It’s been 11 years since AFL great Saverio Rocca last pulled on the boots – but the former Collingwood and North Melbourne superboot is still not someone you’d want chasing after you.
The 51-year old, who played 257 games and booted 748 goals for the Magpies and Kangaroos between 1992 and 2007 before a successful stint as a punter in the NFL, made headlines after stopping a robbery at Northland Shopping Centre in Melbourne’s north on Sunday.
According to the Herald Sun, Rocca chased a thief and caused him to drop his ill-gotten goods after witnessing him pilfer clothes from JD Sports.
“I saw a guy, maybe mid 20s, rip out clothes from a shop assistant and I said to the girl, ‘is he stealing that’ and she said yes,’’ Rocca told the newspaper.
“I asked him to give them back and he said ‘nah, I’m leaving’ and he started running.
“Stupid me, I started chasing him and I was running out the door yelling a few F-words and I said ‘if I catch you I’ll fix you up’. He decided to drop all the clothes and said all right.
“We didn’t come in contact, we just exchanged a few words and I picked up the clothes and dropped them back. If he had have kept going I don’t think I could have kept up much longer.”
Rocca admitted he was ‘glad he [the thief] didn’t have a weapon or a knife’, saying he acted on instinct.
“Afterwards I had to think about what I just did, because you don’t have time to think,’’ Rocca said.
Rocca was rewarded by the shop with a 40 per cent discount on a pair of sneakers.
Saverio Rocca helped stop a robbery in Melbourne’s north. (Photo by Jonathan DiMaggio/AFL Photos/via Getty Images )
Known for his monster right boot and regular goals from more than 60 metres out, the former great’s goal tally is the 16th-most in VFL/AFL history, and has been the subject of frequent public pushes to induct him into the AFL Hall of Fame.
After retiring in 2006, Rocca made the switch to American Football, joining the Philadelphia Eagles as a punter; at 33 years old, he was the oldest rookie in the league’s history.
He spent four seasons with the Eagles before joining the Washington Generals, then known as the Redskins, in 2011, before being released in March 2014.
He has since worked around the AFL as a goalkicking consultant, including a stint with Carlton between 2017 and 2019 as a kicking coach.
The incident caps off an excellent week for the Rocca family, with younger brother Anthony taking to social media to celebrate successful chemotherapy treatment after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma earlier this year.
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