Plagued by injury towards the end of his wonderful career for the Magpies, Anthony Rocca called it quits after 242 games (Sydney 22, Collingwood 240) and 415 goals.
He managed four senior games in 2009 including his final match in the loss to St Kilda in the qualifying final.
His finale, however, was fittingly a big final played in front of a huge MCG crowd, an occasion Rocca looked unlikely to be a part of for large parts of the 2008 and 2009 seasons due to debilitating ankle and achilles problems.
He finishes his playing career at Collingwood having played 220 games in the black and white stripes. Only 16 men in the history of Collingwood have played more games. He also sits eighth on the all-time Collingwood goal kicking list with 404.
Four times Rocca won the Gordon Coventry Trophy for being the Magpies’ leading goal kicker (2000, ’02, ’06, ’07), and he was the recipient of the RT Rush Trophy as runner-up in the Copeland Trophy voting in 1999.
Rocca also won the Darren Millane Trophy as best clubman in 2002.
He played in 10 finals with Collingwood, including the 2002 Grand Final where he kicked four of the team’s nine goals and was one of the Magpies’ best in the narrow loss to Brisbane.
Mark Neeld: He battled with injury for most of the year but was terrific around the club, as everyone knows Anthony is. He got himself right later in the year and was a very good contributor in our final against St Kilda but unfortunately he injured his ankle. He's been a wonderful servant of this club for a long time and he'll be missed on and off the ground.
2009 AFL statistics
| G | K | H | D | M | G | B | T | C |
| 4 | 5.3/47.6% | 2.0/87.5% | 7.3/58.6% | 2.8 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 0.0 |
CTV
