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Key Facts

Full name
Ilija Grgic

Known as
Ilija Grgic

Born
5 March 1972 (age 53)

Age at first & last AFL game
First game: 21y 29d
Last game: 27y 36d

Height and weight
Height: 203 cm
Weight: 106 kg

Senior clubs
Footscray; West Coast; Essendon

Jumper numbers
Footscray: 28, 1
West Coast: 14
Essendon: 37

Recruited from
Western Bulldogs (1997); West Coast (1999)

Ilija Grgic

Advanced stats
Club
League
Career span
Games
Goals
Avg
Win %
AKI
AHB
AMK
BV
FootscrayAFL1993-199662921.4852%6.823.584.1312
West CoastAFL1997-199823150.6552%5.654.483.095
EssendonAFL1999200.00100%3.002.501.000
AFL1993-1999871071.2353%6.433.793.7817
Total1993-1999871071.2353%6.433.793.7817

AFL: 10,400th player to appear, 2,849th most games played, 1,040th most goals kickedFootscray: 831st player to appear, 224th most games played, 68th most goals kickedWest Coast: 104th player to appear, 173rd most games played, 128th most goals kickedEssendon: 1,016th player to appear, 1,074th most games played, 1,174th most goals kicked

While there was no doubting his talent Ilija Grgic was prone to inconsistency and it did not help that, while at Footscray, he was very much cast in a supporting role to Scott Wynd. On the rare occasions when Wynd was unavailable Grgic shouldered the enhanced responsibility admirably.

Footscray drafted Grgic from Melbourne High School Boys and after playing 62 games and kicking 92 goals between 1993 and 1996 he was traded to West Coast. Initially at least the move seemed to have acted as a spur and his form improved, but allegations of drug mis-use in 1997 undermined his confidence. (He had actually been ‘guilty’ of taking nothing other than cough medicine.) After 23 AFL games and 15 goals for the Eagles in 1997 and 1998 he was on the move again, this time to Essendon where, in 1999, he played the last couple of games of a career that arguably promised a lot more than it delivered.

Author - John Devaney

Sources

Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers by Russell Holmesby & Jim Main; Wikipedia article

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.