David Neitz (born 22 January 1975), 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 ...

er. A strongly built forward, he debuted at 18 years old. In just his sixth senior game kicked 6 goals 6 behinds. In his 2nd year, with Melbourne's forward line consisting of Garry Lyon and David Schwarz, among others. He was shifted to the backline to fill a need, Neitz proved he was capable of playing both ends of the ground. Neitz was the longest-serving captain in the history of 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 ...

and the first Melbourne player to achieve the 300-game milestone. He is considered one of the greatest ever players to come out of the island state of

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

. Neitz was born in

Ulverstone, Tasmania Ulverstone is a town on the northern coast of Tasmania, Australia on the mouth of the River Leven, on Bass Strait. It is on the Bass Highway, west of Devonport and east of Penguin. As of June 2021 Ulverstone had an urban population of 11, ...

, he was groomed as a potential

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 ...

player from the age of 15 and targeted by the recruiters at the Melbourne Football Club, entering the AFL in 1993 as a key position player, he soon became one of Melbourne's best young prospects. In 1994, Neitz was named to his first

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 ...

State of Origin team, and he went one step further in 1995 by making the

All-Australian team 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 ...

as well as the Victorian side. After the retirement of Demons great Garry Lyon, Neitz moved to the full-forward position and began his successful run as one of the AFL's elite goal scorers. He has led Melbourne's goalkicking seven times (1996, 1997 (equal), 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006), and in 2002 won the prestigious

Coleman Medal The Coleman Medal is an Australian rules football award given annually to the Australian Football League (AFL) player who kicks the most Laws of Australian rules football#Scoring, goals in the Australian Football League#Premiership season, home- ...

for leading the league in goals, making him not only the first Melbourne player to do so, but also the first Melbourne player to lead the competition's goalkicking since the 1940s. On 8 April 2005, Neitz became the 40th person in

VFL/AFL 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 ...

history to kick 500 career goals. Neitz was appointed captain of Melbourne in 2000, and on 8 April 2005 he broke the club record for most games captained (previously held by Garry Lyon with 112 games as captain). He has been an

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 ...

in 1995 and 2002, and played for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in the

1998 International Rules Series The 1998 International Rules Series was the fifth annual series between Gaelic footballers from the Gaelic Athletic Association and Australian rules footballers from the Australian Football League and the first since it was cancelled in 1990. It ...

and 2002 International Rules Series against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. In 2002, Neitz also won his first Melbourne Best and Fairest Award, the Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal, along with the

, for kicking the most goals of any player in that season. On 8 April 2005, Neitz played his 250th career AFL game, and in 2006 signed a two-year contract extension seeing him through to the end of 2007. Neitz became Melbourne's all-time leading goal-kicker on 19 May 2006, surpassing Norm Smith's previous record of 546 goals. Two weeks later, he broke Robert Flower's long standing record of 272 games, making him the longest serving Demon in history. He played his 300th AFL game for the Demons in the defeat against Collingwood on 17 August 2007. He is one of only two players to play as many games for the Melbourne Football Club, the other being Nathan Jones. Neitz now sits on the

AFL Tribunal The AFL Tribunal is the disciplinary tribunal of the Australian Football League (AFL), an Australian rules football competition. The Tribunal regulates the conduct of players, umpires, and other officials associated with the AFL and its clubs. ...

jury, adjudicating on high-profile cases that arise during the regular season.

Statistics

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1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

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1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 24 , , 2 , , 2 , , 189 , , 123 , , 312 , , 81 , , 22 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 7.9 , , 5.1 , , 13.0 , , 3.4 , , 0.9 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 22 , , 33 , , 25 , , 232 , , 67 , , 299 , , 140 , , 18 , , 1.5 , , 1.1 , , 10.5 , , 3.0 , , 13.6 , , 6.4 , , 0.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 22 , , 56 , , 26 , , 181 , , 66 , , 247 , , 110 , , 22 , , 2.5 , , 1.2 , , 8.2 , , 3.0 , , 11.2 , , 5.0 , , 1.0 , - 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 17 , , 30 , , 22 , , 129 , , 34 , , 163 , , 77 , , 9 , , 1.8 , , 1.3 , , 7.6 , , 2.0 , , 9.6 , , 4.5 , , 0.5 , - ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 14 , , 33 , , 21 , , 115 , , 42 , , 157 , , 57 , , 14 , , 2.4 , , 1.5 , , 8.2 , , 3.0 , , 11.2 , , 4.1 , , 1.0 , - 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 18 , , 46 , , 21 , , 153 , , 51 , , 204 , , 92 , , 17 , , 2.6 , , 1.2 , , 8.5 , , 2.8 , , 11.3 , , 5.1 , , 0.9 , - ! 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 ...

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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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 22 , , 38 , , 34 , , 206 , , 61 , , 267 , , 132 , , 21 , , 1.7 , , 1.5 , , 9.4 , , 2.8 , , 12.1 , , 6.0 , , 1.0 , - ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 24 , , bgcolor="DD6E81", 82 , , bgcolor="CFECEC", 38 , , 178 , , 50 , , 228 , , 132 , , 23 , , bgcolor="DD6E81", 3.4 , , bgcolor="CFECEC", 1.6 , , 7.4 , , 2.1 , , 9.5 , , 5.5 , , 1.0 , - 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 22 , , 65 , , 28 , , 147 , , 38 , , 185 , , 101 , , 22 , , 3.0 , , 1.3 , , 6.7 , , 1.7 , , 8.4 , , 4.6 , , 1.0 , - ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 21 , , 69 , , 47 , , 155 , , 32 , , 187 , , 99 , , 19 , , 3.3 , , 2.2 , , 7.4 , , 1.5 , , 8.9 , , 4.7 , , 0.9 , - 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 18 , , 39 , , 23 , , 118 , , 27 , , 145 , , 67 , , 20 , , 2.2 , , 1.3 , , 6.6 , , 1.5 , , 8.1 , , 3.7 , , 1.1 , - ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 21 , , 68 , , 26 , , 163 , , 41 , , 204 , , 106 , , 16 , , 3.2 , , 1.2 , , 7.8 , , 2.0 , , 9.7 , , 5.0 , , 0.8 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 15 , , 26 , , 16 , , 100 , , 33 , , 133 , , 68 , , 6 , , 1.7 , , 1.1 , , 6.7 , , 2.2 , , 8.9 , , 4.5 , , 0.4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 5 , , 3 , , 5 , , 27 , , 8 , , 35 , , 20 , , 4 , , 0.6 , , 1.0 , , 5.4 , , 1.6 , , 7.0 , , 4.0 , , 0.8 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 306 ! 631 ! 368 ! 2455 ! 836 ! 3291 ! 1502 ! 268 ! 2.1 ! 1.2 ! 8.0 ! 2.7 ! 10.8 ! 4.9 ! 0.9

Honours and achievements

*Individual ** Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal: 2002 **

: 2002 ** Melbourne F.C. Captain: 2000-2008 **

: 1995, 2002 ** Melbourne F.C. Leading Goalkicker: 1996–1997, 1999, 2002–2004, 2006 ** Australian Representative Honours in

International Rules Football 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 ...

: 1998, 2002 ** AFL Rising Star Nominee: 1993 (Round 6)

Retirement

Due to a broken disc in the back of his neck, and after playing only five games in 2008, he finally pulled the plug on his AFL career as he announced his immediate retirement on 19 May 2008. In the round nine 2008 match Melbourne vs Hawthorn after the match Neitz was given a standing ovation by the players and the fans. He ended his playing career with several Melbourne records that he'd broken during recent seasons, three in particular: Most games (one of only two players to play 300 games for Melbourne), most goals, and longest-serving captain.David Neitz calls it a day
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Neitz, David 1975 births All-Australians (AFL) Australian rules footballers from Tasmania Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Coleman Medal winners Victorian State of Origin players Australian people of German descent Living people Melbourne Football Club players Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Trophy winners People from Ulverstone, Tasmania Melbourne Football Club captains Australia international rules football team players Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees