Brett Montgomery (born 1 June 1973) is a retired

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 ...

player and current assistant coach with the

Greater Western Sydney Giants The Greater Western Sydney Giants (officially the Greater Western Sydney Football Club and colloquially known as the GWS Giants or simply GWS or Giants) are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney Olympic Park which repres ...

Early life

Montgomery, known as "Monty", was originally recruited from

South Croydon South Croydon in south London is the area surrounding the valley south of central Croydon and running as far south as the former Red Deer public house on the Brighton Road. It is bounded by Waddon to the West and Selsdon and Sanderstead to the E ...

, and was recruited by Essendon Football Club (U19's & reserves) but was dropped from their list in 1991. Montgomery was also a talented cricketer, and had captained the under-19s

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

team. In 1992 and 1993 he played club cricket in the Durham League and Middlesex League in England, before returning to Australia to refresh his

career. He played with VFL side Springvale, playing in a premiership, then being picked up by Footscray, on their supplementary list. He won their reserves

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

, and finally at the end of 1996 was recruited to the Bulldogs' senior list (who had, by the time Montgomery first played in 1997, changed their name to the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

) for his chance to play at

AFL AFL may refer to: Education * Angel Foundation for Learning, a Canadian Roman Catholic charity * Ankara Science High School, a high school in Ankara, Turkey, natively referred to as ''Ankara Fen Liesi'' * Assessment for learning Military * ...

level. 'Monty' is married to Terri Montgomery and has four children, Owen, Harper, Louie and Willow Montgomery.

AFL career

Western Bulldogs career (1997–1999)

He made his AFL debut in Round 2, 1997, beginning his career at the relatively late age of 23. He quickly adapted to AFL level, becoming a consistent and highly skilled half-back or running defender.

Port Adelaide career (2000–2005)

After 3 seasons at the Bulldogs, he was traded to the

Port Adelaide Football Club Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where it is nicknamed the ...

, where he won the

John Cahill Medal The John Cahill Medal, named after the Port Adelaide Football Club's ten time premiership coach and inaugural AFL coach John Cahill, is awarded to the club player adjudged best and fairest for the season. The voting system as of the 2017 AFL se ...

in his first season there in 2000. He won

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

selection in 2002, also playing in the

International Rules International rules football (; also known as international rules in Australia and compromise rules or Aussie rules in Ireland) is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed to facilitate international represe ...

series of that year. Montgomery won a premiership medallion when his team won the 2004

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

to win their first premiership in the

, capping off another solid season. In 2005, despite another strong year and finishing 6th in the

, Montgomery was delisted by

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

coach Mark Williams, citing a focus on youth in the club's rebuilding phase. But he wasn't keen on retiring. He had only played 9 seasons at the elite level.

Western Bulldogs return (2006–2007)

The

, the club he started his AFL career with, picked him up in the 2005 AFL Draft, and he became an important player in the 2006 season. In the Elimination Final win against Collingwood, he came back from a hard bump in the opening seconds from

Brodie Holland Brodie Holland (born 3 January 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer and model best known for his playing days at the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League. Holland is also known for his media profile ...

and kicked an important career-best haul of four goals. As of 2025, Montgomery ranks as the most accurate AFL goalkicker since 2002, with 44 goals from 64 shots, at an accuracy of 68.8% (minimum 50 shots).

Retirement

On 25 May 2007, Montgomery announced his retirement after 204 games. He received a knock to the back area in round 1, 2007, against

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

and had not played a match since. After being told that his recovery would take 6 to 18 months, he immediately announced his retirement, and has since joined ABC Local Radio as a special comments commentator. After the close of the 2007 season, Montgomery signed as an assistant coach at the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Princes Park (stadium), Princes Park in Carlton North, Victoria, Carlton North, an inner suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The c ...

, where he assumed the role as the defence coach until the end of the 2010 AFL season. In September 2010, Montgomery made a third return to the

, this time as an assistant coach, taking over the role vacated by

Leon Cameron Leon Cameron (born 2 September 1972) is a former Australian rules footballer who is the former senior coach of the Greater Western Sydney Giants (GWS) in the Australian Football League (AFL). His AFL playing career lasted from 1990 to 2003 and i ...

who defected to the

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawth ...

. In September 2018, Montgomery returned to the Port Adelaide Football Club as an assistant coach.

Playing statistics

:Brent Montgomery's player profile at AFL Tables
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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 ...

, , , , 10 , 16 , , 18 , , 18 , , 139 , , 48 , , 187 , , 79 , , 15 , , 1.1 , , 1.1 , , 8.7 , , 3.0 , , 11.7 , , 4.9 , , 0.9 , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 10 , 21 , , 22 , , 14 , , 191 , , 128 , , 319 , , 123 , , 32 , , 1.0 , , 0.7 , , 9.1 , , 6.1 , , 15.2 , , 5.9 , , 1.5 , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 10 , 23 , , 14 , , 8 , , 195 , , 144 , , 339 , , 115 , , 27 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 8.5 , , 6.3 , , 14.7 , , 5.0 , , 1.2 , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 3 , 22 , , 16 , , 15 , , 242 , , 148 , , 390 , , 142 , , 35 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 11.0 , , 6.7 , , 17.7 , , 6.5 , , 1.6 , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 3 , 24 , , 5 , , 7 , , 229 , , 191 , , 420 , , 140 , , 37 , , 0.2 , , 0.3 , , 9.5 , , 8.0 , , 17.5 , , 5.8 , , 1.5 , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 3 , 24 , , 11 , , 1 , , 222 , , 164 , , 386 , , 145 , , 30 , , 0.5 , , 0.0 , , 9.3 , , 6.8 , , 16.1 , , 6.0 , , 1.3 , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 3 , 19 , , 5 , , 2 , , 162 , , 136 , , 298 , , 122 , , 26 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 8.5 , , 7.2 , , 15.7 , , 6.4 , , 1.4 , - , scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C ,

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 ...

^# , , , , 3 , 14 , , 5 , , 3 , , 123 , , 110 , , 233 , , 85 , , 20 , , 0.4 , , 0.2 , , 8.8 , , 7.9 , , 16.6 , , 6.1 , , 1.4 , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 3 , 23 , , 9 , , 2 , , 208 , , 149 , , 357 , , 159 , , 35 , , 0.4 , , 0.1 , , 9.0 , , 6.5 , , 15.5 , , 6.9 , , 1.5 , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 43 , 17 , , 14 , , 7 , , 110 , , 90 , , 200 , , 77 , , 23 , , 0.8 , , 0.4 , , 6.5 , , 5.3 , , 11.8 , , 4.5 , , 1.4 , - ,

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, , , , 43 , 1 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 2 , , 2 , , 1 , , 0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 2.0 , , 2.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 204 !! 119 !! 77 !! 1821 !! 1310 !! 3131 !! 1188 !! 280 !! 0.6 !! 0.4 !! 8.9 !! 6.4 !! 15.3 !! 5.8 !! 1.4

References

External links

Brett Montgomery's profile
at AustralianFootball.com * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Montgomery, Brett 1973 births All-Australians (AFL) John Cahill Medal winners Port Adelaide Football Club players Port Adelaide Football Club premiership players Port Adelaide Football Club players (all competitions) Western Bulldogs players Casey Demons players Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Sturt Football Club players Australia international rules football team players VFL/AFL premiership players