Gary Moorcroft

Gary Moorcroft
Personal information
Date of birth	(1976-04-16) 16 April 1976
Original team(s)	Northern Knights
Debut	Round 5, 1995, Essendon v. St Kilda, at Optus Oval, Melbourne
Height/Weight	173 cm / 86 kg
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1995–2002 2003 Total -	Essendon Melbourne	95 (102) 03 00(2) 98 (104)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2003 season.
Career highlights
Morrish Medal 1994 AFL Mark of the Year 2001 Premiership side 2000

Gary Moorcroft (born 16 April 1976) is a former Australian rules football player for the Essendon and Melbourne Demons in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Moorcroft caught the attention of talent scouts with his winning of the Morrish Medal in 1994 whilst playing for the Northern Knights.

Moorcroft was a short, stocky and explosive goalsneak who participated in a premiership with Essendon in 2000 and a Grand Final side against the Brisbane Lions in 2001. He was delisted by Essendon in 2002 after playing 95 games and struggling to retain his spot in a talented side. It was the Demons, who Essendon beat in the 2000 final in which Moorcroft was an outstanding player, who picked him up in the draft.

Moorcroft played in three losing games with Demons, and after a lacklustre debut suffered a severe season ending knee injury. This effectively brought an end to his chances of working his way back into the side and he was almost immediately delisted. The then-27-year-old's 98-game, nine-year AFL career ended there.

Moorcroft is best known for winning the 2001 Mark of the Year, with a spectacular high-flying mark in round 14, 2001 against the Western Bulldogs, taking the mark over Bulldogs' forward Brad Johnson. The mark was particularly notable in that Moorcroft first jumped onto Johnson's back, then leapt higher into the air by leveraging himself off Johnson; this is very rare, as players will usually jump onto their opponent's back, then appear to hang at the same height while taking the mark (hence the colloquial term hanger for such a mark). For a similar reason, Johnson is often referred to as the springboard for this mark, when the term stepladder is used for the player underneath a hanger.

Moorcroft played for Silvan in the Yarra Valley Mountain Football League after retiring from the AFL. He topped the goalkicking tables of all leagues with 156 goals.

In 2009, Moorcroft was playing for the Romsey Redbacks in the Riddell District Football League (RDFL).

He currently plays for Bundoora in the Northern Football League (NFL).

Playing Statistics

Season	Team	#	Games	G	B	K	H	D	M	T	G	B	K	H	D	M	T
			Totals								Averages (per game)
1995	Essendon	46	1	0	1	3	2	5	1	2	0.0	1.0	3.0	2.0	5.0	1.0	2.0
1996	Essendon	46	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1997	Essendon	46	11	7	5	102	53	155	36	27	0.6	0.5	9.3	4.8	14.1	3.3	2.5
1998	Essendon	29	17	14	9	114	53	167	53	28	0.8	0.5	6.7	3.1	9.8	3.1	1.6
1999	Essendon	29	17	30	19	157	68	225	55	32	1.8	1.1	9.2	4.0	13.2	3.2	1.9
2000	Essendon	29	18	23	9	144	54	198	54	20	1.3	0.5	8.0	3.0	11.0	3.0	1.1
2001	Essendon	29	16	15	9	117	50	167	59	15	0.9	0.6	7.3	3.1	10.4	3.7	0.9
2002	Essendon	29	15	13	10	113	47	160	54	13	0.9	0.7	7.5	3.1	10.7	3.6	0.9
2003	Melbourne	7	3	2	0	21	10	31	8	7	0.7	0.0	7.0	3.3	10.3	2.7	2.3
Career			98	104	62	771	337	1108	320	144	1.1	0.6	7.9	3.4	11.3	3.3	1.5

External links

• Gary Moorcroft's profile on the official website of the Melbourne Football Club
• Gary Moorcroft's statistics from AFL Tables

Awards
Preceded by Tony Modra	AFL Mark of the Year 2001	Succeeded by Jonathan Brown