6/4/2023 0 Comments Matthew banks facts![]() ![]() (Banks was forced back on in the last quarter - after three more Bombers tore hamstrings - sent to the forward line and told not to run, and when his opponent ran off him he was all alone in the goalsquare when a turnover allowed him to limp in and kick the only goal of his AFL career.) He didn't play again until Anzac Day 1998, when he again stood Sav Rocca. He held Sav Rocca to two goals as a 20-year-old debutant in 1997, then a fortnight later had kept a mixture of Tony Modra and Barry Standfield goalless against Adelaide at Football Park when he did his hamstring in the third quarter. STUDENTS of Banks' short but well-attended career would also recall that he was not only given huge assignments for a rookie, but did them well. I think for a split second I just forgot I wasn't still in the seconds.'' You would have done it in the seconds, but not in the ones. I knew he was gone - I would have absolutely smashed him. ![]() I ran into him from behind and at the last second I slipped over the top of him. ''I said I was big and clumsy and got off. ONE dubious distinction Banks says is definitely his is that of being the first player charged on trial by video, for allegedly kneeing Magpie big man Anthony Rocca during his debut. ![]() Discounting players whose only games came in finals - Bill James (one game for Richmond in the 1920 grand final), Michael Cooke (two for Hawthorn, including the 1975 granny), Gil Miller (one game for South Melbourne in 1924) and Bob Hay (two for Richmond in 1942) - it's a safe bet that Banks is the man. The record books show 204,088 people watched Banks' three games, an average of 68,029 per game. ''Unless you count guys who played only one game and that was in a grand final, and there's a couple of those in history I think, then I doubt it would have been topped,'' Banks said yesterday. Banks will forever enjoy the distinction of having played two of his three AFL games at full-back for the Bombers in their annual April 25 blockbuster against Collingwood, but mates who have reflected a little further on his short career reckon he might own another accolade, too - as the man who has played in front of the highest average crowds of anyone in VFL/AFL history. MATTHEW Banks' name tends to bob up at this time of year, usually prefaced by the tag '' Kevin Sheedy's Anzac Day specialist''. ![]()
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