade, largely because of a fundamental change in playing style which saw the league's average tackle count increase to between 60-70 tackles per team per game by 2009 - more than double the average during Liberatore's time. His season tally of 142 tackles in 1994 stood as the record until 2006, when James McDonald
James McDonald (footballer)
James McDonald is an Australian rules footballer, currently contracted to in the Australian Football League . He previously played for and captained the Melbourne Football Club.- Career :...
bettered it by one. His record of 1225 career tackles stood until 2010, when it was surpassed by Brett Kirk
Brett Kirk
Brett Kirk is a former Australian rules football player of the Sydney Swans, and is known colloquially as "Kirky", "Captain Kirk", during the 2005 AFL Finals Series, "Captain Blood" and by teammates as "Hippy". Kirk is a hard working and onfield leader who has played in a premiership with the...
(who finished his career with 1278 tackles). His tackles-per-game average of 4.39 has also been surpassed several times, with the best modern players now averaging more than five tackles per game.
Post AFL
Since retiring Liberatore has appeared in the E J Whitten Legends Game for Victoria on multiple occasions since 2003 and was the Man of the Match in 2007.Liberatore coached the Box Hill Hawks
Box Hill Hawks
Box Hill Hawks Football Club is an Australian rules football club playing in the Victorian Football League. It has an alliance with the Hawthorn Football Club which plays in the Australian Football League....
in the Victorian Football League
Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League which evolved from the former Victorian Football Association , taking its new name as from the 1996 season, is the premier Australian rules football league in Victoria The Victorian Football League (VFL) which evolved from the former Victorian Football Association...
in 2003 taking them to the Grand Final. From 2003 to 2007, Liberatore held an assistant coaching position at the Carlton Football Club
Carlton Football Club
The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
. In 2008, he implied that Carlton had tanked at the end of the season to secure the number one draft selection, Matthew Kreuzer
Matthew Kreuzer
Matthew Kreuzer is an Australian rules footballer for the Carlton Football Club. He was selected with the first pick overall in the 2007 AFL National Draft....
.
In 2008, Liberatore was the senior coach of the Sunbury Lions Football Club in the Ballarat Football League
Ballarat Football League
The Ballarat Football League is an Australian rules football competition that operates in the Ballarat region of Victoria, Australia.The competition formed in 1893 as the Ballarat Football Association and was renamed Ballarat Football League in 1908 and was briefly known as the Ballarat-Wimmera...
. In 2009, Liberatore joined the Western Region Football League
Western Region Football League
The Western Region Football League is an Australian rules football semi-professional league, based in the western suburbs of Melbourne, for both seniors and juniors.-History:The league was formed in 1931, as the Footscray District Football League...
as senior coach of the West Footscray Roosters.
In February 2008 Liberatore strongly criticised the current Western Bulldogs administration, including president David Smorgon
David Smorgon
David Smorgon is an Australian businessman. He is most noted for holding the presidency of the Western Bulldogs, an Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League...
and chief executive Campbell Rose
Campbell Rose
Campbell Alan Rose is the Chief Executive of Stralliance Developments and Watersun Homes, a Melbourne based development and construction company...
. In June 2009 he apologised for his comments, stating that his comments were based on incorrect information and that he was going through personal problems at the time, including a separation from his wife Jane.
His son, Thomas, represented Victoria at under 16 level in 2008 and has been selected as a father-son selection
Father-son rule
The father-son rule is a rule that allows clubs to select the sons of players who have made a major past contribution to the team in Australian rules football, most notably the Australian Football League...
at the 2010 AFL Draft
2010 AFL Draft
The 2010 AFL Draft consists of four opportunities for player acquisitions during the 2010/11 Australian Football League off-season. These are the Trade Week; held between , the National Draft; held on the , the Pre-Season Draft and the Rookie Draft .This is the first national draft to feature the...
.
Footnotes
- 1. The true number of tackles is likely slightly higher than 1225, as tackle statistics were not recorded during 1986, in which Liberatore played the first four of his 263 games.