20 years on: Moorcroft’s legendary hanger still ‘remarkable’
20 years on from Gary Moorcroft’s legendary mark, the image still lives on. (Photo: Essendon FC)
On this day, 20 years ago, Essendon’s Gary Moorcroft reached new heights.
It was a mark that had the eyes of Australia on it. The stage couldn’t have been any more perfect, primetime television on a Friday night with over 48 thousand people packed into the Docklands.
Moorcroft could seemingly do anything he wanted that night.
He’d kicked five goals up to that point in the second quarter, and Bulldogs coach Terry Wallace couldn’t seem to find a match-up in his backline.
It was a strange opponent that was a stepladder to Moorcroft’s incredible moment.
“I was on a bit of a roll that night,” Moorcroft told Yarra Valley FM .
“I’d had two or three opponents, and I think Johno [Brad Johnson] decided to come down off his own bat and take it on his own will to man me up.
“He doesn’t like talking about it too much! He’s a good man to admit that.”
The image of the mark is one that lives on to this very day. However, for Moorcroft, it was a moment that spelt the start of the end of his AFL career.
Landing heavily on his hip coming down from the screamer, he would crack a bone that became dislodged in his hip socket.
“When you land on grass that’s covering a concrete slab underneath, it doesn’t tickle,” Moorcroft laughs.
Moorcroft, after the mark
A premiership player with the Bombers, he would be delisted at the end of the 2002 season. It was through a mix of the injury and being surrounded by talented youngsters that Moorcroft would find himself in the margins of Kevin Sheedy’s selection sheets.
Nowadays, he manages a scrap metal company. However, it wasn’t an easy journey out of football for Moorcroft.
He joined Yarra Valley Mountain Football League club Silvan, before famously finding a home at Northern Football League club Bundoora.
Even 20 years on from his career-defining moment, Moorcroft says it still comes up in conversation.
“Look, it comes up occasionally,” he laughed.
“It’s a good breaking point I suppose work wise, chatting to people it breaks the ice a bit. It always gets better as you get older.
“I don’t watch the replay, but I tell everyone I get higher and higher each year. At this stage I’m telling everyone I headbutted the roof!”
Even as he approached his 40s, Moorcroft’s high-flying nature couldn’t be tamed. He has two spectacular marks doing the rounds from his time at Bundoora, nearly as good as the original.
As he reflects on what was of his AFL career, Moorcroft speaks candidly about why he continues to play footy to this very day.
“It’s a game I loved as a young fella… I still love playing the game now,” he said.
“I’m actually back at Bundoora having a run around in the twos, just to have a kick and help out my young fella as well. Trying to guide the young kids through there as a forward coach down there.
“It’s something to look back on as you get older.”
From the commentary box
Calling the game on the night was former Carlton and Fitzroy legend Robert Walls, Hawthorn premiership hero Dermott Brereton, and sports commentary legend Bruce McAvaney.
McAvaney famously said the mark would be shown on American network CNN, and it was!
Speaking to The Inner Sanctum , he watched the mark for the first time in years. He admits he’s enjoyed the opportunity to reflect on the magical moment.
“I haven’t seen it in such a long time… it was incredibly exciting,” McAvaney said.
“At the time it seemed like a monumental moment. Having a look back at it, it seems just as good now as it was then. It’s right up there in terms of a one-off [moment].
“Gary had this quite amazing quarter of football, and this was the exclamation mark to what was a pretty remarkable 20 minutes for him.
“It’s just crazy, it was almost a ridiculous mark in a way. How did he do it?
“Looking back at it now… in terms of pure excitement it’s right up there with anything else I’ve done as an AFL caller.”
Bruce McAvaney hosting the Brownlow Medal Count. (Photo: Essendon FC)
When reflecting on the great marks, the question always arises: which was the best?
The Aussie rules community will points towards some of the all-time greats; Nick Riewoldt running back with the flight, Alex Jesaulenko’s beauty, and of course, Moorcroft’s itself.
McAvaney’s decades-long commentary career has seen him calling the best of the best. Moorcroft’s is right up there with the greats, he says.
“I called Shaun Smith’s mark at the Gabba… it was sort of epic,” he said.
“Gary Ablett Sr when he was coming down… there’ve been numerous, numerous others. Jeremy Howe provided a lot over the years. The courageous marks.
“Gary’s [Moorcroft] was slightly more remarkable, because he wasn’t noted for it. It was almost not part of the playbook, whereas Smith was quite a high-flyer. His mark’s nearly vertical Smith… he gets to quite a height.
“Gary’s is physical. When you look at it, he’s there a lot of physicality about what he did and how he sprung into the air. He’s like a gymnast bending himself back, a contortionist.
“I think for pure take your breath away, this is the one that I’ve witnessed live or called live.”