Tony Modra

Biography

AFC Debut Number: 41               AFC Debut Game:  Round 4 v Fitzroy, 1992

AFC Career Guernsey Number: 6

Tony Modra took the leap from South Australian country football to an extraordinary level of AFL fame within two spectacular seasons.

Reluctant to leave the country life to play for West Adelaide in the SANFL, Modra dominated Riverland football with Renmark before committing to the Bloods in 1991. He was then picked up by Adelaide as a concession pick and in his first AFL season booted 21 goals in eight games.

He had turned 24 when he launched Modra-mania with ten goals in the opening round of the 1993 season against Richmond at the MCG. Modra wasn’t even Adelaide’s first-choice full forward at the start of the season. But this was only the first achievement of an amazing year in which he took the Mark of the Year, kicked a Crows record 13.4 (also against Richmond), made the SA State-of-Origin side, became the first Crow to kick 100 goals, and was chosen in the All-Australian team. His 1993 season tally of 129 goals is the 11^th highest in VFL/AFL history, with only Bob Pratt, Peter Hudson, Jason Dunstall, Peter McKenna and Tony Lockett above Modra on the list. He was the first player since Hudson to kick more than 100 goals in their second season.

Modra kicked his 100^th AFL career goal in his 22^nd game and reached 200 in his 42^nd match. Only John Coleman and Hudson hit this milestone in fewer games.

In 1996, Tony Modra was awarded the Fos Williams medal for being best-on-ground in a 126 to 91 victory over Western Australia.

Through to 1997 he was Adelaide’s leading goalkicker for five-straight seasons, and in 1997 claimed the AFL’s Coleman Medal (below) and a second All Australian selection.

Cruelly, Modra’s season ended early in the preliminary final when he severely injured his knee and missed the grand final win the following week. He made his comeback late in 1998 but was overlooked for most of the final series including the 1998 grand final, leading to his move to Fremantle. Modra’s 440 goals for Adelaide remained the club record until 2020 when exceeded by Taylor Walker. He did however retain the honour of being the only Adelaide player to kick over 100 goals in a season. A spectacular high flying forward Modra won the AFL’s “Mark of the Year” three times (once while playing with Fremantle) and goal of the year once. He played in South Australia’s State of Origin team from 1993 to 1997. He was an automatic selection for the AFC Team of the Decade 1991-2000. 

He was inducted into the Adelaide Football Club Hall of Fame in 2015.

In 2021 he was selected as full forward in Adelaide’s “Best 22 of 30 Years”.