Simon Madden

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Simon Madden (born December 30 1957) was an Australian Rules footballer for the Essendon Bombers from 1974 until 1992. He was also president of the AFL players association from 1985 until 1989.

Simon Madden was one of the greatest ruckman to play the game, and certainly the most durable. In all he played 378 senior matches, the most by any Essendon player, and third most in the league. In addition to playing in the ruck, Madden was a handy forward, kicking 575 goals in his career, a club record until it was broken by Matthew Lloyd in 2003.

Madden won four Essendon best and fairest wards (1977, 1979, 1983 and 1984) and captained the side in the 1980 and 1981 seasons. He played in the back-to-back premiership sides in 1984 and 1985, winning the Norm Smith Medal for best on ground in the 1985 grand final. He was also named in the All-Australian team on three occasions (1983, 1984 and 1987).

He was named in the ruck in Essendon's "Team of the Century" and named as the fifth best player ever to play for the club in the "Champions of Essendon" list.

Simon's brother Justin Madden was also a top class ruckman for Essendon and Carlton, and they are the only set of brothers to both play 300 games of league football.