Steven Alessio (born 8 November 1971), 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 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 ...

. He played 184 games for Essendon between 1992 and 2003. Of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

descent and named in the

VFL/AFL Italian Team of the Century The Victorian Football League-Australian Football League (VFL/AFL) Italian Team of the Century was announced in June 2007. It recognises the role of Italian Australian players in the sport. Players and/or at least one of the player's parents or ...

in 2007. Alessio was named as the starting ruckman for Essendon's 'Best of the AFL era' (post-1990) team, named in 2015. He was reportedly recruited after walking into the clubhouse and asking for a trial, instead of being selected through the player draft. He was given the number 27 guernsey (which had been made famous by Essendon's champion ruckman

Simon Madden Simon Madden (born 30 December 1957) is a former Australian rules footballer who played his entire 19-season career with the Essendon Football Club from 1974 until 1992. Madden is one of the most decorated players in the club's history and wi ...

and has been given to ruckmen ever since). He played in their 2000 premiership team. Alessio was noted for his ability to play forward, averaging more than a goal a game. At the end of 2002, Alessio was delisted and then re-drafted by Essendon, and accepted only match fees during his final season in 2003. Alessio retired at the end of the 2003 season after 184 games. After retiring from football he has worked for the Essendon Football Club in a variety of roles, including football operations manager, ruck coach and corporate relationships manager. Alessio is the uncle of both Matthew Watson, who played for

Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...

, and his sister, Liz Watson, an international netball player for Australia.

Playing statistics

: , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, , 44 , , 5 , , 2 , , 1 , , 27 , , 29 , , 56 , , 17 , , 8 , , 42 , , 0.4 , , 0.2 , , 5.4 , , 5.8 , , 11.2 , , 3.4 , , 1.6 , , 8.4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, , 27 , , 12 , , 8 , , 8 , , 73 , , 49 , , 122 , , 42 , , 12 , , 104 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 6.1 , , 4.1 , , 10.2 , , 3.5 , , 1.0 , , 8.7 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, , 27 , , 18 , , 16 , , 7 , , 116 , , 107 , , 223 , , 66 , , 16 , , 161 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 6.4 , , 5.9 , , 12.4 , , 3.7 , , 0.9 , , 8.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, , 27 , , 16 , , 28 , , 12 , , 137 , , 73 , , 210 , , 91 , , 14 , , 85 , , 1.8 , , 0.8 , , 8.6 , , 4.6 , , 13.1 , , 5.7 , , 0.9 , , 5.3 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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 ...

, , 27 , , 18 , , 22 , , 14 , , 108 , , 83 , , 191 , , 71 , , 21 , , 121 , , 1.2 , , 0.8 , , 6.0 , , 4.6 , , 10.6 , , 3.9 , , 1.2 , , 6.7 , - ! 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 ...

, , 27 , , 9 , , 11 , , 5 , , 61 , , 43 , , 104 , , 37 , , 8 , , 75 , , 1.2 , , 0.6 , , 6.8 , , 4.8 , , 11.6 , , 4.1 , , 0.9 , , 8.3 , - 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 ...

, , 27 , , 12 , , 15 , , 10 , , 82 , , 63 , , 145 , , 61 , , 14 , , 110 , , 1.3 , , 0.8 , , 6.8 , , 5.3 , , 12.1 , , 5.1 , , 1.2 , , 9.2 , - ! 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 ...

, , 27 , , 22 , , 34 , , 11 , , 168 , , 133 , , 301 , , 114 , , 25 , , 249 , , 1.5 , , 0.5 , , 7.6 , , 6.0 , , 13.7 , , 5.2 , , 1.1 , , 11.3 , - 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 ...

, , 27 , , 24 , , 24 , , 13 , , 125 , , 121 , , 246 , , 83 , , 37 , , 209 , , 1.0 , , 0.5 , , 5.2 , , 5.0 , , 10.3 , , 3.5 , , 1.5 , , 8.7 , - ! 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 ...

, , 27 , , 17 , , 13 , , 11 , , 92 , , 83 , , 175 , , 59 , , 33 , , 207 , , 0.8 , , 0.6 , , 5.4 , , 4.9 , , 10.3 , , 3.5 , , 1.9 , , 12.2 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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 ...

, , 27 , , 15 , , 11 , , 6 , , 79 , , 63 , , 142 , , 44 , , 30 , , 145 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 5.3 , , 4.2 , , 9.5 , , 2.9 , , 2.0 , , 9.7 , - ! 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 ...

, , 27 , , 16 , , 9 , , 6 , , 90 , , 48 , , 138 , , 43 , , 12 , , 170 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 5.6 , , 3.0 , , 8.6 , , 2.7 , , 0.8 , , 10.6 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 184 ! 193 ! 104 ! 1158 ! 895 ! 2053 ! 728 ! 230 ! 1678 ! 1.0 ! 0.6 ! 6.3 ! 4.9 ! 11.2 ! 4.0 ! 1.3 ! 9.1

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alessio, Steven 1971 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Essendon Football Club players Essendon Football Club Premiership players Australian people of Italian descent One-time VFL/AFL Premiership players People educated at St Joseph's College, Melbourne