Tony Liberatore                                                                                            

                   Number       39

                      Height      166

                     Weight      72

           Date of Birth      11 February 1966

          Years played      1986 to 2002

        Senior Games      283

                        Goals      95

                Disposals      xxxx 

                Recruited      Brunswick City, North Melbourne

Honours    Brownlow Medal 1990, VFL Reserves Gardiner  1986 and 1988, Under 19's Morrish 1984,  Consistently topped the AFL's 'most tackles' list. Life member of the  AFL  in  2003.  Twice member of the Victorian State of Origin, 283 VFL/AFL games, 23 pre-season games. Coach Box-Hill Hawks 2003. Assistant coach Carlton 2004. Member of Bulldogs Team of the Century. Club Best and Fairest 1991.

Affectionately known as 'Libba' What a spunky little champion! He was often known as the heart and soul of the Bulldogs.  A foreign woman,  Maltese didn't like the use of 'Libba, because in her language it sounded like a crude word and rang up the football radio show most offended. I was holidaying in Malta in 99 and was invited to a party where the Australia Consular-General put on a video of a Bulldog-Kangas game played a couple of weeks earlier. You should of seen the look on the Maltese people's faces when we screamed out "LIBBA" every-time he went near the ball. Libba means semen in Maltese.

He was a member of a trio called the "Wog Squad' along with Paul Dimattina and Jose Romero. Libba as much passion for the game as any player ever had.

In 1997 with Terry Wallace as the newly appointed coach Libba was about to be delisted. He however managed to convince the coach that he would be a great tagger, and a great tagger he became. He re-invented himself as they say. He suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in the late 1990's. Normally the leg is only 40% healed after 6 months and players now stay out for 1 year (eg Chris Grant), Libba however came back in 16 weeks. He played with his leg in some sort of 'device' but there you are, and there he was, the little champ.

Some examples of match winning and inspirational performances were in round 11 1997 the Bulldogs and the Cats were in a top of the ladder clash, at Optus Oval. After an even first term the Dogs pulled away late in the second term to lead by 3 goals at the main change. The Cats came back in the third term with the margin only 3 points at the last change. They kicked two quick goals at the start of the last to lead by 9 points, it looked like a win for the Cats. But Libba was still in there fighting, he chased Cats defender Tim McGrath on the half-forward flank, McGrath threw his arm back and whacked Libba in the face so severely that Libba bled and had to go off the ground.

McGrath was reported. James Cook, took the free and kicked the goal from 60 metres out, all earned by Libba. This gave the Dogs momentum and we went on to win by 21 points.

In April 2001 Tony was given 5 weeks suspension for felling Richmond player and ex-captain Matthew Knights 100 metres off the ball. Knights emerged bleeding from the forehead. The incident probably had its genesis in a practice match sometime before when Jose Romero floored Richmond's Campbell. Their coach, Daniel Frawley in the week of the match turned up on the back page of the newspaper saying how we never respected them and they need to get 'even' after looking so bad in the practice match.

Rumours suggested a payback on the Wog Squad. The entire Wog Squad did not start at the first bounce (note a commentator said this) which is very different from how we had started the previous couple of weeks.

We tried to avoid this confrontation, yet they sent Knights. Knights was hassling Robbins. When Libba came over to enquire as to the reason for the  Knights' ungentlemanly behaviour, Knights (not so bright) feigned to punch. Libba's punch in reply was real.

Campbell said he saw 'nothing' when talking with the press, unlike his evidence. He was a bit bitter on the preseason game, I guess. Knights bled from the same wound that he had cut open across his face numerous times before. This suggests that Libba may not have hit him as hard as you usually would to get such a wound. The match radio commentator, an ex-Richmond player Rex Hunt cried Assassination'. Libba did not get a fair go. The Richmond players all squealed like wooses. Then their woos coach took their captain over to the umpires during the break to do some more 'grandstanding', something they have since passed a law against.

He also had a running duel with co-Brownlow Medallist and Sydney Captain Paul Kelly, being accused of scratching Kelly during a game in 1997 and afterwards saying that Kelly was 'no champion'. Kelly bared his torso to the media after the match, full of bruises. Libba didn't get the coaching job at Sydney when it came up a few years later.

Libba swept all before him as coach of the Box Hill Hawks. In Libba's first season the Hawks sat first on the ladder and won an unprecedented nine games in a row. Became runners-up in the Grand Final. He beat a high-class field to earn an assistant coaching position with Carlton for 2004.

A couple of sour notes were that he had a run-in with the club when he retired, claiming long-service leave entitlements and when he missed a coaching position late in 2003 he blamed the administration for the mess and vowed not to deal with them again.

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