Matthew Pavlich

Matthew Pavlich on a 2006 kick.

Matthew Pavlich (born December 31, 1981 in Adelaide ) is an Australian football player who is active for the Fremantle Dockers in the Australian Football League . With six nominations for the All-Australian team, he is one of the most successful Australian football players of the time. The 1.92 meter tall and 99 kg heavy Australian plays in the position of the center half-foward , wears the number 29 and has been the Dockers captain since 2007 .

Career

Pavlich has Scottish , German , Irish and Croatian roots. He was drafted in fourth place by the Fremantle Dockers in 1999 , after having participated unsuccessfully in the draft in 1998. On the fifth day of the 2000 season, the then 19-year-old made his AFL debut against the Melbourne Demons . With his first two kicks he immediately scored two goals, completed the other 18 Dockers' games of the season and was nominated for the Rising Star Award .

In 2001 Pavlich developed into the Dockers ' leading player after acting more offensively than in his rookie season. He scored 28 goals in 21 games, but could not make up for Fremantle's poor team performance on his own. The following year he was used by coach Chris Connolly in a more defensive role in which Pavlich blossomed and showed strong performances. This proved his versatility on the field, both in defense and offense. At the age of 20 he was nominated as fullback for the All-Australian team for the first time . In 2003 he was used more offensively and scored 37 goals in 23 games for the Dockers . This earned him a new nomination for the All-Australian team .

In the 2005 season Pavlich was used again in a new position, this time on the center-half forward , which had a massive impact on the game of Dockers . Pavlich scored 61 goals and had more marks than any other Fremantle player. On December 13, 2006, he was finally appointed captain of the Dockers , whose position he still holds today. In 2007 Pavlich scored 72 goals and set a new club record after posting 71 goals in 2006, but again he was unable to compensate for the poor team performance.

The following years were marked by changes of position, which Pavlich hardly influenced in his performance due to his versatility. He scored 28 goals in 2009, 61 in 2010 and 21 in 2011, making him one of the Dockers' best players . He scored his 500th goal in the 2012 season, making him the first Fremantle player to break that mark.

Overall, Pavlich has scored 558 goals, 337 behinds, 5,046 disposals and an average of two goals per game in his career so far (as of the end of the 2012 season) in 279 games.

successes

• All Australian Team Nominations (6): 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

Web links

• Profile on the official homepage of Fremantle Dockers