Barry Hall

Barry Hall
Personal information
Full name	Barry Hall
Nickname(s)	Bazza, Big Bad Bustling Barry
Original team(s)	Broadford/Murray U18 (TAC Cup)
Height / weight	195cm, 102kg
Career highlights
St Kilda leading goalkicker 1999, 2001 International Rules Series 2003, 2006 (co-captain) Sydney Swans Best and Fairest 2004 Co-captain 2005, 2006, 2007 All-Australian 2004, 2005, 2006 Sydney leading goalkicker 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Premiership Captain 2005
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Barry Hall (born 8 February 1977) is a professional Australian rules footballer. While he had played several seasons at the St Kilda Football Club, Hall is best known for his playing career at the Sydney Swans AFL club, where he has been a prolific goalkicker and onfield leader who has captained the side on numerous occasions.

Hall was a prominent junior boxer training out of his hometown, Broadford, Victoria winning a state title in his early teenage years, but decided to focus on a career in Australian rules football. His onfield aggression earned him a reputation as a football "wild man" and seen him involved in several controversial and highly publicized incidents and tribunal appearances. Sandy Roberts during the Seven Network's AFL coverage would often use the term to describe Hall's uncompromising approach to opposition back men.

Hall is instantly recognisable with his large stature, balding head and distinctive tribal tattoo on his right shoulder. He has become one of the best known Australian Rules personalities in Sydney, having a similar profile to Tony Lockett before him.

St Kilda career

The tall full-forward made his AFL debut for St Kilda in 1996.

He helped fill the void of the legendary goalkicking goliath Tony Lockett, who had moved to the Swans a couple of seasons earlier.

He played for the Saints until 2001, kicking 144 goals in 88 games and being the club's leading goalkicker in the 1999 and 2001 seasons. His career best haul of 8.2 came with the Saints in round 16, 2001 against the Western Bulldogs.

He left the Saints at the end of 2001 in style, kicking a goal after the final siren of a round 22 match against Hawthorn to win the match for the Saints. One of the main reasons for leaving was the rise of Nick Riewoldt and the recruitment of Fraser Gehrig.

Move to the Swans

He joined the Swans for the 2002 season and has prospered, leading the club's goalscoring in every season since and being named club best and fairest in 2004. He has said that he benefited from the move to Sydney, in particular the relative anonymity he enjoyed when first arriving, playing alongside Tony Lockett in Lockett's comeback from retirement season.

Hall's form reached a peak in 2004 when he was named in the All-Australian Team. He backed this up with consecutive appearance in the All-Australian list in 2005 and 2006.

Hall earned a reputation as a controversial player, with several appearances at the tribunal resulting in four suspensions for a total of 10 matches. He has given away almost twice as many free kicks as he has been given over his career, and in 2003 Swans coach Paul Roos questioned whether Hall was given all the free kicks he deserved.

Hall struggled with injuries through the 2007 season and his form was generally considered to be somewhat down from his peak, although he played a number of outstanding games and still lead the club's goalkicking with 44. In 2008, Hall began the season in brilliant form, but following a reckless punch thrown against a West Coast Eagle opponent, Brent Staker, and a further incident where he aimed a punch at a Collingwood opponent, Hall missed a good deal of football, and has currently been suspended from the Swans' team by the coach [8 July 2008].

In round 19, 2008 against the Fremantle Dockers, he kicked the last goal in the final minute and won the game by 4 points. He kicked a total of 4 goals in that game. And in round 20 against the Geelong Cats, he kicked 5 goals and 1 behind, proving that he is back in the form of the old Barry Hall. This is in spite of the Swans' 39-point defeat to the reigning premiers - Hall was the leading goalkicker that night.

In 2008 Hall was awarded the Paul Roos Award for the best player in the finals. He finished the year as Sydney's leading goal-kicker for the seventh consecutive year, equalling the club record of Len Mortimer.

Hall kicked his 600th career goal against the Western Bulldogs in Round 10, 2009. He kicked six in that game.

Controversies

Adam Simpson incident

In 2000, Hall was suspended for one match for headbutting Kangaroos tagger Adam Simpson in his second-last year with the Saints.

Joel Corey incident

In 2001, his last year at the Saints, he was suspended for three matches for striking Geelong onballer Joel Corey. One of the reasons why Hall left the Saints was, according to then coach Grant Thomas, he wanted to get out of an environment where on-field incidents were frequent for Hall, otherwise his career would have been over.

Matt Maguire incident

After an incident involving a punch to the stomach of St Kilda's Matt Maguire in the 2005 Preliminary Final against St Kilda, Hall was reported for a level two striking and offered a one week suspension for a guilty plea. This suspension would have meant missing the next week's Grand Final. Hall's representation successfully argued that the incident was 'in play' despite the ball being 50 metres away. As a result the charge was reduced to a level one offence, reducing the penalty to a reprimand, and went on to captain the Swans to their first premiership in 72 years, defeating the West Coast Eagles in the Grand Final by 4 points.

Brent Staker incident

In an incident which shocked Sydney and West Coast fans alike, in Round 4 2008, Hall was reported for striking West Coast Eagles defender Brent Staker.. Video footage from the incident indicated that contact was made with a punch to the jaw, knocking out Staker. Staker's eyes dropped after the punch, and took no further part in the game, remaining off the field in a neck brace. Later in the same game Hall broke his wrist on the metal railing behind a soft cardboard advertising board. After the game, the Match Review Panel ranked the incident as intentional, severe impact and high contact, therefore the offence was directly referred to the AFL Tribunal. He was subsequently suspended for seven games, one of most severe punishments ever by the AFL Tribunal. Video footage of the Hall vs Staker incident was shown on television as far abroad as Denmark and the United States, appearing on ESPN.

Shane Wakelin incident

Hall was handed a one-match suspension for attempted strike on Collingwood's Shane Wakelin.Sydney later announced the team would not play Hall indefinitely.Sydney co-captain Brett Kirk later claimed that Hall's habit of hitting opposition players off the ball is a "bad habit". Shane Wakelin later on admitted he had "...played for a free kick."

Triple 50m Penalty

In the 2009 match against Hawthorn Barry Hall gave away three consecutive 50m penalties. The only person in AFL/VFL history to have done it. Jarred Roughhead who marked inside his defensive 50m ended up taking the free kick directly infront of his own goal. Hall was then benched by his coach.

Season Statistics

Year	Team	Number	Games	Kicks	Handballs	Total Disposals	Tackles	Marks	Goals	Behinds	Goal Accuracy %	Brownlow Medal Votes
1996	St.Kilda	25	4	18	13	31	4	10	2	3	40	0
1997	St Kilda	25	15	70	58	128	22	52	14	13	52	0
1998	St Kilda	25	13	57	36	93	9	28	6	4	60	0
1999	St Kilda	25	20	184	58	242	13	141	41	36	53	9
2000	St Kilda	25	19	151	74	225	13	126	37	21	64	3
2001	St Kilda	25	17	140	36	176	12	97	44	23	66	6
2002	Sydney	1	17	154	36	190	10	114	55	31	64	11
2003	Sydney	1	24	218	73	291	22	167	64	35	65	7
2004	Sydney	1	24	244	101	345	30	191	74	39	65	11
2005	Sydney	1	26	299	91	390	32	206	80	41	66	16
2006	Sydney	1	25	283	82	365	49	216	78	38	67	8
2007	Sydney	1	20	176	62	238	24	135	44	30	59	3
2008	Sydney	1	15	165	62	205	11	132	41	36	53	4
2009	Sydney	1
	Totals		239	2159	760	2919	251	1615	580	350	62%	78

See also

• After the siren kicks in Australian rules football

External links

• Barry Hall's profile on the official website of the Sydney Swans
• Barry Hall's playing statistics from AFL Tables
• Barry Hall Hall
• Video of the Brent Staker Incident