David Neitz

DOB: 22 January, 1975
Debut: Round 1, 1993 against Hawthorn at Waverley
Last Game: Round 5, 2008 against Carlton at
MCG

Games: 306
Goals: 631
Career Statistics (external link)

Wins	Draws	Losses	Winning %
140	0	166	45.75

From: Parkmore

Number: 38 1993, 9 1994-2008

Honours:
Captain - 2000 - 2008
Best and Fairest - 2002
Grand Final team - 2000
Leading Goalkicker - 1996, 1997 (joint), 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006
Coleman Medal - 2002 (75 Goals home and away, 82 total)
All Australian 1995, 2002
Australian International Rules representative - 1998
Best First Year Player - 1993
Rising Star nominee - Round 6, 1993 vs Richmond
Victorian State representative - 1994, 1995 (2 games)
MFC games and goals record holder
Most MFC games as captain
First MFC player to 300 games
Goal of the Year nominee - Round 1, 2002

Statistical categories led:
Most games - 306
Most goals - 631
Most behinds (1974-2011): 368

Born in Tasmania, Neitz moved to Victoria at an early age and was a member of the Victorian Teal Cup squad as a 16-year-old. The Demons had snapped him up after seeing him dominate for Parkmore as a 15-year-old. He had a footballing pedigree, his father Alec had played reserves football for St. Kilda in the 1960's.

After graduating through the Under 19's and Reserves, "Neita" debuted in 1993, where he was originally used in the seniors as a centre-half back, and played the majority of the first few years of his career on some of the premier forwards in the competition. Wayne Carey once said that Neitz, along with Eagles backman Glen Jakovich, was one of the two best backmen he had played on.

His abilities as a defender were so highly touted that he was named in 1995 All-Australian team at the young age of 20, as well as the Victorian State Of Origin team.

Thrown forward in 1996 with David Schwarz and Garry Lyon on the sidelines he started to build towards a career as a power-forward. Muscling up considerably over the next two years he would only ever see the backline in very rare circumstances for the next ten years. He led the goalkicking in that year, and despite breaking his jaw in two places against Fremantle at the WACA still finished equal top of the table in 1997.

Appointed vice-captain in 1998, he suffered an interrupted season when snapped his ankle in the round 4 match against Carlton at Princes Park and missed eleven weeks. Returning in round 16 Neitz was one of the most electric players in the competition late in the year in tandem with Jeff Farmer. He got five goals in the big round 22 win over Richmond, and six more in the Qualifying Final victory over eventual premiers Adelaide.

In early 1999, Neitz was involved in a fight in a Prahran hotel. After mediation with the other party the matter was settled. Off-field incidents aside, he was one of the few players to improve in a disappointing campaign.
With the retirement of legend, and full-forward Garry Lyon Neitz made a full-time transition to the forward-line, where he became Melbourne's "go-to" man in attack. He kicked two bags of six goals on the way to 46 for the year in a desperately underperforming side.

The retirement of Todd Viney at the end of that year allowed Neitz the chance to take over as captain. The club toyed with throwing him back into defence during 2000 when they recruited ex-Bulldog and Blue James Cook, but when the recruit did his knee early that season Neitz was permanently sent back forward. Crowded for space in a forward line with Jeff Farmer, David Schwarz, Brad Green and Russell Robertson also prominent Neitz only got 24 goals for the season but was still an important part of the side that made a run to the Grand Final.

In his 2001 pre-season Top 50 list, Mike Sheahan ranked Neitz as the 46th best player in the league. He had been ranked 41st in 2000. Once again the Demons suffered an severe reverse from the previous season as they crashed out of the eight. Neitz played all 22 games and managed 38 goals, including a period late in the year when he got just one in seven weeks.

Considering the topsy-turvy nature of the Demons under Neale Daniher it was no surprise that in 2002 they were once again a good side. Neitz was one of the main contributors with a league leading 82 goals. He was the first Demon to win a Coleman Medal, and the first to lead the league goalkicking since the 1940's. Held goalless just twice he had two bags of seven and a dominant nine against the hapless Blues in round 15.

Having just won his first Best and Fairest Neitz signed a contract extension to tie him to the club until the end of 2005. The team crashed from the top 8 to 14th the next season, Neitz couldn't recapture his Coleman Medal form and in June he was involved in an embarassing incident at Crown Casino after which he was fined $5000 by the club. He struggled with security staff after arguing with a taxi driver before being returned home by police. Again, despite off-field issues, he was one of the few Demons to shine in 2003, kicking 65 goals in a side that only won five games for the year.

Neitz was untroubled by injury throughout most of the 2004 season. He equalled his career best with a nine goal haul against Richmond in round 2 and played every game for the year until tearing a calf muscle in theround 21 loss to Carlton at Princes Park. Missing the last game of the home and away season he was named for the Elimination Final against Essendon but failed a late fitness test. With the Demons losing a thriller his season was over.

History showed that 2005 would be another 'down' year for Melbourne, but they responded by making consecutive finals series' for the first time under Daniher's coaching. Neitz played 18 games but was troubled by injury towards the end of the year. With the Demons arresting a slide and winning three thrilling matches in the last three weeks to qualify for the final 8, Neitz contributed just one goal and had a total of seven kicks. He was unable to play in the Elimination Final.

That year he passed the mark set by Robert Flower for most appearances as captain and signed a contract extension to keep him at the club until the end of 2007.

In 2006 he broke two Melbourne records; first surpassing club legend Norm Smith's record of 536-goals and then becoming Melbourne's most capped player overall, passing the long-standing 272 game record of Robert Flower. Neitz seemingly returned to his best that year with 68 goals including two hauls of eight, but as the side collapsed in 2007 so did his body and despite remaining a towering presence in the forward line he only managed 26 goals from 15 games. In round 20 he became the first (and so far, only) Demon to reach 300-games.

In 2008 Neitz suffered a serious neck injury which kept him to just five games, and a month after his last appearance he announced his retirement (indirectly in order to help young-gun Demon Austin Wonaeamirri, who could only play if Neitz stayed on the long-term injury list).

Across his career, Neitz had 999-scoring shots, for a return of 631-goals, an accuracy of 63.1%.

Year	Games	Goals	Brownlow
1993	20	17	0
1994	24	2	2
1995	22	33	8
1996	22	56	10
1997	17	30	2
1998	14	33	0
1999	18	46	5
2000	21	24	6
2001	22	38	7
2002	24	82	11
2003	22	65	8
2004	21	69	10
2005	18	39	0
2006	21	68	10
2007	15	26	0
2008	5	3	0

Tribunal Record

Match	Charge	Sanction
Round 11, 1993	Striking	Not Guilty
Round 17, 1994	Striking	1 match
Round 2, 1996	Melee	Not Guilty
Round 6, 1997	Wrestling	1 match payment
Round 21, 2000	Wrestling	$3500 fine
Round 13, 2001	Wrestling	$3000 fine
Round 22, 2001	Wrestling	Not Guilty
Round 22, 2001	Wrestling	$5000 fine
Round 22, 2001	Striking	Not Guilty
2002 Wizard Cup Match 1	Charging	2 matches
Round 22, 2002	Charging	Withdrawn
Round 19, 2004	Wrestling	$5000 fine
Round 19, 2006	Charging	Withdrawn