Tony Modra

Tony Modra
Personal information
Full name Anthony Dale Modra
Nickname(s) Mods, Godra[1]
Date of birth (1969-03-01) 1 March 1969
Place of birth McLaren Vale, South Australia
Original team(s) West Adelaide (SANFL)
Height / weight 188 cm / 95 kg
Position(s) Full-forward
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1992–1998
1999–2001
Total
Adelaide
Fremantle
118 (440)
047 (148)
165 (588)
Representative team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
1992–1997 South Australia (6)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2001.
Career highlights

Club

Representative

Anthony 'Tony' Dale Modra (born 1 March 1969) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented Adelaide and Fremantle in the Australian Football League (AFL) and West Adelaide in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Known for his spectacular marking ability in the full forward position, Modra had the physical strength and size to match the best opposition full backs in the competition.

AFL career

Adelaide career (1992–1998)

After making his SANFL debut with West Adelaide in 1990 and playing in their Grand Final side in 1991, Modra began his AFL career at 23 years of age. At first, his potential at full forward was overshadowed by senior player Scott Hodges who had a reputation as a prolific goal kicker in the SANFL with Port Adelaide Football Club, having broken the record for most goals in a season in 1990 when he kicked 153. Modra played a handful of games in his debut season of 1992, without making a great impact.

At the start of 1993, an injury to Hodges led to Modra's inclusion at full forward with Adelaide. Modra was an instant success, kicking 10 goals in the opening round against Richmond at Football Park and finishing the year as runner up to Geelong's Gary Ablett Sr. in the Coleman Medal with 119 goals in the Home and Away season, kicking an additional 10 in 3 finals.

Both the Crows and Modra had less successful seasons in 1994 through to 1996, although Modra topped the club goalkicking each year.

In 1997, Modra won the Coleman Medal for the most goals in the season, and was also selected in the AFL All-Australian team. However a torn Anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained during a marking contest in the preliminary final caused Modra to miss the Crows' first premiership win when they defeated St Kilda in the Grand Final.

After returning from the knee injury 10 months later in 1998 he failed to regain form and was not considered for the 1998 AFL Grand Final. He was thus one of the few leading Crows players who did not receive a premiership medallion in either of the Crows premiership years of 1997 and 1998.

Modra's aerial ability was unsurpassed in his prime, and he was nominated for Mark of the Year on numerous occasions, winning the award in 1993, 1997 and 2000.

Fremantle career (1999–2001)

Adelaide traded Modra to Fremantle for the 1999 AFL season. After kicking a club record 71 goals in his first year at Fremantle, by the middle of the 2001 AFL season sore knees forced him to retire from the AFL at 32 years of age. His career games tally finished at 165 games for 588 goals.

Statistics

Legend
 G  Goals  B  Behinds  K  Kicks  H  Handballs  D  Disposals  M  Marks  T  Tackles
Led the league for the season only
Led the league after finals only
Led the league after season and finals
Season Team # Games G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
Totals Averages (per game)
1992 Adelaide 6 8 21 11 41 7 48 24 1 2.6 1.4 5.1 0.9 6.0 3.0 0.1
1993 Adelaide 6 23 129 61 240 41 281 163 8 5.6 2.7 10.4 1.8 12.2 7.1 0.3
1994 Adelaide 6 19 70 39 146 31 177 85 3 3.7 2.1 7.7 1.6 9.3 4.5 0.2
1995 Adelaide 6 16 42 29 108 25 133 54 4 2.6 1.8 6.8 1.6 8.3 3.4 0.3
1996 Adelaide 6 19 75 32 144 13 157 87 12 3.9 1.7 7.6 0.7 8.3 4.6 0.6
1997 Adelaide 6 25 84 45 181 22 203 93 13 3.4 1.8 7.2 0.9 8.1 3.7 0.5
1998 Adelaide 6 8 19 8 46 13 59 26 3 2.4 1.0 5.8 1.6 7.4 3.3 0.4
1999 Fremantle 6 20 71 43 166 17 183 81 7 3.6 2.2 8.3 0.9 9.2 4.1 0.4
2000 Fremantle 6 16 50 25 109 19 128 62 3 3.1 1.6 6.8 1.2 8.0 3.9 0.2
2001 Fremantle 6 11 27 15 61 18 79 35 8 2.5 1.4 5.5 1.6 7.2 3.2 0.7
Career 165 588 308 1242 206 1448 710 62 3.6 1.9 7.5 1.2 8.8 4.3 0.4

Post AFL career

Since 2003, Modra has worked as a cattle farmer on his property at Waitpinga, near Victor Harbor.[2][3] He resumed playing local football for Encounter Bay in the Great Southern Football League. Currently Modra is playing for the Prince Alfred Old Collegians Football Club, alongside old team mate Mark Ricciuto in division 4 of the South Australian Amateur Football League. He also plays in charity games such as the West End Slowdown and can still take huge marks. He also plays cricket for the Encounter Bay Cricket Club.

Modra kicked 10 goals against Lucindale on 30 June 2006. Keith won by 119 points.

In his first senior Premiership since he was 21, Modra kicked 8 goals in Keith's win over Penola in the KNTFL Grand Final played at Naracoorte on 15 September 2007. Final scores Keith 19.8 (122) defeated Penola 10.10 (70)

Tony Modra being interviewed after the State of Origin Slowdown charity match between SA and Vic at the Adelaide Oval on 3 October 2011

In May 2011, it was reported that Modra was considering a return to the AFL as a coach with Adelaide.[2]

On 3 October 2011 Modra, along with other former AFL and SANFL stars such as Andrew and Darren Jarman, Gavin Wanganeen, Mark Ricciuto, Ben Hart, Mick Martyn, Brendan Fevola, Matthew Lloyd and Dermott Brereton played in the State of Origin Slowdown match at the Adelaide Oval between South Australia and Victoria. The match was played for charity for the Little Heroes Foundation and saw SA run out winners 17.10 (112) to Victoria's 17.9 (111) on a goal 20 seconds from the final siren by Darren Jarman.

On 6 October 2015 at the age of 46, Modra competed in the annual showdown match at the Adelaide Oval, where he produced an amazing mark, gaining media attention. [4]

References

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