Scott Lucas (born 30 December 1977) is a former Australian rules footballer for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League, and is noted as the other major forward for the Bombers along with

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 ...

. Together, Lloyd and Lucas were affectionately dubbed the "twin towers" due to their height in the Bomber forward line.

Football career

Lucas is known for his strong marking and being a powerful, accurate left-foot kick, although his apparent inability to kick with his right foot is almost as notable. Lucas once joked on '' The Sunday Footy Show'' in 2006 that the last time he kicked with his right foot was to

Gary Moorcroft Gary Moorcroft (born 16 April 1976) is a former Australian rules football player for Essendon and Melbourne in the Australian Football League (AFL). Moorcroft caught the attention of talent scouts by winning the Morrish Medal in 1994 whils ...

when he took the 2001

Mark of the Year The annual Australian Football League Mark of the Year competition (currently also known as the Four'N Twenty AFL Mark of the Year) is a sporting award that celebrates each season's best mark. A mark is the action of a player cleanly catchin ...

. He mainly played across half-forward or

centre half-forward In Australian rules football, the centre half-forward is a position on the half-forward line of a football field. The directly opposing player is a centre half-back. Royce Hart of the Richmond Football Club and Wayne Carey of the North Melbourne ...

, but also played at centre half-back and

full-forward Full-forward is a position in Australian rules football and Gaelic football with a key focus on kicking goals. The Coleman Medal is awarded to the player, often a full-forward, who has kicked the most goals in an Australian Football League seaso ...

. Lucas regularly had shots on goal from outside 60 metres with his booming left foot, and he rarely handballed, averaging less than 3 handballs a match. In Round 19, 2005, Lucas played his 200th AFL game and kicked his 300th AFL goal against at

Telstra Dome Docklands Stadium, also currently known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the Docklands area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 1997 and w ...

, but the milestones would be remembered for all the wrong reasons, as the Bombers lost by 20 points despite leading at every change. In 2006, Lucas had an outstanding year in an underachieving Essendon side, playing at

and being their main target and goalkicker in the absence of captain

. Lucas finished the season with a career-best 67 goals, runner-up in the

Coleman Medal The Coleman Medal is an Australian rules football award given annually to the Australian Football League (AFL) player who kicks the most goals A goal is an objective that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve. Goal may also refer ...

behind Brendan Fevola, and polled a joint team-high seven votes from just 36 votes received by Essendon players in the 2006 Brownlow Medal. Lucas was one of just three players who played every match for season 2006. He capped off this season with his second

Crichton Medal The Crichton Medal is the name given to the best and fairest award for the Australian rules football team the Essendon Football Club. The naming of the award is in honour of Wally Crichton, a former administrator for Essendon (who was a commi ...

, winning with 239 votes from

Jobe Watson Jobe Watson (born 8 February 1985) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Watson, the son of three-time Essendon premiership champion Tim Watson, w ...

's 221. Lucas had previously won the club trophy in 2003, when the honours were shared with club great

James Hird James Albert Hird (born 4 February 1973) is a former professional Australian rules football player and past senior coach of the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Hird played as a midfielder and half-forward, but ...

. Against West Coast in Round 11, 2007, Lucas booted his 400th career goal. A vintage display also came against West Coast in Round 22, when, despite being close to 50 points down, Lucas rallied in the last quarter in a remarkable solo effort, booting 7 goals (and just missing for a record-equalling eighth), reducing the margin to just 2 points. In the end, though, a late goal to the Eagles saw a gallant Essendon fall 8 points short of one of the greatest-ever AFL comebacks. This was also the last game of Essendon legend

and coach of 27 years, Kevin Sheedy. During a match against 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 ...

in the 2008

NAB Cup In the Australian Football League (AFL), previously the Victorian Football League (VFL), the pre-season competition, known during its history by a variety of sponsored names and most recently as the NAB Cup, was an annual Australian rules foot ...

, Lucas managed to kick a record 3

Super Goal A super goal is a method of scoring used in the Australian Football League's pre-season competition in the sport of Australian rules football. Under the rule, a goal scored from a distance greater than fifty metres is awarded nine points, instead ...

s, which took his career tally to 7, making him the leading super-goal-kicker in the AFL. Lucas suffered a knee injury (specifically, a torn cartilage) in the first round of the 2008 season against

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at ...

and was out of action for a number of weeks. Along with teammate Dustin Fletcher, Lucas signed a one-year contract in mid-2008. He bounced back to play in the second half of the season and kicked an amazing midair soccer goal against Richmond late in the season. On 18 August 2009, Lucas announced his immediate retirement from football. In 2013, Lucas was inducted into the Essendon Football Club Hall of Fame.

Playing statistics

:Scott Lucas' player profile at AFL Tables
/ref> , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 1996 , style="text-align:center;", , 25 , , 14 , , 11 , , 11 , , 84 , , 49 , , 133 , , 44 , , 19 , , 0.8 , , 0.8 , , 6.0 , , 3.5 , , 9.5 , , 3.1 , , 1.4 , - ! 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;", , 25 , , 22 , , 23 , , 11 , , 241 , , 85 , , 326 , , 123 , , 24 , , 1.0 , , 0.5 , , 11.0 , , 3.9 , , 14.8 , , 5.6 , , 1.1 , - style="background:#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;", , 25 , , 23 , , 49 , , 31 , , 287 , , 51 , , 338 , , 123 , , 30 , , 2.1 , , 1.3 , , 12.5 , , 2.2 , , 14.7 , , 5.3 , , 1.3 , - ! 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;", , 25 , , 10 , , 8 , , 9 , , 106 , , 27 , , 133 , , 45 , , 12 , , 0.8 , , 0.9 , , 10.6 , , 2.7 , , 13.3 , , 4.5 , , 1.2 , - style="background:#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;", , 25 , , 23 , , 57 , , 42 , , 265 , , 84 , , 349 , , 132 , , 38 , , 2.5 , , 1.8 , , 11.5 , , 3.7 , , 15.2 , , 5.7 , , 1.7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2001 , style="text-align:center;", , 25 , , 25 , , 35 , , 34 , , 297 , , 76 , , 373 , , 135 , , 42 , , 1.4 , , 1.4 , , 11.9 , , 3.0 , , 14.9 , , 5.4 , , 1.7 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2002 , style="text-align:center;", , 25 , , 19 , , 25 , , 15 , , 235 , , 60 , , 295 , , 108 , , 33 , , 1.3 , , 0.8 , , 12.4 , , 3.2 , , 15.5 , , 5.7 , , 1.7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2003 , style="text-align:center;", , 25 , , 24 , , 19 , , 16 , , 334 , , 83 , , 417 , , 130 , , 61 , , 0.8 , , 0.7 , , 13.9 , , 3.5 , , 17.4 , , 5.4 , , 2.5 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2004 , style="text-align:center;", , 25 , , 21 , , 25 , , 21 , , 275 , , 69 , , 344 , , 108 , , 53 , , 1.2 , , 1.0 , , 13.1 , , 3.3 , , 16.4 , , 5.1 , , 2.5 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2005 , style="text-align:center;", , 25 , , 22 , , 51 , , 24 , , 289 , , 48 , , 337 , , 134 , , 49 , , 2.3 , , 1.1 , , 13.1 , , 2.2 , , 15.3 , , 6.1 , , 2.2 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2006 , style="text-align:center;", , 25 , , 22 , , 67 , , 44 , , 310 , , 58 , , 368 , , 183 , , 33 , , 3.0 , , 2.0 , , 14.1 , , 2.6 , , 16.7 , , 8.3 , , 1.5 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2007 , style="text-align:center;", , 25 , , 22 , , 61 , , 28 , , 292 , , 66 , , 358 , , 159 , , 31 , , 2.8 , , 1.3 , , 13.3 , , 3.0 , , 16.3 , , 7.2 , , 1.4 , - style="background:#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;", , 25 , , 9 , , 18 , , 9 , , 53 , , 17 , , 70 , , 36 , , 12 , , 2.0 , , 1.0 , , 5.9 , , 1.9 , , 7.8 , , 4.0 , , 1.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2009 , style="text-align:center;", , 25 , , 14 , , 22 , , 14 , , 133 , , 62 , , 195 , , 90 , , 33 , , 1.6 , , 1.0 , , 9.5 , , 4.4 , , 13.9 , , 6.4 , , 2.4 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 270 ! 471 ! 309 ! 3201 ! 835 ! 4036 ! 1550 ! 470 ! 1.7 ! 1.1 ! 11.9 ! 3.1 ! 14.9 ! 5.7 ! 1.7

Personal life

On 4 January 2002, Lucas married Georgina Short. They have 3 daughters: Mia (born 12 December 2002), Hannah (born 12 July 2004), and Meg (born 26 May 2006).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, Scott Essendon Football Club players Essendon Football Club Premiership players Crichton Medal winners 1977 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Geelong Falcons players Greenvale Football Club players Victorian State of Origin players One-time VFL/AFL Premiership players