One of the greatest individual quarters of AFL football often gets overshadowed by one of the Greatest AFL Marks of All Time.
This was the AFL Mark of the Year for 2001 in which an Essendon Player took a mark that kept looking better from every angle.
On a Friday Night, the 6th of July 2001 in Melbourne the Essendon Bombers were playing the Western Bulldogs and fans were treated to not only one of the Great AFL Marks, but also one of the greatest single quarters in AFL History.
An Essendon Bomber kicked 6 goals in the second quarter had five different opponents and was simply on fire. That player was Gary Moorcroft from the Essendon Bombers and he is remembered for that Mark of the Year taken on a cool night in Melbourne at the Docklands Stadium.
Gary didn’t have the best of first quarters, but was in and around the action as the Bombers held a slender 13 point lead a quarter time.
The second quarter will go down as one of the greatest individual quarters in AFL History.
The Bombers kicked 7 goals in the second quarter, and 6 of them were kicked by Gary Moorcroft.
Moorcroft was simply on fire and none of the Western Bulldogs defenders could stop him.
He helped the Bombers to a 78 to 33 (45 Point half time lead).
A lot of football fans remember the famous AFL Mark, but tend to forget the 5 goals he had kicked prior to one of the AFL Greatest Marks.
On almost every occasion the ball went down to the Bombers Forward Line Moorcroft was in the thick of the action.
As one of the commentators described it “He’s as hot as I’ve ever seen a player” just prior to the mark. This summed up that Moorcroft was in the zone and not ready to stop any time soon.
Moorcroft finished the game with 11 Possessions, 9 Marks and 6 goals and earned 2 Brownlow votes simply because of a match-winning second quarter.
The Bombers went on to win the match 154 to 76 and even though some players had a lot more of the ball than Moorcroft, he was still able to claim the 2 votes on Brownlow night.
Players have been hot before and we have seen the likes of Buddy Franklin, Brendon Fevola and Eddie Betts on fire on a football field.
This was the most in the zone you will ever see an AFL Footballer and he was able to take one of the best AFL Marks in Aussie Rules Football History.
For those of you who have never seen the mark or those of you who would like to see it again.
Check out the video below.
The High Mark is what makes AFL Football so great.
When they happen a real Buzz goes around the stadium as it was on this occasion.