Damian Monkhorst - TheSportsDB.com

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Name
Damian Monkhorst

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Born
1969 (55 years old)

Birth Place
Shiny National flag

Position
Ruckman

Status
Retired

Ethnicity
White

Team Number

Height
202 cm (6 ft 8 in)

Weight
116 kg (256 lb)

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Kit

Side

Agent

Wage Year

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Sport

Australian Football

Team
_Retired Ozzy Rules

2nd Team

League
_No League

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No

Description

Damian Monkhorst is a former Australian rules football player who played with the Collingwood Football Club and St Kilda Football Club.

During his playing career with Collingwood, Monkhorst was known as one of the league's best and toughest ruckmen to play against.

'Monkey' came to Collingwood from Woori Yallock and made his debut in 1988. The 202 cm, 116 kg big man was classed as a no.1 ruckman as soon as he got to Victoria Park, and his early career headed him to become a premiership ruckman in 1990. Monkhorst said that he was lucky to be playing in the Grand Final after fellow big man James Manson had a brilliant finals campaign, but Monkhorst dominated experienced performer Simon Madden after spending most of the first quarter on the bench.

Monkhorst developed well, and performed at his peak in years 1992–1994, where he finished third in the best and fairest in each of the seasons. Monkhorst proved as a tough man, but in 1994 he was involved in a controversial incident which then introduced the melee rule, as he had started a melee after running through Essendon's huddle at the start of a match.

In 1995 during the drawn Anzac Day match at the MCG in front of 95,000 spectators, Monkhorst was involved in an incident that would bring enduring social change to the AFL when he was accused of racially vilifying Essendon's Aboriginal wingman Michael Long. Monkhorst was required to attend a mediation session with Long and although Long was not happy with the outcome at the time, the handshake at the end of the session has since paved the way for very few racial taunts on the field, with less than half-a-dozen reported since.

1996 took a turn on Monkhorst's career where he was outed several times with hamstring and back injuries. In 1997 he came back but had put on weight after a foot injury plagued him. He played some decent matches and went past a 10-year mark with the Magpies before playing game 200. At the end of 1999 he was traded to St Kilda where he played only one season with the club, which finished wooden spooner.