| Mark Ricciuto | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Mark Anthony Ricciuto | ||
| Nickname | "Roo" | ||
| Born | (1975-06-08)8 June 1975 (age 50) Waikerie,South Australia | ||
| Original team | West Adelaide | ||
| Height | 184 cm (6 ft 0 in)[1] | ||
| Weight | 93 kg (205 lb)[1] | ||
| Positions | Midfielder, Forward | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1993–2007 | Adelaide | 312 (292) | |
| Representative team honours | |||
| Years | Team | Games (Goals) | |
| 1994–1999 | South Australia | 5 (2) | |
| International team honours | |||
| 1998–2000 | Australia | 2 (0) | |
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2007. | |||
| Career highlights | |||
| |||
| Sources:AFL Tables,AustralianFootball.com | |||
Mark Anthony Ricciuto (/rɪˈtʃuːtoʊ/ri-CHOO-toh;[2] born 8 June 1975) is a formerAustralian rules footballer who played for theAdelaide Football Club in theAustralian Football League (AFL). From Ramco, South Australia, Ricciuto started as a junior with the local Waikerie Magpies Football Club. He joined theWest Adelaide Football Club in theSouth Australian National Football League (SANFL), making his debut at the age of 16, before being recruited by Adelaide as azone selection prior to the1993 season.
Playing as a midfielder, he established himself in Adelaide's side, receiving a nomination for theAFL Rising Star in 1993, his debut season, and being named in theAll-Australian team the following season, the first of eight selections overall. Having played in Adelaide's premiership side in 1998, also winning theMalcolm Blight Medal as the club'sbest and fairest, Ricciuto replacedMark Bickley as the club's captain prior to the2001 season.
Consistently considered one of the best midfielders in the competition during the early 2000s (decade), Ricciuto shared the 2003Brownlow Medal withNathan Buckley andAdam Goodes, and was selected in the All-Australian team for four consecutive seasons between 2002 and 2005, captaining the side in both 2004 and 2005. Having played more of a forward role in his last two seasons, Ricciuto retired at the end of the2007 season, having played a total of 312 games for Adelaide, kicking 292 goals.
Also representingSouth Australia ininterstate football andAustralia in theInternational Rules Series, Ricciuto was inducted into theAustralian Football Hall of Fame in 2011, and theSouth Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2012.
Ricciuto was born inWaikerie, South Australia. He was recruited bySANFL teamWest Adelaide and soon after – as a 16-year-old high schooler – was recruited by theAdelaide Crows in 1992. He debuted in theAFL in 1993. Ricciuto earned his first All-Australian selection as a 19-year-old in 1994.
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's best and fairest, and play in his only premiership. He was appointed as the Adelaide captain in 2001.
In 2003, he was joint winner of the league's highest individual honor, theBrownlow Medal, withCollingwood'sNathan Buckley andSydney'sAdam Goodes. In 2004 he came second in the Brownlow 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 againstWest Coast; thus ruling him out ofBrownlow Medal contention and the Crows' first qualifying final against fourth placedSt 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.
Late in the2006 season, Ricciuto was ruled out of the Crows' final few matches due to a "mystery ailment" which was later found to beparvovirus B19.[3] 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 theWest 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 21 July 2006 againstNorth 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'sCraig Bradley.[4]
Ricciuto announced his retirement on 16 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'sRobert Harvey as well as Lance Franklin. Ricciuto was also twice named All-Australian captain in 2004 and 2005, joining Paul Kelly, Wayne Carey, and Michael Voss as the only multiple All-Australian Captains in the AFL era.
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Ricciuto is noted for hisItalian heritage, and bears a large tattoo of his family name on his back.[citation needed] His grandfather was born in the small Italian town ofFragneto Monforte.[5]
On 19 January 2008, Ricciuto married Sarah Delahunt.[6] They have two daughters and four sons.[7]
In 2009, he played for Prince Alfred College Old Collegians in division 4 of the South Australian Amateur Football League.[citation needed]
Ricciuto played in the ANZAC day clash 2008 with Waikerie A grade against Loxton. Waikerie won the match by 38 points.[citation needed]
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.[8]
Ricciuto now works in the media is an AFL commentator for bothTriple M andFox Footy and also hosts the weekday Triple M breakfast show with former Australian world number 1 squash playerChris Dittmar and local media personality Laura O'Callaghan.[9]
Ricciuto was inducted into theAustralian Football Hall of Fame in 2011,[10] and into theSouth Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2012.[11]
In March 2014, a section of the Eastern Stand atAdelaide Oval was named after Ricciuto.[12]
G | Goals | K | Kicks | D | Disposals | T | Tackles |
B | Behinds | H | Handballs | M | Marks |
| Season | Team | No. | Games | Totals | Averages (per game) | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | B | K | H | D | M | T | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | ||||
| 1993 | Adelaide | 32 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 238 | 145 | 383 | 66 | 33 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 7.6 | 20.2 | 3.5 | 1.7 |
| 1994 | Adelaide | 32 | 21 | 23 | 15 | 285 | 142 | 427 | 118 | 27 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 13.6 | 6.8 | 20.3 | 5.6 | 1.3 |
| 1995 | Adelaide | 32 | 21 | 21 | 26 | 210 | 119 | 329 | 89 | 24 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 10.0 | 5.7 | 15.7 | 4.2 | 1.1 |
| 1996 | Adelaide | 32 | 22 | 9 | 9 | 267 | 188 | 455 | 97 | 19 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 12.1 | 8.5 | 20.7 | 4.4 | 0.9 |
| 1997 | Adelaide | 32 | 21 | 6 | 13 | 316 | 193 | 509 | 106 | 33 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 15.0 | 9.2 | 24.2 | 5.0 | 1.6 |
| 1998 | Adelaide | 32 | 24 | 22 | 25 | 386 | 183 | 569 | 111 | 35 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 16.1 | 7.6 | 23.7 | 4.6 | 1.5 |
| 1999 | Adelaide | 32 | 21 | 9 | 4 | 274 | 162 | 436 | 97 | 13 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 13.0 | 7.7 | 20.8 | 4.6 | 0.6 |
| 2000 | Adelaide | 32 | 22 | 20 | 10 | 334 | 247 | 581 | 104 | 43 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 15.2 | 11.2 | 26.4 | 4.7 | 2.0 |
| 2001 | Adelaide | 32 | 23 | 27 | 20 | 265 | 186 | 451 | 93 | 48 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 11.5 | 8.1 | 19.6 | 4.0 | 2.1 |
| 2002 | Adelaide | 32 | 22 | 35 | 15 | 261 | 190 | 451 | 86 | 67 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 11.9 | 8.6 | 20.5 | 3.9 | 3.0 |
| 2003 | Adelaide | 32 | 24 | 24 | 16 | 333 | 232 | 565 | 79 | 69 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 13.9 | 9.7 | 23.5 | 3.3 | 2.9 |
| 2004 | Adelaide | 32 | 22 | 17 | 17 | 305 | 230 | 535 | 87 | 44 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 13.9 | 10.5 | 24.3 | 4.0 | 2.0 |
| 2005 | Adelaide | 32 | 24 | 21 | 16 | 292 | 240 | 532 | 104 | 52 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 12.2 | 10.0 | 22.2 | 4.3 | 2.2 |
| 2006 | Adelaide | 32 | 17 | 44 | 26 | 158 | 87 | 245 | 102 | 18 | 2.6 | 1.5 | 9.3 | 5.1 | 14.4 | 6.0 | 1.1 |
| 2007 | Adelaide | 32 | 9 | 12 | 10 | 60 | 41 | 101 | 30 | 13 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 6.7 | 4.5 | 11.2 | 3.3 | 1.4 |
| Career | 312 | 292 | 222 | 3984 | 2585 | 6569 | 1369 | 538 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 12.8 | 8.3 | 21.1 | 4.4 | 1.7 | ||
| Brownlow Medal votes | |
| Season | Votes |
|---|---|
| 1993 | — |
| 1994 | 5 |
| 1995 | 5 |
| 1996 | — |
| 1997 | 18 |
| 1998 | 21 |
| 1999 | 1 |
| 2000 | 10 |
| 2001 | 7 |
| 2002 | 13 |
| 2003 | 22 |
| 2004 | 23 |
| 2005 | 11 |
| 2006 | 8 |
| 2007 | 2 |
| Total | 146 |
| Key: | |
| Green /Bold =Won | |
 | ||
Coach:Matthews | ||