Justin Plapp (born 22 June 1977) 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 for the

Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers or colloquially the Tiges, is a professional Australian rules football team competing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Founded in 1885 in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond, Victoria, Ric ...

and

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club's name originates fro ...

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). Justin was born in

Penguin, Tasmania Penguin is a town on the north coast of Tasmania, Australia. It is in the Central Coast Council local government area and on the Bass Highway, between Burnie and Ulverstone. At the , Penguin had a population of 4,132. History Penguin was firs ...

and attended Penguin High School. Plapp caught the attention of AFL clubs after kicking 98 goals with the Burnie Dockers in 1996, which was the most by a player in the TFL Statewide League that year. He was recruited by Richmond in the draft, and played in Richmond's reserves premiership in 1997. He started his senior AFL career in 1998 with two good performances at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as the 'G, is a sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, the Lis ...

, three goals on debut against Fremantle and five more in a win over Carlton the following weekend. His five-goal haul in the second game earned him an AFL Rising Star nomination. In the 1999 AFL draft, Plapp was traded to St Kilda for pick 39, Scott Homewood. He was used at St Kilda as a half back flanker in his three seasons. He was appointed captain-coach of the Burnie Dockers in 2008 and continued on into the first season of the revamped

Tasmanian State League The Tasmanian State League (TSL), colloquially known as the Tasmanian Football League (TFL), was the highest-level Australian rules football competition in the state of Tasmania. It disbanded following the end of the 2024 TSL season, 2024 season ...

competition in 2009. After leading his Burnie team to second position after the roster season, the Dockers were to crash out in straights sets in the finals. Plapp's final match as a player was to be memorable for his missed set shot at goal after the final siren in the 2009 Preliminary Final which saw the Dockers lose to eventual premier Clarence by 4 points marking a sad end to Plapp's playing career and subsequently his coaching career at Burnie. Plapp quit his post soon after due to a dispute with the Burnie board of directors and returned to Victoria. He took on assistant coaching roles in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

at Box Hill in 2010, and at Williamstown in 2011, before taking the senior coaching job at the Sandringham Dragons in the

TAC Cup The Talent League (also known as the Coates Talent League under naming rights and previously as the NAB League and TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition based in Melbourne and run by the Australian Foot ...

under 18s competition from 2012 until 2014. He became the senior coach of the Casey Scorpions in the VFL in 2015. Afterwards, Plapp returned home to Penguin and played for the Penguin Two Blues in the

North West Football League The North West Football League (NWFL) is an Australian rules football competition in North West Tasmania. The league was previously known as the Northern Tasmanian Football League (NTFL) from its inception in 1987 until the end of the 2014 seaso ...

References

* *Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing. {{DEFAULTSORT:Plapp, Justin 1977 births Living people Richmond Football Club players St Kilda Football Club players Burnie Dockers Football Club players Penguin Football Club players Tasmanian Devils Football Club players Casey Demons coaches Australian rules footballers from Tasmania