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Simon Madden

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For the soccer player, see Simon Madden (Irish footballer).

Simon Madden
Personal information
Full name Simon John Madden
Date of birth (1957-12-30) 30 December 1957 (age 66)
Original team(s) St Christopher's
Height 198 cm (6 ft 6 in)
Weight 99 kg (218 lb)
Position(s) Ruckman/Tall forward
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1974–1992 Essendon 378 (575)
Representative team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
Victoria 17 (21)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1992.
Career highlights

Club

Representative

Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com
Simon Madden, former AFL player & Founder, Simon Madden Consulting

Simon Madden (born 30 December 1957) is a former Australian rules footballer who played his entire 19-season career with the Essendon Football Club from 1974 until 1992. Madden is one of the most decorated players in the club's history and widely regarded as one of the finest ruckmen to ever play the game.[1]

Early life

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Madden was born in Melbourne; he attended primary school at St Christopher's in Airport West and had his secondary schooling at St. Bernard's College in Essendon, a school renowned for its sporting prowess. He then studied teaching at the Institute of Catholic Education[citation needed] (now the Australian Catholic University).

AFL career

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In all, he played 378 senior matches, the second-most by any Essendon player (behind Dustin Fletcher), and eighth-most in league history (behind Brent Harvey, Michael Tuck, Shaun Burgoyne, Kevin Bartlett, Dustin Fletcher, Scott Pendlebury and Robert Harvey).[2] In addition to playing in the ruck, Madden was a handy part-time forward, kicking 575 goals in his career, a club record that stood until it was broken in 2003 by full-forward Matthew Lloyd.

Madden won four Essendon best and fairest awards (1977, 1979, 1983 and 1984) and captained the side in the 1980 and 1981 seasons. He played in the back-to-back premiership sides in 1984 and 1985, winning the Norm Smith Medal for best on ground in the 1985 Grand Final. In 1986, Madden rejected an unheard-of offer for a 3-year contract totalling $550,000 (~$1.73 million in 2023 terms) by the eccentric Geoffrey Edelsten on behalf of the Sydney Swans, instead choosing to remain with Essendon for his entire career.[3] Regarding the offer, Madden replied, "You can take the boy out of Essendon, but you can't take Essendon out of the boy."[4] However, Madden estimated that, in 2009 dollars (when he was interviewed) and taking into account the cost of buying a house, etc., it was actually the equivalent of $4.4 million over three years. However, Madden claimed that he never regretted the decision.[5]

He was named in the All-Australian Team on three occasions (1983, 1987 and 1988). Madden captained the Victorian interstate team in 1989–91, and in 1990 received the Simpson Medal for best on ground in the Victoria vs. Western Australia match played in Perth.

He was named in the ruck in Essendon's Team of the Century and named as the fifth-best player ever to play for the club in the "Champions of Essendon" list.

After his playing days were over, Madden had a brief stint as ruck coach for Carlton. He was with the Blues for the 1993 season, in which they made the grand final but lost to Madden's former club, Essendon.

He was president of the AFL Players' Association from 1985 until 1989.

Statistics

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[6]
Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
H/O
 Hit-outs
  #  
 Played in that season's 
premiership team
Led the league after finals only
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T H/O G B K H D M T H/O
1974 Essendon 27 6 18 8 52 8 60 28 — 0 3.0 1.3 8.7 1.3 10.0 4.7 — 0.0 2
1975 Essendon 27 19 37 29 138 19 157 59 — 29 1.9 1.6 7.7 1.1 8.7 3.3 — 4.8 0
1976 Essendon 27 20 28 18 123 43 166 78 — 86 1.4 0.9 6.2 2.2 8.3 3.9 — 4.5 3
1977 Essendon 27 20 33 11 234 81 315 126 — 378 1.7 0.6 11.7 4.1 15.8 6.3 — 19.9 25
1978 Essendon 27 22 40 25 199 72 271 138 — 301 1.8 1.1 9.0 3.3 12.3 6.3 — 14.3 7
1979 Essendon 27 23 39 31 220 106 326 158 — 263 1.7 1.3 9.6 4.6 14.2 6.9 — 11.4 3
1980 Essendon 27 21 45 27 176 95 271 111 — 211 2.1 1.3 8.4 4.5 12.9 5.3 — 10.0 5
1981 Essendon 27 19 36 34 135 69 204 89 — 236 1.9 1.8 7.1 3.6 10.7 4.7 — 12.4 7
1982 Essendon 27 21 49 25 142 74 216 92 — 230 2.3 1.2 6.8 3.5 10.3 4.4 — 11.0 7
1983 Essendon 27 26 26 16 235 156 391 179 — 812 1.0 0.6 9.0 6.0 15.0 6.9 — 31.2 22
1984# Essendon 27 24 27 17 177 137 314 151 — 699 1.1 0.7 7.4 5.7 13.1 6.3 — 29.1 14
1985# Essendon 27 20 19 21 163 123 286 136 — 322 1.0 1.1 8.2 6.2 14.3 6.8 — 16.1 11
1986 Essendon 27 23 25 11 182 112 294 114 — 338 1.1 0.5 7.9 4.9 12.8 5.0 — 14.7 4
1987 Essendon 27 14 9 4 85 65 150 69 12 252 0.6 0.3 6.1 4.6 10.7 4.9 0.9 18.0 1
1988 Essendon 27 22 31 8 183 95 278 138 27 257 1.4 0.4 8.3 4.3 12.6 6.3 1.2 11.7 16
1989 Essendon 27 25 33 16 239 81 320 138 28 350 1.3 0.6 9.6 3.2 12.8 5.5 1.1 14.0 3
1990 Essendon 27 23 30 16 195 6 2616 116 22 225 1.3 0.7 8.5 2.9 11.3 5.0 1.0 9.8 4
1991 Essendon 27 23 42 15 203 71 274 122 14 209 1.8 0.7 8.8 3.1 11.9 5.3 0.6 9.1 5
1992 Essendon 27 7 8 2 39 18 57 21 3 28 1.1 0.3 5.6 2.6 8.1 3.0 0.4 4.0 0
Career 378 575 334 3120 1491 4611 2063 106 5226 1.5 0.9 8.3 3.9 12.2 5.5 0.9 14.7 139

Honours and achievements

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Team

Individual

Life After AFL

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Madden has an extended background in education and worked as a teacher for 15 years, attaining the position of Vice Principal.[7][better source needed]

Madden was President of the AFL Players' Association from 1985 to 1989.[8][better source needed]

Madden became head coach of St. Bernards Old Collegians Football Club in 2005.[citation needed]

He now spends a considerable amount of time in the classic rock band Better Late Than Never playing at local pubs and clubs with a group of long-term friends.[9]

References

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  1. ^ "Champions of Essendon Simon Madden". essendonfc.com.au. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  2. ^ "AFL Tables - All Time Records - Most Career Games". afltables.com. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  3. ^ Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2002). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (4th ed.). Melbourne, Victoria: Crown Content. p. 397. ISBN 1-74095-001-1.
  4. ^ "Past Player Profiles - M - essendonfc.com.au". Archived from the original on 30 March 2017.
  5. ^ Niall, Jake (8 December 2009). "Should I stay or should I go?". The Age. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  6. ^ "Simon Madden". AFL Tables.
  7. ^ "About Simon". Simon Madden. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  8. ^ "About Simon". Simon Madden. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  9. ^ "Big Bomber still kicking goals". Sportshounds. 19 December 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
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