Stephen Jurica (born 26 June 1976) 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

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

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) during the 1990s. Jurica attended

Christian Brothers College, Fremantle Christian Brothers College Fremantle is an Independent Catholic secondary school for young men, located in Ellen Street site, in the coastal community surrounding Fremantle, Western Australia. The school traces its origins back to 1882, and in ...

. A product of the South Fremantle colts, Jurica was just 17 when he was drafted by Richmond, with the 26th selection of the 1993 AFL draft. He came into the Richmond team halfway through the

1995 AFL season The 1995 AFL season was the 99th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The league expanded to ...

to replace injured key forward Matthew Richardson and performed creditably. In the now famous draw against Essendon, Jurica kicked five goals and later in the season kicked four goals in a win over Collingwood to win a 1995 AFL Rising Star nomination. He ended the season playing in a qualifying final and finished with 21 goals for the year. Despite some impressive performances in his debut season, Jurica was delisted after adding just five further games in 1996 and 1997. He starred in Richmond's 1997 reserves premiership, kicking five goals in the grand final. Jurica, who now works as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

, won the

North Ballarat Football Club The North Ballarat Football Club, nicknamed the Roosters, is an Australian rules football and netball club based at Mars Stadium in Ballarat. The club was founded in 1882 and has competed in the Ballarat Football Netball League (BFNL), and pr ...

's "Best and Fairest" award in 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jurica, Stephen 1976 births Richmond Football Club players North Ballarat Football Club players Australian barristers Living people Australian rules footballers from Western Australia