Barry Hall

Barry Andrew Hall (born 8 February 1977) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club, Sydney Swans and Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Hall made his AFL debut for St Kilda in 1996.

He helped fill the void of the record-breaking forward Tony Lockett, who had moved to the Swans the previous season.

His most memorable performance for the Saints was his 3-goal burst during a five-minute period in the second quarter of the 1997 Grand Final, in which put his side in a strong position going into half-time, despite St Kilda going on to be defeated by Adelaide by 31 points at the MCG.

Hall began his career at the St Kilda Football Club where he twice led the club's goalkicking in 1999 and 2001.

He is best known for his career with the Sydney Swans.

He played for St Kilda until 2001, kicking 144 goals in 88 games and being the club's leading goalkicker in the 1999 and 2001 seasons.

He kicked a career-best 8 goals in Round 16, 2001 against the Western Bulldogs.

He left St Kilda at the end of 2001 in style, kicking a goal after the final siren of a Round 22 match against Hawthorn to win the match.

One of the main reasons for leaving was the rise of Nick Riewoldt, Justin Koschitzke and the recruitment of Fraser Gehrig, as well as salary cap constraints.

He was one of the Swans' best players during his time at the club, topping the club goalkicking from 2002 to 2008 and co-captaining the side from 2005 to 2007, including the club's drought breaking premiership in 2005.

Hall joined the Swans for the 2002 season and prospered under the coaching of Paul Roos.

He has given away almost twice as many free kicks as he has been given over his career, and in 2003 Swans coach Paul Roos questioned whether Hall was given all the free kicks he deserved.

Hall's form reached a high in 2004 when he was named in the All-Australian team.

He is considered to be one of the best forwards of the modern era, being named All-Australian, leading his club's goalkicking on eleven occasions and captaining the Sydney Swans to their 2005 AFL Grand Final victory.

He then took his game to a whole new level from 2005, and not only bagged 80 goals for the season and a second placing for the Coleman Medal, but set up many more goals as well.

He was selected in the All-Australian list in 2005 and 2006 and captained the Swans to their historic 2005 Grand Final premiership victory, their first since 1933.

He led the Swans goalkicking in seasons 2005 to 2006, and in that two-year period he kicked two bags of seven against Essendon in their matches in Melbourne (a win in 2005 but a loss in 2006).

He also featured heavily in the AFL's promotion in Sydney, gaining a similarly high-profile to Tony Lockett which saw him featured in a 2006 AFL and Swans joint promotion known as "Barry Hall Hall".

The former junior boxing champion's AFL career has been marred by a reputation for on-field aggression, which has earned him the label of football "wild man" and he became one of the most feared players on the field.

Several controversial and highly publicised incidents (often called "brain snaps" by the media) and tribunal appearances have interrupted his career and contributed to a change of clubs.

Hall was born in Victoria and grew up in Broadford, where he played his junior football.

His other interests were martial arts and boxing.

At the age of 12 he moved to Melbourne to pursue a boxing career.

Training in a makeshift boxing gym in his father's garage, he won a state title in his early teenage years and had fought in 15 fights by the age of 15.

Hall also showed a talent for Australian football.

After playing for the Murray Bushrangers in the TAC Cup and attracting the eye of talent scouts, he decided to focus on football.

He also led the club's goalkicking in seasons 2007 and 2008, but in those two seasons he struggled with suspension and injury.

He has also kicked big bags of goals against notably weaker opponents such as Carlton.

Hall earned a reputation as a controversial player, with several appearances at the tribunal resulting in four suspensions for a total of 10 matches.

Hall struggled with injuries through the 2007 season and his form was generally considered to be somewhat down from his peak, although he played a number of outstanding games and still led the club's goalkicking with 44.

In 2008, Hall began the season in good form but, following a punch thrown against West Coast Eagles player Brent Staker and a further incident where he aimed a punch at a Collingwood player, he missed a number of games and was suspended from the Swans' team on 8 July 2008.

In Round 19, 2008, against the Fremantle Football Club, he kicked the last goal in the final minute and won the game by four points.

He kicked a bag of goals in that game and in Round 20, against the Geelong Cats, he kicked five goals and one behind.

In spite of the Swans' 39-point defeat to the reigning premiers he was the leading goalkicker for the game.

In 2008 Hall was awarded the Paul Roos Award for the best player in the finals.

He finished the year as Sydney's leading goalkicker for the seventh consecutive year, equalling the club record of Len Mortimer.

He led the club's goalscoring in every season up until 2009 and was named club Best and Fairest in 2004.

He has said that he benefited from the move to Sydney, in particular the relative anonymity he enjoyed when first arriving, playing alongside Tony Lockett in Lockett's comeback-from-retirement season.

In July 2011, Hall created history by becoming the first player to kick 100 goals for three AFL teams.