Alan Ezard (born 15 April 1963) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played in the

VFL/AFL The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

. Nicknamed 'The Lizard', he played 184 games for 200 goals, retiring in 1993. Originally from

Broadford, Victoria Broadford is a small town in central Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Broadford had a population of 4,076. The town is the headquarters of the Shire of Mitchell local government area and is approximately north of the state capital, M ...

, Ezard made his debut with the

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCracken family in their A ...

in 1983 and made a name for himself as a very strong mark for a 173 cm man, playing mostly in the

forward pocket In the sport of Australian rules football, each of the eighteen players in a team is assigned to a particular named position on the field of play. These positions describe both the player's main role and by implication their location on the gro ...

or as a

rover Rover may refer to: People * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Places * Rover, Arkansas, US * Rover, Missouri, US ...

. He played numerous

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Ov ...

games for Victoria, winning an EJ Whitten Medal in the 1991 match against South Australia. Ezard was Essendon's leading goalkicker in 1986 and won the club's best and fairest in 1991. He also played in four

Grand Finals Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

(1983, 1984, 1985, 1990), the second and third of which were premiership wins. Ezard has a nephew,

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

, who played for the

Port Adelaide Football Club Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where they are nicknamed ...

in the mid-2000s and won the

SANFL The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

's highest individual honor in 2009, the

Magarey Medal The Magarey Medal is an Australian rules football honour awarded annually since 1898 to the fairest and most brilliant player in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), as judged by field umpires. The award was created by Willia ...

playing for West Adelaide. In 2007 Ezard was the senior coach of the

Pascoe Vale Football Club The Pascoe Vale Sports Club is an Australian rules football club 11 km north-west of Melbourne in the suburb of Pascoe Vale. The club is affiliated with the Essendon District Football League. History The club was founded in 1918 and mo ...

in the

Essendon District Football League The Essendon District Football League (EDFL) is a professional Australian rules football league competition based in Essendon, Victoria, consisting of teams based in the north-west suburbs of Melbourne. Founded in 1930, the men's competition c ...

. Ezard coached Hoppers Crossing Football Club in the

Western Region Football League The Western Region Football League is an Australian rules football semi-professional league, based in the western suburbs of Melbourne, for both seniors and juniors. History The league was formed in 1931 as the "Footscray District Football L ...

in season 2010 and has been appointed senior coach of Hillside Football Club for season 2012. Ezard was appointed senior coach of the La Trobe University Football Club in 2015.

References

External links

*
Essendon Football Club profile
Essendon Football Club players Essendon Football Club Premiership players 1963 births Living people Victorian State of Origin players Crichton Medal winners North Ballarat Football Club players Coburg Football Club players Coburg Football Club coaches Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) E. J. Whitten Medal winners Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership players {{AFL-bio-1960s-stub