Nigel Lappin (born 21 June 1976) is a former professional Australian rules footballer. Lappin is currently serving as an assistant coach with the Geelong Football Club.

Playing career

Lappin was born in the locally based regional hospital at

Corowa, New South Wales Corowa is a town in the state of New South Wales in Australia. It is on the bank of the Murray River, the border between New South Wales and Victoria, opposite the Victorian town of Wahgunyah. It is the largest town in the Federation Council a ...

and grew up in

Chiltern, Victoria Chiltern is a town in Victoria, Australia, in the northeast of the state between Wangaratta and Wodonga, in the Shire of Indigo. At the 2016 census, Chiltern had a population of 1,605. It was the birthplace of Prime Minister John McEwan. The t ...

. He was drafted to play for the

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Football Club, nicknamed the Bears, was a professional Australian rules football club based in Queensland on the Gold Coast (relocated to Brisbane in 1993). The club participated in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/ ...

in the Australian Football League in 1993, playing his first AFL game the following year. In 1997 he was a member of the inaugural

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...

team following the Bears merger with

Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

. A long, accurate kick, capable of running as a play maker throughout the whole match, he was recognised as a member of the group of players known as the "Fab Four", a group of highly skilled

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

players considered to be one of the major driving forces behind the Lions successive Australian Football League premierships in 2001, 2002 and 2003. An example of his courage was the 2003

Grand Final 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. S ...

win, in which he played the whole match with a broken rib. Lappin represented Australia in

International Rules International rules football ( ga, Peil na rialacha idirnáisiunta; also known as international rules in Australia and compromise rules or Aussie rules in Ireland) is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed ...

in 2001. In 2004 he achieved a personal milestone in winning his first Merrett-Murray Medal. However his 2005 season ended prematurely when he broke his right ankle late in the season. Weeks into his comeback, the ankle was re-injured in a 2006 pre-season practice match, forcing him to miss the entire 2006 season. Following the retirement of longtime captain

Michael Voss Michael Voss (born 7 July 1975) is a former professional Australian rules football player with the Brisbane Bears/Lions and current senior coach of the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Voss was a triple premiersh ...

at the end of 2006, Lappin was appointed co-captain of the club alongside

Simon Black Simon Black (born 3 April 1979) is a former Australian rules football player and current assistant coach, who played his whole career with the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL). Black was a midfielder with a reputation fo ...

Luke Power Luke Power (born 8 January 1980) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Lions and Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL). A member of the Brisbane Lions's 2001, 2002, and 2003 premiers ...

, Jonathan Brown, and Chris Johnson on 20 March 2007. His cousin

Matthew Lappin Matthew Lappin (born 17 February 1976) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club and the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He currently serves as an AFL coach fo ...

also played AFL football for Carlton and St. Kilda.

Retirement

On 19 August 2008, Nigel Lappin announced his retirement from professional football. After only being able to play 4 games in the 2008 season due to an

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus ( ...

problem, Nigel decided it was time to draw a close on his career. "I'm really disappointed this season hasn't worked out for me," Lappin said at a Gabba press conference. "Every footballer wants the fairytale ending. It's hard to walk away from something that's been a really big part of your life, but I've got a family that will care for me." He was the last remaining member of the Brisbane Lions inaugural Round 1, 1997 team. In October 2008, Lappin joined the Geelong Football Club as an assistant coach. In 2016 he was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

Statistics

:Nigel Lappin's player profile at AFL Tables
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1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 17 , , 8 , , 3 , , 115 , , 82 , , 197 , , 37 , , 11 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 6.8 , , 4.8 , , 11.6 , , 2.2 , , 0.6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 19 , , 17 , , 18 , , 179 , , 80 , , 259 , , 56 , , 14 , , 0.9 , , 0.9 , , 9.4 , , 4.2 , , 13.6 , , 2.9 , , 0.7 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 1996 , style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 25 , , 15 , , 15 , , 376 , , 126 , , 502 , , 118 , , 16 , , 0.6 , , 0.6 , , 15.0 , , 5.0 , , 20.1 , , 4.7 , , 0.6 , - ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 21 , , 10 , , 14 , , 281 , , 119 , , 400 , , 107 , , 17 , , 0.5 , , 0.7 , , 13.4 , , 5.7 , , 19.0 , , 5.1 , , 0.8 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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 s ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 20 , , 15 , , 12 , , 269 , , 130 , , 399 , , 96 , , 15 , , 0.8 , , 0.6 , , 13.5 , , 6.5 , , 20.0 , , 4.8 , , 0.8 , - ! 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 shoot ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 25 , , 23 , , 23 , , 281 , , 185 , , 466 , , 109 , , 29 , , 0.9 , , 0.9 , , 11.2 , , 7.4 , , 18.6 , , 4.4 , , 1.2 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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 S ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 24 , , 16 , , 12 , , 337 , , 179 , , 516 , , 107 , , 33 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 14.0 , , 7.5 , , 21.5 , , 4.5 , , 1.4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" , 2001 , style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 25 , , 26 , , 19 , , 383 , , 232 , , 615 , , 157 , , 50 , , 1.0 , , 0.8 , , 15.3 , , 9.3 , , 24.6 , , 6.3 , , 2.0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" , 2002 , style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 18 , , 7 , , 12 , , 275 , , 167 , , 442 , , 92 , , 74 , , 0.4 , , 0.7 , , 15.3 , , 9.3 , , 24.6 , , 5.1 , , 4.1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" , 2003 , style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 22 , , 8 , , 15 , , 371 , , 191 , , 562 , , 124 , , 70 , , 0.4 , , 0.7 , , 16.9 , , 8.7 , , 25.5 , , 5.6 , , 3.2 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2004 , style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 25 , , 17 , , 17 , , 379 , , 251 , , 630 , , 115 , , 121 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 15.2 , , 10.0 , , 25.2 , , 4.6 , , 4.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2005 , style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 16 , , 8 , , 5 , , 220 , , 147 , , 367 , , 76 , , 49 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 13.8 , , 9.2 , , 22.9 , , 4.8 , , 3.1 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2006 , style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 0 , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2007 , style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 18 , , 4 , , 6 , , 257 , , 225 , , 482 , , 85 , , 75 , , 0.2 , , 0.3 , , 14.3 , , 12.5 , , 26.8 , , 4.7 , , 4.2 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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;", , 44 , , 4 , , 0 , , 2 , , 35 , , 39 , , 74 , , 14 , , 22 , , 0.0 , , 0.5 , , 8.8 , , 9.8 , , 18.5 , , 3.5 , , 5.5 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 279 ! 174 ! 173 ! 3758 ! 2153 ! 5911 ! 1293 ! 596 ! 0.6 ! 0.6 ! 13.5 ! 7.7 ! 21.2 ! 4.6 ! 2.1

Career highlights

Teal Cup *Victorian & All-Australian U15 Schoolboys 1991 *Victorian Country & All-Australian Teal Cup (U17) 1993 *Winner Chiltern Best & Fairest 1993 Brisbane Bears/Lions *Best & Fairest 2004 *Victorian

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 ...

1996, 1997, 1999 *First Brisbane-based AFL player to win Victorian State of Origin Selection *Member Bears First Finals Side 1995 *Member Lions First Finals Side 1997 * Ansett Cup Grand Final Side 2001 *

captain 2007 *Australian Asthma Sportsman of the Year 1998 *

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of 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-performed players during the season, led b ...

2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 *

2001, *Premiership Player 2001, 2002, 2003

References

External links

Butcher's boy to champion
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lappin, Nigel 1976 births Australian rules footballers from New South Wales Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Brisbane Bears players Brisbane Lions players Brisbane Lions Premiership players Brisbane Lions captains All-Australians (AFL) Victorian State of Origin players Merrett–Murray Medal winners Living people Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Australia international rules football team players Three-time VFL/AFL Premiership players