Stephen Silvagni

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Stephen Silvagni bigraphy, stories - Australian rules footballer and commentator

Stephen Silvagni : biography

31 May 1967 –

Stephen Silvagni (born 31 May 1967) is a former Australian rules footballer for the Carlton Football Club.

During his long VFL/AFL career, from his debut in 1985, until his retirement in 2001, he gained the reputation as one of the greatest ever full-backs to play the game and was named as full-back in the AFL Team of the Century and is an inductee in the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

He is widely known by his nickname, "SOS" (pronounced "Soss"), standing for "Son of Serge", referring to his father, Sergio Silvagni, another great Carlton player.

After retiring from football, Silvagni worked as an assistant coach at four AFL clubs until the end of 2010. In 2011 Silvagni took on the role of list manager with the Greater Western Sydney Football Club.

Personal life

Silvagni is married to Australian television celebrity, Jo Bailey, and has three sons. Since retiring from playing football he has worked in the media as a guest football commentator and been an assistant coach at four AFL clubs.

Silvagni’s second cousin is Fremantle’s key defender Alex Silvagni. Alex’s father Eric and Stephen’s father Sergio are first cousins.

VFL/AFL career

Playing career

Silvagni’s defensive skills were renowned and earned him the status as a true clubman at Carlton. In 1996’s AFL Team of the Century, Silvagni had the honour of being named at full-back. He retained the title as the best full-back for four years in succession, although he was also known for his marking and goalkicking ability when playing at the opposite end of the ground in the full-forward position at times, even kicking a bag of 10 goals in Round 16, 1993 against the Fitzroy Lions.

Possibly his finest game was in the 1995 AFL Grand Final where he kept Geelong legend Gary Ablett goalless for the entire game.

In addition to Silvagni’s blanketing tactics, he was also a renowned high-flyer, taking out the Mark of the Year in 1988. However, when one such mark led to an ankle injury, the high-flying aspect of his game largely disappeared.

A year after his retirement at the end of the 2001 season he announced that he would make a comeback to assist Carlton, following their penalties for salary cap infringements. He however changed his mind soon after and was not a listed player for the 2003 season.

Silvangi also played as goalkeeper for the Australian International Rules team on several occasions, and won the inaugural Jim Stynes Medal in 1998.

Silvagni was a five time All Australian 1994,1995,1996,1997,1999

Post-playing career

After retiring from playing, Silvagni worked as an assistant coach at four AFL clubs, Collingwood, Sydney, Western Bulldogs, and most recently St Kilda from 2007 until the end of 2010. In 2011 Silvagni took on the role of list manager with the Greater Western Sydney Football Club.