David Neitz (born 22 January 1975), is a retired Australian rules footballer. 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.

David Neitz
Personal information
Full name David Neitz
Date of birth (1975-01-22) 22 January 1975 (age 49)
Place of birth Ulverstone, Tasmania
Original team(s) Parkmore
Height 193 cm (6 ft 4 in)
Weight 100 kg (220 lb)
Position(s) Full forward/centre half back
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1993–2008 Melbourne 306 (631)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2008.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Neitz was the longest-serving captain in the history of the Melbourne Football Club 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.

Neitz was born in Ulverstone, Tasmania, he was groomed as a potential Australian Football League 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 State of Origin team, and he went one step further in 1995 by making the All-Australian team 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 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 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 in 1995 and 2002, and played for Australia in the 1998 International Rules Series and 2002 International Rules Series against Ireland. In 2002, Neitz also won his first Melbourne Best and Fairest Award, the Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal, along with the Coleman Medal, 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.[1]

Neitz now sits on the AFL Tribunal jury, adjudicating on high-profile cases that arise during the regular season.[2]

Statistics

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[3]
Legend
  G  
Goals
  K  
Kicks
  D  
Disposals 
  T  
Tackles
  B  
Behinds 
  H  
Handballs 
  M  
Marks
Led the league for the season only
Led the league after finals only
Led the league after season and finals
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game)
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
1993 Melbourne 38 20 17 15 161 96 257 94 12 0.9 0.8 8.1 4.8 12.9 4.7 0.6
1994 Melbourne 9 24 2 2 189 123 312 81 22 0.1 0.1 7.9 5.1 13.0 3.4 0.9
1995 Melbourne 9 22 33 25 232 67 299 140 18 1.5 1.1 10.5 3.0 13.6 6.4 0.8
1996 Melbourne 9 22 56 26 181 66 247 110 22 2.5 1.2 8.2 3.0 11.2 5.0 1.0
1997 Melbourne 9 17 30 22 129 34 163 77 9 1.8 1.3 7.6 2.0 9.6 4.5 0.5
1998 Melbourne 9 14 33 21 115 42 157 57 14 2.4 1.5 8.2 3.0 11.2 4.1 1.0
1999 Melbourne 9 18 46 21 153 51 204 92 17 2.6 1.2 8.5 2.8 11.3 5.1 0.9
2000 Melbourne 9 21 24 19 201 67 268 126 23 1.1 0.9 9.6 3.2 12.8 6.0 1.1
2001 Melbourne 9 22 38 34 206 61 267 132 21 1.7 1.5 9.4 2.8 12.1 6.0 1.0
2002 Melbourne 9 24 82 38 178 50 228 132 23 3.4 1.6 7.4 2.1 9.5 5.5 1.0
2003 Melbourne 9 22 65 28 147 38 185 101 22 3.0 1.3 6.7 1.7 8.4 4.6 1.0
2004 Melbourne 9 21 69 47 155 32 187 99 19 3.3 2.2 7.4 1.5 8.9 4.7 0.9
2005 Melbourne 9 18 39 23 118 27 145 67 20 2.2 1.3 6.6 1.5 8.1 3.7 1.1
2006 Melbourne 9 21 68 26 163 41 204 106 16 3.2 1.2 7.8 2.0 9.7 5.0 0.8
2007 Melbourne 9 15 26 16 100 33 133 68 6 1.7 1.1 6.7 2.2 8.9 4.5 0.4
2008 Melbourne 9 5 3 5 27 8 35 20 4 0.6 1.0 5.4 1.6 7.0 4.0 0.8
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

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Brownlow Medal votes
Season Votes
1993
1994 2
1995 8
1996 10
1997 2
1998
1999 5
2000 6
2001 7
2002 11
2003 8
2004 10
2005
2006 10
2007
2008
Total 79
Key:
Green / Bold = Won

Retirement

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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.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Gibson, Ben (20 April 2021). "Year-by-year: Jones' journey to 300 games". Melbourne FC. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  2. ^ "The verdicts are in: Key Bomber, Saint learn their fate at Tribunal". AAP. Australian Football League. 26 March 2024. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  3. ^ David Neitz's player profile at AFL Tables
  4. ^ David Neitz calls it a day
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