Michael Tuck

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Michael Tuck
Personal information
Full name Michael Tuck
Date of Birth 24 June 1953 (1953-06-24) (age 54)
Place of Birth Berwick, Victoria
Recruited from
Height/Weight 188cm / 76kg
Club information
Current club Retired
Number 17 (Retired)
Playing Career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1972-1991 Flag of Victoria (Australia) Hawthorn 426 (320)
¹ Club statistics to end of 1991 season
² Representative statistics to end of {{{repstatsend}}}

Michael Tuck (born June 24, 1953) is a former Australian rules footballer in the VFL/AFL with the Hawthorn Football Club.

Raised in Berwick, in Melbourne's outer south-eastern suburbs, Tuck made his debut for Hawthorn in 1972, and remained at the club for his entire career. He was the natural successor to the Hawthorn captaincy in 1986 after Leigh Matthews' retirement. He captained them from that year until his retirement in 1991 at the age of 38. He played in a total of seven VFL/AFL premierships with Hawthorn, captaining the club in four of them.

Fittingly, his last game was in Hawthorn's premiership win in the Grand Final over West Coast. Tuck was a skinny ruck-rover with great stamina as evidenced by the length of his career. As of 2007, Tuck is the VFL/AFL games record holder, with 426 games.

However, Michael's durability is not only reflected in the number of senior games he played. Before becoming a regular in the powerful Hawthorn team of the mid 1970's, Tuck played 50 games in the reserves before establishing himself as a regular senior team member.

He has a son, Shane Tuck, who plays in the AFL for Richmond. Another son, Travis Tuck, was drafted in 2005 under the father/son rule by Hawthorn, debuting in 2007.

Contents

[edit] Honours

The Michael Tuck Medal was named after the former champion, as was a grandstand at Glenferrie Oval. He was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996.

[edit] Records

Michael Tuck holds a number of VFL/AFL games records which may possibly never be beaten. These are:

  • Most senior games: 426 for Hawthorn
  • Most finals games: 39
  • Most grand finals played in: 11
  • Most premiership wins: 7

He retired as the tenth oldest player ever; he was 38 years and 95 days old when he retired.[1]

[edit] Trivia

During the post-match presentations following an NAB Cup Grand Final, Tuck announced the medal named in his honour as the "Norm Smith Medal".

He is the brother-in-law of Geelong great Gary Ablett snr.

[edit] References

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