Tony Liberatore

Infobox afl player | firstname = Tony
lastname = Liberatore




birthdate = Birth date and age|df=yes|1966|2|11
birthplace =
originalteam = Brunswick City/Nth Melbourn
heightweight = 163 cm / 77 kg
dead = alive
deathdate =
deathplace =
debutdate = 1986
debutteam = Footscray Bulldogs
debutopponent =
debutstadium =
playingteams = Footscray/Western Bulldogs (1986-2002)
* 283 games 95 goals
coach = notcoach
coachingteams =
statsend = 2002
careerhighlights =

* Morrish Medal 1984
* Brownlow Medal 1990
* Charles Sutton Medal 1991
* Western Bulldogs official 'Team of the Century' squad member
* VFL-AFL Italian Team of the Century 2007

Anthony (Tony) Liberatore (born 11 February 1966) is a former Australian rules footballer. He is the only player to have won the best-and-fairest medals in the Victorian under-19, Reserves and VFL.

As one of the shortest players in the history of the game, standing at 163cm, "Libba", of Italian descent, was told he didn't have what it takes to make it at the elite level by ex footscray coach Michael MalthouseFact|date=April 2008. But his guts and sheer determination marked him down as one of the Western Bulldogs greats.

The rover won the Brownlow Medal in 1990, and retired in 2002 after 283 games for the Bulldogs. He was much-hated by opposition fans for his ability to play close, pestering tagging roles. Libba is well known as being an exceptionally "dirty" player for these close tagging rolesFact|date=April 2008. Umpires paid particularly close attention to him, and this was not without meritFact|date=April 2008.

Liberatore coached the Box Hill Hawks in the Victorian Football League in 2003 taking them to the Grand Final. From 2004 to 2006, Liberatore has held an assistant coaching position at the Carlton Football ClubFact|date=April 2008. In 2008 he claimed Carlton "tanked" matches at the end of the season to secure the no. 1 draft selection, Matthew Kreuzer. His former number at The Western Bulldogs is now filled by rising rookie Malcolm Lynch.

Since 2008, Liberatore has been Senior coach of the Sunbury Lions Football Club in the Ballarat Football League

Anthony enjoys collecting rare historic pieces of art, mostly that of a Southern European heritage.His large home in Melton South has a number of Rare paintings which were shown on the AFL Footy Show

References

* [http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pp-western-bulldogs--tony-liberatore Western Bulldogs player profile - Tony Liberatore]

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