Tony Lockett
Encyclopedia
Anthony Howard "Tony" Lockett (born 9 March 1966) 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
. 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. He is a four-time Coleman Medal
list, kicked more than 100 goals in a season on six occasions, and is a member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame
.
. At 191 cm tall and weighing 104 kg, Lockett was a large footballer. His strong hands, acceleration, ability to leap and accurate kicking made him a formidable player.
as the best player he had ever seen and that his move from St Kilda was a great loss to the club.
, where he played for another six seasons. 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.
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
"). A groin
injury threatened his appearance in the 1996 AFL Grand Final in which his team lost to the North Melbourne Football Club
.
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. The match was billed by the media as Plugger vs God and set a ground record attendance at the Sydney Cricket Ground
. He broke the record of 1299 career goals (set by Gordon Coventry
) at the SCG in 1999, and sparking one of the biggest pitch invasion
s seen in Aussie Rules.
Lockett retired at the end of 1999 but had a brief comeback in 2002, playing three games and adding three goals to his record.
's cheek-bone as he led out from full-forward and the unaware Caven was back-tracking for the ball. The incident resulted in an eight week suspension for charging.
He has appeared in various television
commercials, including Advanced Hair and Lowes Menswear
(in Sydney). 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 Lockett pinning Mueller (an exponent of the Israeli self defence system, Krav Maga
).
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).
Lockett is also well known for his main interest outside of football, greyhound racing
and was alleged to be part owner of famous dog Brett Lee (which was worth well over A$1million) among others.
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 Sydney Swans player Darren Holmes
. The famous Channel Seven
commentary of the incident had the exclamation of "There's a pig at full-forward
!" from commentator Sandy Roberts
. Lockett was actually absent from the match, due to injury.
On 22 June 2006, Lockett was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame
.
One goal end at Etihad Stadium was named after him (the Lockett End), with the other end being named after the man whose record he broke, Gordon Coventry
.
The Ballarat Football League
award for the leading goalscorer for the home and away season is named after Lockett, as Lockett played his junior football with Ballarat Football League club, North Ballarat
.
In the 2007 film, Ghost Rider
his name can be seen at the end of SoBe
Dome.
On 19 July 2009, he was inducted into the Sydney Swans Hall of Fame.
In 2003, he was inducted into the St Kilda Football Club Hall of Fame and on 24 July 2010, he was elevated to Legend status of the St Kilda Football Club Hall of Fame.
Lockett kicked over one hundred goals in a season on six occasions:
He shares the record, of number of times a player has kicked over 100 goals in a separate season, with Jason Dunstall
of Hawthorn
.
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...
player. Lockett is the highest goal scorer
AFL All-time Goalkicking records
The following is a listing of the highest all-time goalkickers in the Australian Football League . Players who have kicked 500 goals or more are listed. Includes only goals kicked in the home and away season and finals...
in the history of the VFL/AFL
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
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
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...
. Lockett is the only 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....
ever to win the coveted 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...
, in 1987, a season in which he was decorated with several honours. He is a four-time Coleman Medal
Coleman Medal
The Coleman Medal is awarded yearly to the Australian Football League player who kicks the most goals in regular-season matches in that year...
list, kicked more than 100 goals in a season on six occasions, and is a member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame
Australian Football Hall of Fame
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 Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, coaches and administrators. It was initially established...
.
VFL/AFL career
Lockett was originally recruited from the North Ballarat Football ClubNorth Ballarat Football Club
North Ballarat Football Club, nicknamed The Roosters, is an Australian rules football club based at Northern Oval in Ballarat. The club is locally known as the Roosters and plays in the Victorian Football League are current competition premiers and one of only four clubs based outside of Melbourne...
. At 191 cm tall and weighing 104 kg, Lockett was a large footballer. His strong hands, acceleration, ability to leap and accurate kicking made him a formidable player.
St Kilda career (1982–1994)
Lockett's best season at St Kilda was in 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 he kicked nine goals and five behinds, although the Saints were beaten by seven points. Lockett was described by dual Brownlow medallist Robert HarveyRobert Harvey (footballer)
Robert Jeffrey Harvey is a former Australian rules football player for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League...
as the best player he had ever seen and that his move from St Kilda was a great loss to the club.
Sydney Swans career (1995–2002)
In 1995, Lockett transferred to the Sydney SwansSydney 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...
, where he played for another six seasons. 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
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...
at the Western Oval
Whitten Oval
Whitten Oval is a stadium in the inner-western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia located at 417 Barkly Street, West Footscray. It is the training and administrative headquarters of the Western Bulldogs Football Club, which competes in the Australian Football League.Formerly known as the...
, when he scored 16 goals straight.
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
"Guantanamera" is perhaps the best known Cuban song and that country's most noted patriotic song.-Music:The music for the song is sometimes attributed to José Fernández Diaz, known as Joseíto Fernández, who claimed to have written it at various dates , and who used it regularly in one of his radio...
"). A groin
Groin
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 area. This is also known as the medial compartment of the thigh. A pulled groin muscle usually refers to a painful injury sustained by straining the hip adductor muscles...
injury threatened his appearance in the 1996 AFL Grand Final in which his team lost to the North Melbourne Football Club
North Melbourne Football Club
The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is the fourth oldest Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world...
.
In 1996, Lockett was the subject of much hype in the clash between Geelong
Geelong Football Club
The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...
and Sydney in which Gary Ablett was playing at the other end of the ground. The match was billed by the media as Plugger vs God and set a ground record attendance at the Sydney Cricket Ground
Sydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...
. He broke the record of 1299 career goals (set by Gordon Coventry
Gordon Coventry
Gordon "Nuts" Coventry was an Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League . With 1,299 goals over 18 seasons, Coventry remains one of the greatest full forwards the game has ever seen...
) at the SCG in 1999, and sparking one of the biggest pitch invasion
Pitch invasion
A pitch invasion or field 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 an incident...
s seen in Aussie Rules.
Lockett retired at the end of 1999 but had a brief comeback in 2002, playing three games and adding 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 CavenPeter Caven
Peter Caven is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League. He played initially as a nagging, sometimes ungainly but effective defender and built on this base to become a sweeping counterattacking central defender.-Tony Lockett incident:In 1994, playing for...
's cheek-bone as he led out from full-forward and the unaware Caven was back-tracking for the ball. The incident resulted in an eight week suspension for charging.
Post-football
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
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
commercials, including Advanced Hair and Lowes Menswear
Lowes Menswear
Lowes Menswear is an Australian menswear chain established in 1898. They primarily sell workwear, suits, clothes for larger men, and schoolwear. Lowes has recently added ladieswear, surfwear, and boyswear....
(in Sydney). 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 Lockett pinning Mueller (an exponent of the Israeli self defence system, Krav Maga
Krav Maga
Krav Maga is a noncompetitive eclectic self-defense system developed in Europe that involves striking techniques, wrestling and grappling. Krav Maga is known for its focus on real-world situations and extremely efficient, brutal counter-attacks...
).
More recently Tony starred along with Stephen Curry and Dave Lawson
Dave Lawson
Dave Lawson is an Australian comedian and TV and radio personality. He is currently participating in a talk back radio segment on the Nova 100 Australian commercial radio station, and is also a regular performer on the stand up comedy circuit...
in a Toyota Memorable Moments
Toyota Memorable Moments
The Toyota Memorable Moments series is a series of television advertisements produced over several years for the Australian Football League by its major sponsor, Toyota....
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).
Greyhound racing
Greyhound racing is the sport of racing greyhounds. The dogs chase a lure on a track until they arrive at the finish line. The one that arrives first is the winner....
and was alleged to be part owner of famous dog Brett Lee (which was worth well over A$1million) among others.
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, 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
Sydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...
between St Kilda (then Lockett's club) and Sydney
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...
, 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 Sydney Swans player Darren Holmes
Darren Holmes (footballer)
Darren Holmes is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Sydney Swans and Fitzroy in the Australian Football League during the 1990s....
. The famous Channel Seven
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
commentary of the incident had the exclamation of "There's a pig at 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....
!" from commentator Sandy Roberts
Sandy Roberts
Sandy Roberts is the weeknight sports presenter of Seven News Melbourne.Roberts grew up on a sheep farm in Lucindale, South Australia. After completing school he moved to Adelaide where he worked as a sports writer for the Adelaide Advertiser...
. Lockett was actually absent from the match, due to injury.
Legacy
Lockett was inducted to both the St Kilda and Sydney Swans respective Teams of the Century, in 2001 and 2003 respectively.On 22 June 2006, Lockett was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame
Australian Football Hall of Fame
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 Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, coaches and administrators. It was initially established...
.
One goal end at Etihad Stadium was named after him (the Lockett End), with the other end being named after the man whose record he broke, Gordon Coventry
Gordon Coventry
Gordon "Nuts" Coventry was an Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League . With 1,299 goals over 18 seasons, Coventry remains one of the greatest full forwards the game has ever seen...
.
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...
award for the leading goalscorer for the home and away season is named after Lockett, as Lockett played his junior football with Ballarat Football League club, North Ballarat
North Ballarat Football Club
North Ballarat Football Club, nicknamed The Roosters, is an Australian rules football club based at Northern Oval in Ballarat. The club is locally known as the Roosters and plays in the Victorian Football League are current competition premiers and one of only four clubs based outside of Melbourne...
.
In the 2007 film, Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider (film)
Ghost Rider is a 2007 superhero film written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson. Based on the character of the same name which appeared in Marvel Comics, the film stars Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze, a stunt motorcyclist who sells his soul to the Devil and transforms into thevigilante Ghost...
his name can be seen at the end of SoBe
SoBe
SoBe is a brand of teas, fruit-juice blends and enhanced water beverages owned by PepsiCo. The name SoBe is an abbreviation of South Beach, named after the upscale area located in Miami Beach, Florida. In the past, the SoBe name has also been licensed for gum and chocolate products...
Dome.
On 19 July 2009, he was inducted into the Sydney Swans Hall of Fame.
In 2003, he was inducted into the St Kilda Football Club Hall of Fame and on 24 July 2010, he was elevated to Legend status of the St Kilda Football Club Hall of Fame.
Lockett kicked over one hundred goals in a season on six occasions:
Sydney
- 1995: 110
- 1996: 121
- 1998: 109
He shares the record, of number of times a player has kicked over 100 goals in a separate season, with Jason Dunstall
Jason Dunstall
Jason Hadfield Dunstall is a former Australian rules football player for the Hawthorn Football Club of the AFL. He is the third greatest goalkicker in the history of the VFL/AFL. Dunstall is regarded as one of the greatest full-forwards to have ever played, kicking 1254 goals, a feat only...
of Hawthorn
Hawthorn Football Club
The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League . The club, founded in 1902, is the youngest of the Victorian-based teams in the AFL. The team play in Brown & Gold vertically striped guernseys...
.