Matthew Croft (born 26 February 1973) 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 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 ...

. He had a long career with the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

before retiring in 2004. The balding Croft only received three senior appearances with the team in his final year, much to his dismay, as he was performing admirably in the VFL in defence with the

Werribee Tigers The Werribee Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football club, based in Werribee. The club was formed in 1964 and currently plays in the Victorian Football League (VFL). It is the western-most Melbourne-based VFL club as ...

. The Bulldogs agreed to allow him and fellow veteran

Simon Garlick Simon Garlick (born 10 April 1975) is a former Australian rules footballer who played between 1994 and 2004, and current football administrator. Drafted to Sydney Swans with the 49th selection in the 1993 AFL draft, he spent his first four ...

one final appearance in the Round 21 game against the

Kangaroos Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

, in which Croft booted 5 goals up forward, in a matchwinning performance.

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* * Western Bulldogs players Werribee Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) 1973 births Living people {{AFL-bio-1970s-stub