View source for Simon Madden

{{short description|Australian rules footballer, born 1957}}
{{For|the soccer player|Simon Madden (Irish footballer)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}
{{BLP sources|date=March 2017}}
{{Use Australian English|date=September 2015}}
{{Infobox AFL biography
| name = Simon Madden
| image = 
| fullname = Simon John Madden
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1957|12|30|df=y}}
| birth_place = 
| death_date = 
| death_place = 
| originalteam = St Christopher's
| height = 198 cm
| weight = 99 kg
| position = Ruckman/Tall forward
| statsend = 1992
| years1 = 1974–1992
| club1 = {{AFL Ess}}
| games_goals1 = 378 (575)
| sooteam1 = [[Victoria Australian rules football team|Victoria]]
| soogames_goals1 = 17 (21)
| careerhighlights = '''Club'''
*2x [[Australian Football League|VFL]] Premiership: [[1984 VFL Grand Final|1984]], [[1985 VFL Grand Final|1985]]
*3x [[All-Australian]]: 1983, 1987–1988
*6× VFL team of the year: 1983–1984, 1987–1990
*4x [[W. S. Crichton Medal|Essendon best and fairest]]: 1977, 1979, 1983–1984
*3x [[List of Essendon Football Club leading goalkickers|Essendon leading goalkicker]] 1980, 1982, 1991
* [[Norm Smith Medal]]: 1985
* [[List of Essendon Football Club captains|Essendon captain]] 1980–1981
* [[Essendon Football Club#Team of the Century|Team of the Century]]
* [[Australian Football Hall of Fame]]

'''Representative'''
* [[Simpson Medal]]: 1990
*3x [[Victoria Australian rules football team|Victoria]] Captain: 1989–1991
}}
[[File:Simon Madden.jpg|thumb|Simon Madden, former AFL player & Founder, Simon Madden Consulting]]
'''Simon Madden''' (born 30 December 1957) is a former [[Australian rules football]]er who played his entire 19-season career with the [[Essendon Football Club]] from 1974 until 1992. Madden is one of the most decorated players in the club's history and widely regarded as one of the finest ruckmen to ever play the game.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.essendonfc.com.au/our-club/history/champions-of-essendon/champions-of-essendon-simon-madden|title=Champions of Essendon Simon Madden|website=essendonfc.com.au|access-date=2019-05-27}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Madden was born in [[Melbourne]]; he attended primary school at St Christopher's in Airport West and had his secondary schooling at [[St. Bernard's College, Melbourne|St. Bernard's College]] in [[Essendon, Victoria|Essendon]], a school renowned for its sporting prowess. He then studied teaching at the Institute of Catholic Education{{citation needed|date=March 2021}} (now the [[Australian Catholic University]]).

His younger brother [[Justin Madden|Justin]] played football for [[Carlton Football Club|Carlton]] and later became a Victorian state politician.

== AFL career ==
In all, he played 378 senior matches, the second-most by any Essendon player (behind [[Dustin Fletcher]]), and eighth-most in league history (behind [[Brent Harvey]], [[Michael Tuck]], [[Shaun Burgoyne]], [[Kevin Bartlett (Aussie Rules footballer)|Kevin Bartlett]], Dustin Fletcher, [[Scott Pendlebury]] and [[Robert Harvey (footballer)|Robert Harvey]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=AFL Tables - All Time Records - Most Career Games |url=https://afltables.com/afl/stats/alltime/highs.html |access-date=2018-06-06 |website=afltables.com}}</ref> In addition to playing in the ruck, Madden was a handy part-time forward, kicking 575 goals in his career, a club record that stood until it was broken in 2003 by full-forward [[Matthew Lloyd]].

Madden won four Essendon best and fairest awards (1977, 1979, 1983 and 1984) and [[List of Essendon Football Club captains|captained the side]] in the [[1980 VFL season|1980]] and [[1981 VFL season|1981]] seasons. He played in the back-to-back premiership sides in [[1984 VFL Grand Final|1984]] and [[1985 VFL Grand Final|1985]], winning the [[Norm Smith Medal]] for best on ground in the 1985 Grand Final. In 1986, Madden rejected an unheard-of offer for a 3-year contract totalling $550,000 (~$1.73 million in 2023 terms) by the eccentric [[Geoffrey Edelsten]] on behalf of the [[Sydney Swans]], instead choosing to remain with Essendon for his entire career.<ref name="Encyc">{{Ref AFL Encyc|4th|397}}</ref> Regarding the offer, Madden replied, "You can take the boy out of Essendon, but you can't take Essendon out of the boy."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.essendonfc.com.au/our-club/history/past-player-profiles/past-player-profiles-m |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170330192830/http://www.essendonfc.com.au/our-club/history/past-player-profiles/past-player-profiles-m |archive-date=30 March 2017 |title=Past Player Profiles - M - essendonfc.com.au}}</ref> However, Madden estimated that, in 2009 dollars (when he was interviewed) and taking into account the cost of buying a house, etc., it was actually the equivalent of $4.4 million over three years. However, Madden claimed that he never regretted the decision.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Niall |first=Jake |date=2009-12-08 |title=Should I stay or should I go? |url=https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go-20091208-kfmq.html |access-date=2022-05-25 |website=The Age |language=en}}</ref>

He was named in the [[All-Australian Team]] on three occasions (1983, 1987 and 1988). Madden captained the Victorian interstate team in 1989–91, and in 1990 received the [[Simpson Medal]] for best on ground in the [[Victoria Australian rules football team|Victoria]] vs. [[Western Australia Australian rules football team|Western Australia]] match played in Perth.

He was named in the ruck in [[Essendon Football Club#Team of the Century|Essendon's Team of the Century]] and named as the fifth-best player ever to play for the club in the "[[Essendon Football Club#Champions of Essendon|Champions of Essendon]]" list.

After his playing days were over, Madden had a brief stint as ruck coach for [[Carlton FC|Carlton]]. He was with the Blues for the [[1993 AFL season|1993 season]], in which they made the grand final but lost to Madden's former club, Essendon.

He was president of the [[AFL Players Association|AFL Players' Association]] from 1985 until 1989.

==Statistics==
:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://afltables.com/afl/stats/players/S/Simon_Madden.html|title=Simon Madden|publisher=AFL Tables}}</ref>

{{Australian rules football statistics legend/ruck|p=y}}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|style="background:#b7e718; width:1em"|
|Led the league after finals only
|}
{{AFL player statistics start/ruck with votes}}
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | [[1974 VFL season|1974]]
|{{AFL Ess}}
| 27 || 6 || 18 || 8 || 52 || 8 || 60 || 28 || {{n/a}} || 0 || 3.0 || 1.3 || 8.7 || 1.3 || 10.0 || 4.7 || {{n/a}} || 0.0 || 2
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | [[1975 VFL season|1975]]
|{{AFL Ess}}
| 27 || 19 || 37 || 29 || 138 || 19 || 157 || 59 || {{n/a}} || 29 || 1.9 || 1.6 || 7.7 || 1.1 || 8.7 || 3.3 || {{n/a}} || 4.8 || 0
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | [[1976 VFL season|1976]]
|{{AFL Ess}}
| 27 || 20 || 28 || 18 || 123 || 43 || 166 || 78 || {{n/a}} || 86 || 1.4 || 0.9 || 6.2 || 2.2 || 8.3 || 3.9 || {{n/a}} || 4.5 || 3
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | [[1977 VFL season|1977]]
|{{AFL Ess}}
| 27 || 20 || 33 || 11 || 234 || 81 || 315 || 126 || {{n/a}} || 378 || 1.7 || 0.6 || 11.7 || 4.1 || 15.8 || 6.3 || {{n/a}} || 19.9 || 25
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | [[1978 VFL season|1978]]
|{{AFL Ess}}
| 27 || 22 || 40 || 25 || 199 || 72 || 271 || 138 || {{n/a}} || 301 || 1.8 || 1.1 || 9.0 || 3.3 || 12.3 || 6.3 || {{n/a}} || 14.3 || 7
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | [[1979 VFL season|1979]]
|{{AFL Ess}}
| 27 || 23 || 39 || 31 || 220 || 106 || 326 || 158 || {{n/a}} || 263 || 1.7 || 1.3 || 9.6 || 4.6 || 14.2 || 6.9 || {{n/a}} || 11.4 || 3
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | [[1980 VFL season|1980]]
|{{AFL Ess}}
| 27 || 21 || 45 || 27 || 176 || 95 || 271 || 111 || {{n/a}} || 211 || 2.1 || 1.3 || 8.4 || 4.5 || 12.9 || 5.3 || {{n/a}} || 10.0 || 5
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | [[1981 VFL season|1981]]
|{{AFL Ess}}
| 27 || 19 || 36 || 34 || 135 || 69 || 204 || 89 || {{n/a}} || 236 || 1.9 || 1.8 || 7.1 || 3.6 || 10.7 || 4.7 || {{n/a}} || 12.4 || 7
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | [[1982 VFL season|1982]]
|{{AFL Ess}}
| 27 || 21 || 49 || 25 || 142 || 74 || 216 || 92 || {{n/a}} || 230 || 2.3 || 1.2 || 6.8 || 3.5 || 10.3 || 4.4 || {{n/a}} || 11.0 || 7
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | [[1983 VFL season|1983]]
|{{AFL Ess}}
| 27 || 26 || 26 || 16 || 235 || 156 || 391 || 179 || {{n/a}} || bgcolor="b7e718"| '''812''' || 1.0 || 0.6 || 9.0 || 6.0 || 15.0 || 6.9 || {{n/a}} || 31.2 || 22
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
| scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C | '''[[1984 VFL season|1984]]'''<sup>#</sup> || {{AFL Ess}} || 27
| 24 || 27 || 17 || 177 || 137 || 314 || 151 || {{n/a}} || 699 || 1.1 || 0.7 || 7.4 || 5.7 || 13.1 || 6.3 || {{n/a}} || 29.1 || 14
|-
| scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C | '''[[1985 VFL season|1985]]'''<sup>#</sup> || {{AFL Ess}} || 27
| 20 || 19 || 21 || 163 || 123 || 286 || 136 || {{n/a}} || 322 || 1.0 || 1.1 || 8.2 || 6.2 || 14.3 || 6.8 || {{n/a}} || 16.1 || 11
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | [[1986 VFL season|1986]]
|{{AFL Ess}}
| 27 || 23 || 25 || 11 || 182 || 112 || 294 || 114 || {{n/a}} || 338 || 1.1 || 0.5 || 7.9 || 4.9 || 12.8 || 5.0 || {{n/a}} || 14.7 || 4
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | [[1987 VFL season|1987]]
|{{AFL Ess}}
| 27 || 14 || 9 || 4 || 85 || 65 || 150 || 69 || 12 || 252 || 0.6 || 0.3 || 6.1 || 4.6 || 10.7 || 4.9 || 0.9 || 18.0 || 1
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | [[1988 VFL season|1988]]
|{{AFL Ess}}
| 27 || 22 || 31 || 8 || 183 || 95 || 278 || 138 || 27 || 257 || 1.4 || 0.4 || 8.3 || 4.3 || 12.6 || 6.3 || 1.2 || 11.7 || 16
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | [[1989 VFL season|1989]]
|{{AFL Ess}}
| 27 || 25 || 33 || 16 || 239 || 81 || 320 || 138 || 28 || 350 || 1.3 || 0.6 || 9.6 || 3.2 || 12.8 || 5.5 || 1.1 || 14.0 || 3
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | [[1990 AFL season|1990]]
|{{AFL Ess}}
| 27 || 23 || 30 || 16 || 195 || 6 || 2616 || 116 || 22 || 225 || 1.3 || 0.7 || 8.5 || 2.9 || 11.3 || 5.0 || 1.0 || 9.8 || 4
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | [[1991 AFL season|1991]]
|{{AFL Ess}}
| 27 || 23 || 42 || 15 || 203 || 71 || 274 || 122 || 14 || 209 || 1.8 || 0.7 || 8.8 || 3.1 || 11.9 || 5.3 || 0.6 || 9.1 || 5
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | [[1992 AFL season|1992]]
|{{AFL Ess}}
| 27 || 7 || 8 || 2 || 39 || 18 || 57 || 21 || 3 || 28 || 1.1 || 0.3 || 5.6 || 2.6 || 8.1 || 3.0 || 0.4 || 4.0 || 0
|- class="sortbottom"
! colspan=3| Career
! 378
! 575
! 334
! 3120
! 1491
! 4611
! 2063
! 106
! 5226
! 1.5
! 0.9
! 8.3
! 3.9
! 12.2
! 5.5
! 0.9
! 14.7
! 139
|}

==Honours and achievements==
'''Team'''
* '''2× [[List of VFL/AFL premiers|VFL premiership player]] ({{AFL Ess}})''': [[1984 VFL Grand Final|1984]], [[1985 VFL Grand Final|1985]]
* '''4× [[McClelland Trophy]] ({{AFL Ess}})''': [[1984 VFL season|1984]], [[1985 VFL season|1985]], [[1989 VFL season|1989]], [[1990 AFL season|1990]]

'''Individual'''
* '''[[Norm Smith Medal]]''': [[1985 VFL Grand Final|1985]]
* '''3× [[All-Australian team]]''': [[1983 All-Australian team|1983]], [[1987 All-Australian team|1987]], [[1988 All-Australian team|1988]]
* '''6× VFL Team of the Year''': [[1983 VFL season|1983]], [[1984 VFL season|1984]], [[1987 VFL season|1987]], [[1988 VFL season|1988]], [[1989 VFL season|1989]], [[1990 AFL season|1990]]
* '''4× [[Crichton Medal]]''': [[1977 VFL season|1977]], [[1979 VFL season|1979]], [[1983 VFL season|1983]], [[1984 VFL season|1984]]
* '''3× [[List of Essendon Football Club leading goalkickers|Essendon leading goalkicker]]''': [[1980 VFL season|1980]], [[1982 VFL season|1982]], [[1991 AFL season|1991]]
* '''[[List of Essendon Football Club captains|Essendon captain]]''': 1980–1981
* '''[[Essendon Football Club#Team of the Century|Essendon Team of the Century 1897-1996]]'''
*'''[[Australian Football Hall of Fame#Legends|Australian Football Hall of Fame]]''': 1996 Inductee
* '''[[Simpson Medal]]''': 1990
* '''[[E. J. Whitten Medal]]''': 1990
* '''5× [[Interstate matches in Australian rules football|State of Origin]] ([[Victoria Australian rules football team|Victoria]])''': 1983, 1984, 1989 (c), 1990 (c), 1991 (c)

== Life After AFL ==
Madden has an extended background in education and worked as a teacher for 15 years, attaining the position of Vice Principal.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Simon |url=https://simonmadden.com.au/about/ |access-date=2022-05-25 |website=Simon Madden |language=en-US}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=May 2022}}

Madden was President of the [[AFL Players Association|AFL Players' Association]] from 1985 to 1989.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Simon |url=https://simonmadden.com.au/about/ |access-date=2022-05-25 |website=Simon Madden |language=en-US}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=May 2022}}

Madden became head coach of St. Bernards Old Collegians Football Club in 2005.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

He now spends a considerable amount of time in the classic rock band Better Late Than Never playing at local pubs and clubs with a group of long-term friends.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-12-19 |title=Big Bomber still kicking goals |url=https://sportshounds.com.au/2019/12/20/big-bomber-still-kicking-goals/ |access-date=2022-05-25 |website=Sportshounds |language=en-AU}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{AFL Tables|ref=S/Simon_Madden.html}}
*{{AustralianFootball|ref=simon%2Bmadden/10745}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070918184633/https://www.essendonfc.com.au/champions/profile.asp?ID=38 Profile on essendonfc.com.au]

{{1984/85 Essendon dual premiership players}}
{{Essendon Team of The Century}}
{{Norm Smith Medal}}
{{E. J. Whitten Medal winners}}
{{Simpson Medal winners}}
{{Essendon Football Club captains}}
{{W. S. Crichton Medal}}
{{Essendon leading goalkickers}}
{{VFL/AFL club best and fairest winners in premiership years}}
{{1983 All-Australian team}}
{{1983 VFL Team of the Year}}
{{1984 VFL Team of the Year}}
{{1987 All-Australian team}}
{{1987 VFL Team of the Year}}
{{1988 All-Australian team}}
{{1988 VFL Team of the Year}}
{{1989 VFL Team of the Year}}
{{1990 AFL Team of the Year}}
{{navboxes
| title = Simon Madden in Victorian State of Origin teams
| titlestyle = background:#202231; color:white;
| list1 =
{{1983 Victoria State of Origin players}}
{{1984 Victoria State of Origin players}}
{{1989 Victoria State of Origin players}}
{{1990 Victoria State of Origin players}}
{{1991 Victoria State of Origin players}}
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madden, Simon}}
[[Category:1957 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Essendon Football Club players]]
[[Category:Essendon Football Club captains]]
[[Category:Essendon Football Club premiership players]]
[[Category:Champions of Essendon]]
[[Category:Victorian State of Origin players]]
[[Category:Norm Smith Medal winners]]
[[Category:Crichton Medal winners]]
[[Category:Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:All-Australians (1953–1988)]]
[[Category:Australian rules footballers from Melbourne]]
[[Category:People educated at St. Bernard's College, Melbourne]]
[[Category:E. J. Whitten Medal winners]]
[[Category:Australia international rules football team players]]
[[Category:VFL/AFL premiership players]]
[[Category:Australian Catholic University alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian sportsmen]]