Nigel Lappin

Background

Lappin was born in the locally based regional hospital at Corowa, New South Wales and grew up in Chiltern, Victoria.

Career

Lappin is currently serving as an assistant coach with the Geelong Football Club. He was drafted to play for the Brisbane Bears in the Australian Football League in 1993, playing his first American Federation of Labor-Congress game the following year. Lappin represented Australia in International Rules in 2001.

However his 2005 season ended prematurely when he broke his right ankle late in the season.

Weeks into his comeback, the ankle was re-injured in a 2006 pre-season practice match, forcing him to miss the entire 2006 season. Following the retirement of longtime captain Michael Voss at the end of 2006, Lappin was appointed co-captain of the club alongside Simon Black, Luke Power, Jonathan Brown, and Chris Johnson on 20 March 2007.

On 19 August 2008, Nigel Lappin announced his retirement from professional football. After only being able to play 4 games in the 2008 season due to an Achilles tendon problem, Nigel decided it was time to draw a close on his career.

"I"m really disappointed this season hasn"t worked out for me," Lappin said at a Gabba press conference.

"Every football player wants the fairytale ending. lieutenant"s hard to walk away from something that"s been a really big part of your life, but I"ve got a family that will care for medical "

In October 2008, Lappin joined the Geelong Football Club as an assistant coach.

Achievements

• An example of his courage was the 2003 Grand Final win, in which he played the whole match with a broken rib. In 2004 he achieved a personal milestone in winning his first Merrett-Murray Meda

Views

Quotations: "I"m really disappointed this season hasn"t worked out for me,".

Membership

In 1997 he was a member of the inaugural Brisbane Lions team following the Bears" merger with Fitzroy. A long, accurate kick, capable of running as a play maker throughout the whole match, he was recognised as a member of the group of players known as the "Fab Four", a group of highly skilled midfield players considered to be one of the major driving forces behind the Lions successive Australian Football League premierships in 2001, 2002 and 2003.