Alistair "Big Jack" Nicholson (born 4 March 1978) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er, who played with the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons or colloquially the Dees, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL). Nicholson was schooled at

Scotch College, Perth Scotch College (informally known as Scotch or SC), is an Independent school, independent Uniting Church in Australia, Uniting Church Primary school, primary and Secondary school, secondary school for boys, located in the Perth suburb of Swanbo ...

, where he was

school captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in his final year of 1995. He was also co-captain of the school's

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

team. Fellow AFL footballer

Rowan Jones Rowan "RoJo" Jones (born 19 November 1979) is a retired Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League. Recruited at pick 28 in the 1997 AFL Draft by the Eagles from local WAFL club Clare ...

followed Nicholson as school captain in 1996. Making his debut in 1997 in the number 44 guernsey, the large figure of the man known as "Big Jack" was a strong presence in defence for the Demons. Nicholson, a specialist key position defender, was most suited to full-back and was much maligned during his career, described by critics as "old, slow and useless" and "unfashionable". However, Nicholson was shown a lot of faith by coach

Neale Daniher Neale Francis Daniher (born 15 February 1961) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was later the coach of the Melbourne Football Club between 1998 and 20 ...

, and was signed on until the end of the 2007 season. The next year, however, saw a sharp decline in Nicholson's career. Due to the emergence of much-improved fullback Nathan Carroll, Nicholson was relegated to the

Sandringham Zebras The Sandringham Football Club, nicknamed the Zebras, is an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Sandringham. It currently competes in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and the VFL Women's (VFLW). Sandringham has c ...

, Melbourne's VFL affiliate, for the entirety of the 2006 season. At the end of the year, he was delisted and his contract was paid out (which still had a year to run), effectively ending his AFL career. During his time with Melbourne he served on the

AFL Players' Association The AFL Players Association (AFLPA, also simply known as AFL Players) is the representative body for all current and past professional Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) players. The AFLPA promotes and protects its member ...

executive committee and began working with Gemba, a sports consulting firm. After his retirement from the AFL he continued with Gemba, working up to the position of head of entertainment strategy. In September 2014 Nicholson was announced as the new chief executive officer of the

Australian Cricketers' Association The Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) is an organisation that represents the professional first-class cricketers of Australia, both past and present. It is not a formally registered Trade Union, but an Incorporated Association. Current ad ...

. In March 2021 he was announced as the new Chief Executive Officer of the AFL’s Coaches Association.

Playing statistics

, - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, , 44 , , 1 , , 0 , , 0 , , 2 , , 2 , , 4 , , 2 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 2.0 , , 2.0 , , 4.0 , , 2.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, , 44 , , 0 , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, , 44 , , 13 , , 0 , , 0 , , 22 , , 31 , , 53 , , 17 , , 5 , , 107 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.7 , , 2.4 , , 4.1 , , 1.3 , , 0.4 , , 8.2 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, , 44 , , 16 , , 0 , , 0 , , 52 , , 81 , , 133 , , 45 , , 21 , , 34 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 3.3 , , 5.1 , , 8.3 , , 2.8 , , 1.3 , , 2.1 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, , 8 , , 22 , , 1 , , 0 , , 76 , , 116 , , 192 , , 65 , , 24 , , 45 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 3.5 , , 5.3 , , 8.7 , , 3.0 , , 1.1 , , 2.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, , 8 , , 11 , , 2 , , 1 , , 41 , , 38 , , 79 , , 40 , , 13 , , 7 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 3.7 , , 3.5 , , 7.2 , , 3.6 , , 1.2 , , 0.6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, , 8 , , 10 , , 0 , , 0 , , 35 , , 37 , , 72 , , 30 , , 10 , , 3 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 3.5 , , 3.7 , , 7.2 , , 3.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, , 8 , , 23 , , 0 , , 0 , , 81 , , 98 , , 179 , , 60 , , 25 , , 4 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 3.5 , , 4.3 , , 7.8 , , 2.6 , , 1.1 , , 0.2 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, , 8 , , 14 , , 0 , , 0 , , 47 , , 43 , , 90 , , 36 , , 19 , , 4 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 3.4 , , 3.1 , , 6.4 , , 2.6 , , 1.4 , , 0.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, , 8 , , 0 , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 110 ! 3 ! 1 ! 356 ! 446 ! 802 ! 295 ! 117 ! 204 ! 0.0 ! 0.0 ! 3.2 ! 4.1 ! 7.3 ! 2.7 ! 1.1 ! 1.9

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholson, Alistair 1978 births Living people Melbourne Football Club players Sandringham Football Club players People educated at Scotch College, Perth Australian rules footballers from Western Australia