Type Tony Modra into You Tube and there are many highlights packages featuring the spectacular aerial work of the Adelaide full forward.
And one of the finest marks of his career was taken in one of the best games of the 1993 season, when Modra’s 10 goals helped the Crows come from behind to defeat ladder leader North Melbourne by two points at Football Park.
Late in the third quarter Modra sat on the shoulders of North’s Ian Fairley in the southern goalsquare to take the mark of the year and kick his seventh goal of the night. He kicked three more goals in the last quarter when the Crows hit back from a 29-point deficit to take the points and snap a run of three consecutive losses.
“I’m pretty happy with 10, but it was always a matter of winning the game,” said Modra, who kicked all of his goals against North’s Glenn Archer. By the end of his first full season Modra had kicked 129 goals and was named in the All-Australian side.
This is the 14th nomination in a 19-part series to find the greatest individual performances by Crows footballers.
Previous nominations: Peter Vardy’s six-goal effort in the 1998 second semi-final; Darren Jarman’s 1997 grand final; Tony Modra’s 13 goals against Carlton in the opening round of 1994; Mark Ricciuto for Showdown VII in 2000; Jason Porplyzia’s courageous effort at the SCG in 2008; Shane Ellen’s surprise 1997 grand final; Shaun Rehn’s dominant wet weather game in July 1998; David Marshall’s AFL debut in Adelaide’s first game in 1991; Tony McGuinness for last minor round of 1993; Matthew Robran’s six goals in the 1998 preliminary final; Ben Rutten’s 2005 Showdown final; Ricciuto’s inspirational effort against Carlton in 2001; Mark Bickley versus Sydney in 1993.
