Mark Ricciuto

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Mark Ricciuto
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Personal information
Birth June 8, 1975 (1975-06-08) (age 33), Waikerie, South Australia
Recruited from West Adelaide
Height and weight 184cm / 92kg
Playing career¹
Debut Round 6, April 30, 1993, Adelaide vs. Hawthorn, at Football Park
Team(s) Adelaide (1993-2007)

312 games, 292 goals

¹ Statistics to end of 2007 season
Career highlights

Mark Anthony Ricciuto (born June 8, 1975) is an Australian rules football player, who represented the Adelaide Crows in the Australian Football League.

Contents

[edit] Football career

Ricciuto was born in Waikerie, South Australia. He was recruited by SANFL team West Adelaide and soon after - as a 16 year old high schooler - was recruited by the Adelaide Crows in 1992. He debuted in the AFL in 1993.

He was appointed as the Adelaide captain in 2001. In 2003, he was joint winner of the league's highest honor, the Brownlow Medal, with Collingwood's Nathan Buckley and Sydney's Adam Goodes.

Late in the 2006 season, Ricciuto was ruled out of the Crows' final few matches due to a "mystery ailment" which was later found to be parvovirus B19.[1]

Ricciuto played his 300th AFL game on the 21st of July 2006 against North Melbourne. He kicked 5 goals in a game that Adelaide won by 72 points. He was quicker than any other player in AFL history to this milestone, in 13 years and 83 days, some 11 days quicker than Carlton's Craig Bradley.[2]

Ricciuto announced his retirement on the 16th of August 2007 due to persistent injuries. In Round 22 he had a great performance against Collingwood to help Adelaide get into the Finals but the following week in which was His last game would probably be the most forgetful one in his career struggling against the Hawks in the 1st Elimination Final, Hawthorn winning the game by 3 points as Lance Franklin kicked the winning goal with 10 seconds left and eliminating the Crows in the process. The Final score was 105 to 102. He will be remembered as a true blue Aussie legend.

He currently plays for the Waikerie football club.

[edit] Family Life

Ricciuto is noted for his Italian heritage, and bears a large tattoo of his family name on his back. His parents were born in the small Italian town of Soriano Calabro.

On the 19th January 2008 Ricciuto married Sarah Delahunt. They have a daughter, Sophie Jane, who was born in November 2006 and are expecting their second child in June 2008.

[edit] Current

The 32-year-old is believed to be considering playing for his former club Waikerie in the Riverland league in 2008.

He played in the ANZAC day clash with Waikerie A grade against Loxton. Waikerie won the match by 38 points.

[edit] External links


Preceded by
Andrew McLeod
Adelaide Best and Fairest winner
1998
Succeeded by
Ben Hart
Preceded by
Mark Bickley
Adelaide Football Club Captain
2001 - 2007
Succeeded by
Simon Goodwin
Preceded by
Simon Black
Brownlow Medallist
2003
Succeeded by
Chris Judd
Preceded by
Ben Hart
Adelaide Best and Fairest winner
2003 - 2004
Succeeded by
Simon Goodwin
Preceded by
Michael Voss
All-Australian Team Captain
2004 - 2005
Succeeded by
Brad Johnson