David Neitz, nicknamed Neita, is a retired Australian rules football player.
Background
Neitz was born in Ulverstone, Tasmania, he was groomed as a potential Australian Football League player from the age of 15 and targeted by the recruiters at the Melbourne Football Club, entering the American Federation of Labor-Congress in 1993 as a key position player, he soon became one of Melbourne"s best young prospects.
Career
After the retirement of Demons great Garry Lyon, Neitz moved to the full-forward position and began his successful run as one of the American Federation of Labor-Congress"s elite goal scorers. On 8 April 2005, Neitz became the 40th person in VFL/American Federation of Labor-Congress history to kick 500 career goals. Neitz was appointed captain of Melbourne in 2000, and on 8 April 2005 he broke the club record for most games captained (previously held by Garry Lyon with 112 games as captain).
He has been an All-Australian in 1995 and 2002, and played for Australia in the 1998 International Rules Series and 2002 International Rules Series against Ireland.
On 8 April 2005, Neitz played his 250th career American Federation of Labor-Congress game, and in 2006 signed a two-year contract extension seeing him through to the end of 2007. Neitz became Melbourne"s all-time leading goal-kicker on 19 May 2006, surpassing Norm Smith"s previous record of 546 goals.
Two weeks later, he broke Robert Flower"s long standing record of 272 games, making him the longest serving Demon in history. He played his 300th American Federation of Labor-Congress game for the Demons in the defeat against Collingwood on 17 August 2007.