Rory Lobb

Rory Lobb
Personal information
Full name Rory Lobb
Date of birth (1993-02-09) 9 February 1993 (age 31)
Place of birth Perth, Western Australia
Original team(s) Swan Districts (WAFL)
Draft No. 29, 2013 national draft
Height 207 cm (6 ft 9 in)
Weight 106 kg (234 lb)
Position(s) Forward / Ruckman / Defender
Club information
Current club Western Bulldogs
Number 7
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2014–2018 Greater Western Sydney 74 (64)
2019–2022 Fremantle 66 (79)
2023– Western Bulldogs 34 (29)
Total 174 (172)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of round 23, 2024.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Rory Lobb (born 9 February 1993) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL), having previously played for Greater Western Sydney and Fremantle.

Early life

Lobb who came to football late after mainly focusing on basketball[1] was taken with pick 29 in the 2013 national draft, and stands at 206 cm. Despite his height, he impressed many with his athletic ability while playing with Swan Districts in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) in 2013 where he averaged twelve disposals, three marks and twenty-four hitouts.[2]

AFL career

In round 12, 2014, Lobb was selected by the Giants to make his debut against Essendon at Spotless Stadium. Starting on Essendon veteran Dustin Fletcher, he joined the select few who kicked his first AFL goal with his first kick. In 2018, with the retirement of Shane Mumford straining GWS ruck options, Lobb was primarily used as the #1 ruckman. One of his standout games in the 2018 season came in round 15 against Hawthorn, where he kicked 3 goals in the first quarter.

On the first day of the 2018 trade period, Lobb formally requested a trade to the Fremantle Dockers. He had previously met with both WA-based clubs to explore his options, with permission from GWS, despite being contracted for 2019.[3][4] He was officially traded on 17 October to Fremantle.[5]

In 2019, after playing in both pre-season matches, Lobb made his debut for Fremantle in Round 1 against North Melbourne and kicked 2 goals.[6] He went on to play 15 games in his first year at the Dockers, with foot and shoulder injuries affecting him.

Lobb's contested marking ability has been a strong aspect of his game, and in 2020 he collected 37 contested marks (an average of 2.2 per game) which ranked him third overall in the league.

Lobb kicked a career best five goal haul during Fremantle's eight point win over Port Adelaide during round sixteen of the 2022 AFL season.[7] He finished the season as Fremantle’s leading goalkicker, having kicked a career-high 36 goals. At the end of the season he requested a trade to the Western Bulldogs and was traded on 12 October.[8]

Statistics

Statistics are correct to the end 2023[9]
Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
H/O
 Hit-outs
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T H/O G B K H D M T H/O
2014 Greater Western Sydney 37 2 1 0 6 7 13 5 5 3 0.5 0.0 3.0 3.5 6.5 2.5 2.5 1.5 0
2015 Greater Western Sydney 37 9 6 3 39 36 75 29 29 80 0.7 0.3 4.3 4.0 8.3 3.2 3.2 8.9 0
2016 Greater Western Sydney 37 24 29 16 170 114 284 111 65 158 1.2 0.7 7.1 4.8 11.8 4.6 2.7 6.6 5
2017 Greater Western Sydney 37 20 17 8 123 105 228 86 47 221 0.9 0.4 6.2 5.3 11.4 4.3 2.4 11.1 0
2018 Greater Western Sydney 37 19 11 10 127 55 182 60 54 394 0.6 0.5 6.7 2.9 9.6 3.2 2.8 20.7 0
2019 Fremantle 37 15 13 11 119 78 197 61 24 319 0.9 0.7 7.9 5.2 13.1 4.1 1.6 21.3 1
2020[a] Fremantle 37 17 10 6 116 57 173 63 24 156 0.6 0.4 6.8 3.4 10.2 3.7 1.4 9.2 3
2021 Fremantle 37 13 20 19 108 60 168 73 15 54 1.5 1.5 8.3 4.6 12.9 5.6 1.2 4.2 7
2022 Fremantle 37 21 36 24 141 93 234 92 35 153 1.8 1.0 6.7 4.4 11.1 4.3 1.6 7.2 7
2023 Western Bulldogs 7 20 24 18 112 94 206 65 35 156 1.2 0.9 5.6 4.7 5.0 3.3 1.8 7.8 1
Career 160 167 115 1061 699 1760 645 333 1697 1.0 0.7 6.6 4.4 11.0 4.0 2.1 10.6 23

Notes

  1. ^ The 2020 season was played with 17 home-and-away matches per team (down from 22) and 16-minute quarters with time on (down from 20-minute quarters with time on) due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

  1. ^ Hagdorn, Kim (17 November 2013). "Swan Districts ruckman Rory Lobb is an AFL draft long shot". PerthNow.
  2. ^ 2013 draft prospect: Rory Lobb
  3. ^ Sky's The Limit, GWS Giants official website, 8 June 2014
  4. ^ [1], AFL, 30 June 2018
  5. ^ "Giant move as Lobb gets to Fremantle". Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  6. ^ "Rampant Freo roll Roos". Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  7. ^ "Dockers drop anchor in top-four with thrilling win over Port". Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  8. ^ @AFL_House (12 October 2022). "Trade paperwork lodged" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  9. ^ "Rory Lobb". AFL Tables. Retrieved 18 October 2018.