Allen Jakovich

Allen Jakovich
Personal information
Full name	Allen Jakovich
Date of birth	21 March 1968 (1968-03-21)
Place of birth	Western Australia
Original team	Woodville (SANFL)
Draft	#6, 1990 National Draft, Melbourne #9, 1995 National Draft, Footscray
Height/Weight	187cm / 98kg
Position(s)	Forward
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1991–1994 1996 Total	Melbourne Footscray	47 (201) 7 (7) 54 (208)
1 Playing statistics to end of 1996 season .
Career highlights
Melbourne leading goalkicker 1991–1993

Allen Jakovich (born 21 March 1968) is an Australian rules football player. Jakovich was a prolific full forward and is notable for kicking 208 goals in his 54 Australian Football League matches, an average of 3.85 per game, for Melbourne and Footscray. He and his younger brother, Glen Jakovich, both began their AFL careers in the 1990 AFL Draft.

Jakovich grew up in Western Australia and has also played football with clubs in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Victoria.

Early career

Allen Jakovich began his senior career with South Fremantle in the West Australian Football League. He then spent two years in the Northern Territory Football League, including the 1988/89 season in which he kicked 104 goals for Southern Districts. He also played in Port Headland and Kalgoorlie.

Jakovich later moved to South Australia and played in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). In one season, he kicked 101 goals for Woodville. It was this performance that drew the attention of Melbourne Football Club talent scouts. He is of Croatian descent.

VFL/AFL career

He debuted in the seniors in round 1 against the West Coast Eagles at Subiaco but was quickly dropped for the following week. Jakovich played in the Melbourne reserves and dominated the reserves competition in the first half of the 1991 season.

In the second half, though, he burst out convincingly and big hauls came on an almost weekly basis for the rest of the season making a big impression in the league with his confident playing style. A high point was a near single handed defeat of North Melbourne where he kicked 11 goals (including a miraculous scissor kick out of mid-air from twenty metres out, a certain goal of the year candidate), 8 behinds and one out on the full. This effort also earned Jakovich the distinction of being the fastest player to score his first fifty goals, taking only nine games to do so. He finished with 71 goals for his debut season; becoming one of a handful of players in VFL/AFL history to kick 50 goals in both the senior competition and now defunct 'reserves' league within the same season. He kicked his 100th career goal in his 21st game, equalling the record held by John Coleman.

Over the next three years at Melbourne he balanced some mercurial performances with fitness problems and indifferent form. He was let go at the end of the 1994 season, due to persistent hamstring injuries. He spent the next year out of the game before being drafted by the Footscray Football Club for an ill-fated comeback that lasted barely half a season. In his AFL career, kicked 208 goals, 173 behinds.

He kissed his brother Glen during a match between Melbourne and the West Coast Eagles at the MCG.

Statistics

Statistics are correct as of Round 22, 1996 (31 August 1996)

Season	Team	No.	Games	Goals	Behinds	Kicks	Marks	Handballs	Disposals
1991	Melbourne	13	14	71	57	177	92	10	187
1992	Melbourne	13	11	40	37	115	66	9	124
1993	Melbourne	13	9	39	34	93	57	18	111
1994	Melbourne	13	13	51	31	123	82	17	140
1996	Western Bulldogs	13	7	7	14	29	16	4	33
Totals			54	208	173	537	313	58	595

Post football career

He has largely been out of the public eye since the late 1990s, except for a one-off appearance on The Footy Show.

External links

• Allen Jakovich's statistics from AFL Tables
• Demon Wiki profile

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Darren Bennett	Melbourne Football Club Leading Goalkicker 1991–1993	Succeeded by Garry Lyon