Richmond legend Matthew Richardson has reignited the campaign for goal kicking champion Saverio Rocca to be inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
Gary Ablett Jr and Dustin Fletcher headlined the latest class of inductees on Tuesday night, but the 10-time leading goal kicker for North Melbourne and Collingwood remains absent.
North Melbourne’s Saverio Rocca in 2005. Getty
Rocca sits 17th all-time for most V/AFL goals kicked with 770. Geelong star Jeremy Cameron recently passed him.
He finds himself just above the likes of Barry Hall, Stephen Kernahan, Wayne Carey and Peter Hudson, all of whom have already been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
In fact, as Richardson pointed out, every single member of the league’s top 30 all-time goal kickers who are eligible to be in the Hall of Fame are already in there, apart from Rocca.
The likes of Lance Franklin, Tom Hawkins, Jack Riewoldt and Cameron all sit inside the top 20 and will all likely receive inductions at some point in the future. You have to be retired for five full seasons before you become eligible.
Richardson feels aggrieved for Rocca, saying he absolutely should have been honoured by now.
“This is my case for why he should be in the Hall of Fame,” Richardson told 3AW.
“Sav Rocca is not in the Hall of Fame and every single year, I cannot believe it.
“If you look at the top 30 V/AFL goal kickers of all-time, Rocca is 17th.
“Out of that top 30, every single player that is eligible is in the Hall of Fame, except Saverio.
“I don’t know why he’s not in. I think he should be in. I think he is one of the stiffest omissions.
“The other guys in the top 30 who aren’t in, Lance Franklin’s not eligible yet, he’ll go straight in. Tom Hawkins, he’ll probably go straight in. Jack Riewoldt will go in. Josh Kennedy from the Eagles probably will and Taylor Walker will.
Umpire Hayden Kennedy is inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2026. AFL Photos via Getty Images
“They’ll all go in and Sav Rocca probably still won’t be in. I just don’t know why he’s not in.”
Rocca also played seven seasons in the NFL as a punter for Philadelphia and Washington after his AFL career.
Richardson himself sits 13th all-time on the V/AFL goal kicking list and was inducted in 2014.
Ablett was the only first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee from the 2020 crop of retirees on Tuesday night.
Next year however both Hawthorn champion Shaun Burgoyne and Carlton legend Eddie Betts become eligible, and both are likely to go straight in.