Barry Hall

For the English comedian best known as the Annoying Devil, see Barrie Hall.

Barry Hall
Barry Hall playing for the Swans
Personal information
Full name	Barry Hall
Nickname(s)	Bazza
Date of birth	(1977-02-08) 8 February 1977
Place of birth	Broadford, Victoria
Original team(s)	Murray Bushrangers (TAC Cup)
Draft	1995: #19 (St Kilda)
Height	194 cm (6 ft 4 in)
Weight	104 kg (16 st 5 lb)
Position(s)	Full Forward
Club information
Current club	Western Bulldogs
Number	28
Playing career
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
	St Kilda
	Sydney
	Western Bulldogs
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Barry Hall (born 8 February 1977) is an Australian rules footballer currently playing with the Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League. Hall is considered to be one of the best forwards of the modern era, being named All-Australian, leading his club's goalkicking on nine occasions and captaining the Sydney Swans to their 2005 AFL Grand Final victory. In July 2011 Hall became the first player to kick 100 goals for three different AFL teams.

He began his career at the St Kilda Football Club where he twice led the club's goalkicking in 1999 and 2001. He is best-known for his career with the Sydney Swans. He was one of the Swans best players during his time at the club, topping the club goalkicking from 2002 to 2008 and co-captaining the side between 2005 and 2007, including the club's drought breaking premiership in 2005. He also featured heavily in the AFL's promotion in Sydney, gaining a similarly high profile to Tony Lockett which saw him featured in a 2006 AFL and Swans joint promotion known as "Barry Hall Hall".

The former junior boxing champion's AFL career has been marred by a reputation for onfield aggression which has earned him the label of football "wild man" and he became one of the most feared players on the field. Several controversial and highly publicised incidents (often called "brain snaps" by the media) and tribunal appearances have interrupted his career and contributed to a change of clubs.

Early life

Hall was born in Victoria and grew up in Broadford, Victoria. Hall played his junior football in Broadford however his other interest was martial arts and boxing.

At the age of 12 Hall moved to Melbourne to pursue boxing career. Training out of a makeshift boxing gym (his father's garage), he won a state title as an early teenager and had fought in 15 fights by the age of 15.

However Hall also proved a talent at Australian football. After playing for the Murray Bushrangers in the TAC Cup and attracting the eye of talent scouts, he decided to focus on football.

AFL career

St Kilda (1996–2001)

Hall made his AFL debut for St Kilda in 1996. He helped fill the void of the record-breaking forward Tony Lockett, who had moved to the Swans the previous season.

He played for St Kilda until 2001, kicking 144 goals in 88 games and being the club's leading goalkicker in the 1999 and 2001 seasons. His career best game of 8.2 came with St Kilda in Round 16, 2001 against the Western Bulldogs. He left St Kilda at the end of 2001 in style, kicking a goal after the final siren of a Round 22 match against Hawthorn to win the match. One of the main reasons for leaving was the rise of Nick Riewoldt, Justin Koschitzke and the recruitment of Fraser Gehrig, as well as salary cap constraints. Ironically, he left the year before Brian Waldron was appointed the club's CEO.

Sydney Swans (2002–2009)

He joined the Swans for the 2002 season and has prospered, leading the club's goalscoring in every season up until 2009 and being named club best and fairest in 2004. He has said that he benefited from the move to Sydney, in particular the relative anonymity he enjoyed when first arriving, playing alongside Tony Lockett in Lockett's comeback from retirement season. Hall's form reached a high in 2004 when he was named in the All-Australian Team. He then took his game to a whole new level from 2005, and not only bagged 80 goals for the season and a second placing for the Coleman Medal, but set up many more goals as well. He was selected in the All-Australian list in 2005 and 2006 and captained the Swans to the 2005 AFL Grand Final premiership. He led the Swans goalkicking in seasons 2005 to 2006, and in that two-year period he kicked two bags of seven against Essendon in their matches in Melbourne (a win in 2005 but a loss in 2006). He also led the club's goalkicking in seasons 2007 and 2008, but in those two seasons he struggled with suspension and injury. He has also kicked big bags of goals against notably weaker opponents such as Carlton

Hall earned a reputation as a controversial player, with several appearances at the tribunal resulting in four suspensions for a total of 10 matches. He has given away almost twice as many free kicks as he has been given over his career, and in 2003 Swans coach Paul Roos questioned whether Hall was given all the free kicks he deserved. Hall struggled with injuries through the 2007 season and his form was generally considered to be somewhat down from his peak, although he played a number of outstanding games and still led the club's goalkicking with 44. In 2008, Hall began the season in good form but, following a reckless punch thrown against West Coast Eagles player Brent Staker and a further incident where he aimed a punch at a Collingwood player, he missed a number of games and was suspended from the Swans' team on 8 July 2008.

In Round, 19, 2008, against the Fremantle Football Club, he kicked the last goal in the final minute and won the game by four points. He kicked a bag of goals in that game and in Round 20, against the Geelong Cats, he kicked five goals and one behind. In spite of the Swans' 39-point defeat to the reigning premiers he was the leading goalkicker for the game. In 2008 Hall was awarded the Paul Roos Award for the best player in the finals. He finished the year as Sydney's leading goalkicker for the seventh consecutive year, equalling the club record of Len Mortimer.

Hall kicked his 600th career goal against the Western Bulldogs in Round 10 in 2009 when he kicked six in that game. After a striking incident involving Adelaide's Ben Rutten, Hall was put under an immense amount of pressure from coach Paul Roos to leave the club. Hall called a press conference on 7 July 2009 to announce that he was no longer going to play for the Swans. He kicked four goals in his last game for the club.

Western Bulldogs (2010–present)

It was announced on 6 October 2009 that the Western Bulldogs had agreed to trade draft pick 47 for Hall with Sydney. On his Bulldogs' debut, in the second round of the 2010 NAB Cup, he kicked six goals against Hawthorn. He then kicked four goals against Port Adelaide and had a part in the final and winning goal which gave the Bulldogs a place in the NAB Cup grand final against his first club, St Kilda. In the final he kicked seven goals, including five in the last quarter, to lead the Bulldogs to their first grand final success of any kind since 1970. He was awarded the Michael Tuck Medal for best on ground. He made his home and away debut for the Bulldogs in Round 1 against Collingwood at Etihad Stadium, but his side were defeated by 36 points. Hall kicked three goals.

Hall's good form at the Bulldogs has continued, with four and five goals in successive games helping him get back to his best form of his early years at the Sydney Swans. In 2010 Hall was felled by Essendon defender and rival Dustin Fletcher in Round 10, costing Fletcher a one match suspension. In Round 15 in 2010, he kicked six goals against Carlton and also suffered an ankle injury. He finished second on the 2010 Coleman Medal table with 73 goals in the home and away season, behind Richmond's Jack Riewoldt. He kicked his 700th goal against Gold Coast Suns in Round 3, 2011 and in Round 17, 2011 against North Melbourne he became the first player to kick over 100 goals for three different clubs when he kicked five goals.

On 19 July 2011, Hall announced his intention to retire at the end of the 2011 season. Despite captaining Sydney to their 2005 premiership, Hall stated that he wanted to be remembered as a Bulldogs player due to them giving Hall a last chance at playing AFL football in 2010.

Controversies

Sam McFarlane incident

Hall cut short the career of budding young midfielder Sam McFarlane in an off the ball incident in 1997. Whilst playing in a reserves game for St Kilda against North Melbourne, Hall struck McFarlane, a slightly built wingman, in the jaw, breaking it in three places. McFarlane spent the next three days in hospital getting the jaw wired back together and was sidelined for ten weeks. Although McFarlane returned for the final two games of the year, he never returned to play league football again.

Matt Maguire incident

After an incident involving a punch to the stomach of St Kilda's Matt Maguire in a 2005 preliminary final match, Hall was reported for a level two striking and offered a one week suspension for a guilty plea. This suspension would have meant missing the next week's grand final. Hall's representation successfully argued that the incident was 'in play' despite the ball being 50 metres away. As a result the charge was reduced to a level one offence which reduced the penalty to a reprimand and he went on to captain the Swans to their first premiership in 72 years, defeating the West Coast Eagles in the grand final by four points.

Brent Staker incident

In an incident which shocked Sydney and West Coast fans alike, in Round 4, 2008, Hall was reported for striking West Coast Eagles defender Brent Staker. Video footage from the incident indicated that contact was made with a punch to the jaw. Staker took no further part in the game, remaining off the field for the duration of the game. Later in the same game, Hall broke his wrist on the metal railing behind a soft cardboard advertising board. After the game the Match Review Panel ranked the incident as intentional, severe impact and high contact, therefore the offence was directly referred to the AFL Tribunal. He was subsequently suspended for seven games, one of the most severe punishments in the modern era by the AFL Tribunal. Video footage of the incident was shown on television as far abroad as Denmark and the United States on the ESPN network.

Shane Wakelin incident

Hall was handed a one match suspension for an attempted strike on Collingwood's Shane Wakelin. Sydney later announced the team would not play Hall indefinitely. Sydney co-captain Brett Kirk later claimed that Hall's habit of hitting opposition players off the ball is a "bad habit". Shane Wakelin later on admitted he had "played for a free kick".

Kangaroos incident

On 22 May 2010 Hall was again the centre of attention when he was pushed over by Kangaroos defender Scott D. Thompson while tying his shoelace, triggering an ugly altercation between Hall and several other Kangaroos players. Hall reacted to the taunts by putting Thompson in a headlock and was subsequently reported for both wrestling and rough conduct. He was later found guilty of wrestling and fined, but not guilty of rough conduct.

Statistics

Year	Team	Number	Games	Kicks	Handballs	Total Disposals	Tackles	Marks	Goals	Behinds	Goal Accuracy %	Brownlow Medal Votes
1996	St Kilda	25	4	18	13	31	4	10	2	3	40	0
1997	St Kilda	25	15	70	58	128	22	52	14	13	52	0
1998	St Kilda	25	13	57	36	93	9	28	6	4	60	0
1999	St Kilda	25	20	184	58	242	13	141	41	36	53	9
2000	St Kilda	25	19	151	74	225	13	126	37	21	64	3
2001	St Kilda	25	17	140	36	176	12	97	44	23	66	6
2002	Sydney	1	17	154	36	190	10	114	55	31	64	11
2003	Sydney	1	24	218	73	291	22	167	64	35	65	7
2004	Sydney	1	24	244	101	345	30	191	74	39	65	11
2005	Sydney	1	26	299	91	390	32	206	80	41	66	16
2006	Sydney	1	25	283	82	365	49	216	78	38	67	8
2007	Sydney	1	20	176	62	238	24	135	44	30	59	3
2008	Sydney	1	15	165	62	205	11	132	41	36	53	4
2009	Sydney	1	11	82	29	111	17	64	31	13	67	-
	Totals		250	2271	789	3060	268	1679	611	363	63%	78

Media and personal life

Hall has been the centrepiece of advertising campaigns, including the "Barry Hall Hall" and "Excitement Machine Machine" 2006 television and internet campaign in Sydney by George Patterson Y&R for the Australian Football League which was a finalist at the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association and Melbourne Advertising & Design Club awards and also the "Barry Hall vs Broadford" 2007 advertisement by JWT Melbourne for Ford Australia pitting Barry Hall against his junior club (with cameos from Hall's nephew and aunt).

In 2008 Hall appeared in a series of "Barry Hall Hall" ads, however these were pulled from the air following the Brent Staker incident (see above).

Hall's personal life has hit the media tabloids on several occasions, with his much publicised relationships with Kylie Stray and bikini model Tahli Greenwood.

Hall's other interests include gardening and collecting fast cars, including vintage car and drag racing cars.

See also

• After the siren kicks in Australian rules football

External links

• Barry Hall's profile on the official website of the Sydney Swans
• Barry Hall's playing statistics from AFL Tables
• Barry Hall Hall
• Video of the Brent Staker Incident