Mark Ricciuto

Mark Ricciuto
Riccuito being chaired off the ground for his 300th match
Personal information
Full name	Mark Anthony Ricciuto
Nickname(s)	Roo
Date of birth	8 June 1975 (1975-06-08)
Place of birth	Waikerie, South Australia
Original team	West Adelaide
Height/Weight	184 cm / 92 kg
Position(s)	Midfielder
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1993–2007	Adelaide	312 (292)
Representative team honours
Years	Team	Games (Goals)
????–????	South Australia	5 (?)
International team honours
1998, 2000	Australia	? (?)
1 Playing statistics to end of 2007 season . 2 State and International statistics correct as of 2000.
Career highlights
All-Australian (1994, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 (captain), 2005 (captain)) Adelaide Best Team Man (1994, 2003) Adelaide Best and Fairest (1998, 2003, 2004) Adelaide premiership player (1998) Adelaide Team of the Decade 1991–2000 member Showdown Medal (2000, 2004, 2005) Adelaide captain (2001–2007) Brownlow Medal (2003) AFLPA Best Captain (2005, 2006) Adelaide leading goalkicker (2006 – 44 goals) VFL/AFL Italian Team of the Century: ruck-rover and captain AFL Hall of Fame inductee (2011)

Mark Anthony Ricciuto (born 8 June 1975) is a former Australian rules football player, who played for the Adelaide Crows in the Australian Football League (AFL). An eight-time All-Australian and an AFL Hall of Fame Inductee, he is recognised by many as the greatest player in the history of the Adelaide Football Club.

AFL career

Early career (1993–1996)

Ricciuto was born in Waikerie, South Australia. He was recruited by SANFL team West Adelaide and soon after – as a 16 year old high schooler – was recruited by the Adelaide Crows in 1992. He debuted in the AFL in 1993. Ricciuto earned his first All Australian selection as a 19 year old in 1994.

Rising career (1997–2001)

After a stellar year in 1997 (in which he received his second All Australian guernsey) he ended up missing the 1997 premiership due to a late season injury. Despite this setback, he rallied in 1998 to again be an All Australian, win the club best and fairest and play in his only premiership. He was appointed as the Adelaide captain in 2001.

Career high (2002–2005)

In 2003, he was joint winner of the league's highest honor, the Brownlow Medal, with Collingwood's Nathan Buckley and Sydney's Adam Goodes. In 2004 he came second in the Bronwlow medal. In 2004 and 2005 he earned his seventh and eighth All-Australian guernsey. However at the end of the 2005 season Ricciuto was suspended following an incident in the Crows' final regular season match against West Coast; thus ruling him out of Brownlow Medal contention and the Crows' first qualifying final against fourth placed St Kilda, hampering the Crows' attempts at a straight path to the preliminary final. Indeed, the Crows lost this match by just eight points, and ultimately the Crows finished one match short of the 2005 decider.

Twilight career (2006–2007)

Late in the 2006 season, Ricciuto was ruled out of the Crows' final few matches due to a "mystery ailment" which was later found to be parvovirus B19. Nevertheless, Ricciuto led the Crows to their second straight top-two finish in 2006 and thus a more direct path to the preliminary final, again against the West Coast Eagles where again the Crows finished one match short of the decider, losing the preliminary final by just 10 points.

Ricciuto played his 300th AFL game on the 21st of July 2006 against North Melbourne. He kicked 5 goals in a game that Adelaide won by 72 points. He was quicker than any other player in AFL history to this milestone, in 13 years and 83 days, some 11 days quicker than Carlton's Craig Bradley.

Retirement

Ricciuto announced his retirement on the 16th August, 2007 due to persistent injuries. During his career he amassed an incredible eight All Australian selections, a record matched in the AFL era only by St Kilda's Robert Harvey. Ricciuto was also twice named All Australian captain in 2004 and 2005, joining Wayne Carey and Michael Voss as the only multiple All Australian Captains in the AFL era.

He currently plays for the Prince Alfred Old Collegians Football Club.

Family life

Ricciuto is noted for his Italian heritage, and bears a large tattoo of his family name on his back. His grandfather was born in the small Italian town of Fragneto Monforte

On 19 January 2008 Ricciuto married Sarah Delahunt. They have a daughter, Sophie Jane (born in November 2006) and two sons, Nick Stanley (born in June 2008) and Joe Matthew (born in June 2010). Sarah and Mark are now expecting their fourth child.

Post AFL career

In 2008, he played for Prince Alfred College in division 4 of the South Australian Amateur Football League.

Ricciuto played in the ANZAC day clash 2008 with Waikerie A grade against Loxton. Waikerie won the match by 38 points.

Ricciuto also played in the 2008 Riverland Grand Final with Waikerie against Renmark. In time on in the final quarter with not very much time left on the clock, Ricciuto kicked the 12th goal for Waikerie to seal back-to-back Premierships for Waikerie.

Ricciuto now works in the media is an AFL commentator for both Triple M and Fox Sports.

In 2011, Ricciuto was inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame.

External links

• Mark Ricciuto's statistics from AFL Tables

Sporting positions
Preceded by Mark Bickley	Adelaide Football Club Captain 2001–2007	Succeeded by Simon Goodwin
Awards
Preceded by Andrew McLeod	Adelaide Best and Fairest winner 1998	Succeeded by Ben Hart
Preceded by Simon Black	Brownlow Medallist 2003	Succeeded by Chris Judd
Preceded by Ben Hart	Adelaide Best and Fairest winner 2003–2004	Succeeded by Simon Goodwin
Preceded by Michael Voss	All-Australian Team Captain 2004–2005	Succeeded by Brad Johnson