Leo Barry (born 19 May 1977) is a retired

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 in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL) with the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...

. Originally from

Deniliquin, New South Wales Deniliquin () is a town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, close to the border with Victoria. It is the largest town in the Edward River Council local government area. Deniliquin is located at the intersection of the Riverina ...

, Barry attended

Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview Saint Ignatius' College Riverview is an Australian independent single-sex primary and secondary day and boarding school for boys, conducted in the Jesuit tradition, located in Riverview, a small suburb located on the Lane Cove River on the ...

, before being drafted as a zone selection in the 1994

National Draft The Australian Football League draft is the annual draft of unsigned players, especially new nominations, by Australian rules football teams that participate in the main competition of that sport, the Australian Football League (AFL). History W ...

and making his debut in the final round of the 1995 season against Collingwood. For the next few seasons, he played in the forward line without consistency, struggling to find a place in an already strong forward line. He did, however, display an ability to take spectacular jumping

mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...

s, earning him the nickname "Leaping Leo". In 2001, Swans coach

Rodney Eade Rodney Eade (born 4 April 1958) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach in the Australian Football League. He is a former coach of the Sydney Swans, the Western Bulldogs and the Gold Coast Football Club. He has, to date, coached 37 ...

moved Barry to the backline, where he prospered. Despite being short for a full-back at 184 centimetres, he has successfully played on much taller opponents, making use of his leaping skills and using his body well. Regularly playing on opponents 10–15 cm taller than he is, Barry rarely had multiple goals kicked upon him. Barry's unique defensive ability was observed in 2004 when he kept 196-centimetre St Kilda full-forward

Fraser Gehrig Fraser Gehrig (born 3 March 1976) is a retired Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club and the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL) . Gehrig was a versatile player during his AFL career, begi ...

to two handballs for the whole game (for this effort, he received three

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the " best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by ...

votes). Despite being only 184 centimetres tall, Barry was surprisingly strong, which was a useful attribute for him when facing taller opponents such as Fraser Gehrig,

Brendan Fevola Brendan Fevola (born 20 January 1981) is a former professional Australian rules footballer. He played with the Carlton and Brisbane Lions football clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL). Fevola is regarded as one of the most effective ...

David Neitz David Neitz (born 22 January 1975), is a retired Australian rules footballer. The strongly built centre half back who became a full forward was the longest-serving captain in the history of the Melbourne Football Club and the first Melbourne ...

Anthony Rocca Anthony Rocca (born 15 August 1977) is a former Australian rules footballer who has played with the Sydney Swans and Collingwood in the Australian Football League. Rocca is currently serving as North Melbourne's development coach. Sydney ...

Chris Tarrant Christopher John Tarrant, (born 10 October 1946) is an English broadcaster, television personality and former radio DJ. He presented the ITV (TV network), ITV children's television show ''Tiswas'' from 1974 to 1981, and the game show ''Who Wa ...

, Quentin Lynch,

Matthew Lloyd Matthew James Lloyd (born 16 April 1978) is a former professional Australian rules footballer, who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A highly decorated full-forward, Lloyd's AFL's honours include ...

, Jonathan Brown,

Daniel Bradshaw Daniel Mark Bradshaw (born 21 November 1978) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Bears, Brisbane Lions and Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Bradshaw is best known as being a dual premiership ...

and Matthew Richardson. Barry has twice been included in the

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...

, in 2004 and 2005. On 18 August 2009, Barry announced he would retire from football at the end of the 2009 season. Barry is now a portfolio manager at Fairview Equity Partners.

"That Mark"

Barry will always be remembered as the player who "caught the cup" for the Swans. Not only did he ensure the victory for the Swans but Barry's backline heroics were instrumental to the Swans' success, which culminated with one of Barry's trademark spectacular marks during the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

AFL Grand Final The AFL Grand Final is an Australian rules football match to determine the premiers for the Australian Football League (AFL) season. From its inception until 1989, it was known as the VFL Grand Final, as the league at that time was the Victori ...

between Sydney and

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

. After a kick from

Dean Cox Dean Michael Cox (born 1 August 1981) is a former Australian rules footballer and current assistant coach of the Sydney Swans who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). Originally from Dampier, Western Austr ...

was sent into the

forward line 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 ...

, Barry marked in a big pack within the dying seconds of the game to secure the Swans' long-awaited premiership. Commentator Stephen Quartermain described the mark as follows:

''"Cox throws it onto the left; one last roll of the dice for THE EAGLES! LEO BARRY, YOU STAR!...(siren in background)...The longest premiership drought in football history is over! For the first time in 72 years, the Swans are the champions of the AFL!"''

This image was later used by

Tabcorp Tabcorp is Australia's largest gambling company, employing more than 5,000 people. It is the largest provider of wagering and gaming products and services in Australia. Tabcorp is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). History In ...

for promotional purposes, and Barry sued for them using it without his permission, claiming that the image was "worth A$50,000". A confidential out-of-court settlement was reached. Since the court case, Barry has held the rights to the photo.AFL Grand Final 2005: Leo Barry takes you inside his premiership-winning mark against West Coast
Billy Rule,

Perth Now ''The Sunday Times'' is a tabloid Sunday newspaper published by Western Press Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Seven West Media, in Perth and distributed throughout Western Australia. Founded as The West Australian Sunday Times, it was renamed The Sun ...

, September 23, 2015

Statistics

:Leo Barry's player profile at AFL Tables
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1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 21 , , 1 , , 1 , , 0 , , 6 , , 2 , , 8 , , 4 , , 0 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 6.0 , , 2.0 , , 8.0 , , 4.0 , , 0.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 21 , , 5 , , 2 , , 0 , , 13 , , 10 , , 23 , , 5 , , 8 , , 0.4 , , 0.0 , , 2.6 , , 2.0 , , 4.6 , , 1.0 , , 1.6 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 21 , , 10 , , 12 , , 9 , , 67 , , 39 , , 106 , , 30 , , 13 , , 1.2 , , 0.9 , , 6.7 , , 3.9 , , 10.6 , , 3.0 , , 1.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 21 , , 16 , , 9 , , 6 , , 82 , , 62 , , 144 , , 38 , , 16 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 5.1 , , 3.9 , , 9.0 , , 2.4 , , 1.0 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 21 , , 17 , , 10 , , 8 , , 127 , , 96 , , 223 , , 88 , , 16 , , 0.6 , , 0.5 , , 7.5 , , 5.6 , , 13.1 , , 5.2 , , 0.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 21 , , 17 , , 15 , , 5 , , 112 , , 76 , , 188 , , 63 , , 18 , , 0.9 , , 0.3 , , 6.6 , , 4.5 , , 11.1 , , 3.7 , , 1.1 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 21 , , 19 , , 1 , , 1 , , 143 , , 92 , , 235 , , 84 , , 35 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 7.5 , , 4.8 , , 12.4 , , 4.4 , , 1.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 21 , , 13 , , 0 , , 0 , , 89 , , 75 , , 164 , , 43 , , 28 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 6.8 , , 5.8 , , 12.6 , , 3.3 , , 2.2 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 21 , , 24 , , 0 , , 2 , , 182 , , 151 , , 333 , , 133 , , 56 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 7.6 , , 6.3 , , 13.9 , , 5.5 , , 2.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 21 , , 23 , , 0 , , 0 , , 139 , , 148 , , 287 , , 107 , , 34 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 6.0 , , 6.4 , , 12.5 , , 4.7 , , 1.5 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 21 , , 26 , , 0 , , 0 , , 213 , , 128 , , 341 , , 152 , , 37 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 8.2 , , 4.9 , , 13.1 , , 5.8 , , 1.4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 21 , , 25 , , 0 , , 1 , , 224 , , 147 , , 371 , , 173 , , 39 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 9.0 , , 5.9 , , 14.8 , , 6.9 , , 1.6 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 21 , , 18 , , 4 , , 0 , , 145 , , 131 , , 276 , , 116 , , 36 , , 0.2 , , 0.0 , , 8.1 , , 7.3 , , 15.3 , , 6.4 , , 2.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 21 , , 20 , , 2 , , 0 , , 149 , , 154 , , 303 , , 125 , , 35 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 7.5 , , 7.7 , , 15.2 , , 6.3 , , 1.8 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 21 , , 3 , , 0 , , 0 , , 20 , , 23 , , 43 , , 14 , , 3 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 6.7 , , 7.7 , , 14.3 , , 4.7 , , 1.0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 237 ! 56 ! 32 ! 1711 ! 1334 ! 3045 ! 1175 ! 374 ! 0.2 ! 0.1 ! 7.2 ! 5.6 ! 12.8 ! 5.0 ! 1.6

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barry, Leo 1977 births Living people Australian rules footballers from New South Wales Sydney Swans players Sydney Swans Premiership players All-Australians (AFL) Deniliquin Football Club players People from Deniliquin Australia international rules football team players One-time VFL/AFL Premiership players People educated at Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview