Australian Football

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Key Facts

Full name
Matthew Croft

Known as
Matthew Croft

Born
26 February 1973 (age 51)

Age at first & last AFL game
First game: 18y 151d
Last game: 31y 177d

Height and weight
Height: 191 cm
Weight: 94 kg

Senior clubs
Western Bulldogs

Jumper numbers
Western Bulldogs: 37, 16

Recruited from
Imperial (1991)

Family links
Jordan Croft (Son)

Matthew Croft

Advanced stats
ClubLeagueCareer spanGamesGoalsAvgWin %AKIAHBAMKBV
Western BulldogsAFL1991-2004186720.3951%6.204.053.4313
Total1991-2004186720.3951%6.204.053.4313

AFL: 10,267th player to appear, 798th most games played, 1,513th most goals kickedWestern Bulldogs: 820th player to appear, 38th most games played, 87th most goals kicked

Drafted from Mildura Imperials in 1989, Matthew Croft made his AFL debut for Footscray a couple of years later. Initially he was only a fringe senior player, but by the late 1990s he had established himself as a lynch-pin of the team. Most often used as a defender, where he was cool, unflustered and inordinately reliable, he could also do a job in the forward lines when required. Croft was especially adept at quelling the impact of the opposing team's star forward. Everything he did was smoothness personified, and if he was not the type of player to attract bundles of Brownlow votes, his value to the Bulldogs was nevertheless immense. He retired at the end of the 2004 season having played a total of 186 AFL games, and kicked 72 goals.

Author - John Devaney

Sources

Full Points Footy Publications

Footnotes

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