Given the saturation coverage he generated during 18 seasons of VFL-AFL football, you can’t blame Lockett for shunning the spotlight. Being labelled “reclusive” because he has never courted publicity doesn’t help.
The simple fact is that the St Kilda and Sydney legend, who rarely gives personal interviews, has lived on a hobby farm with his family in the NSW Southern Highlands since hanging up his famous number 4 in 2002.
Actually, that’s not quite right. When he came out of retirement for the Swans in 2002 after two years off, Lockett wore 46. He also wore 37 in his first season for St Kilda in 1983 and 14 from 1984-87 before donning the legendary 4.
That number is close to Lockett’s heart. Now 48, he debuted for the Saints in Round 4 and won the Coleman Medal for the AFL’s leading goalkicker four times – 1987, 1991, 1996 and 1998. Then, after moving from St Kilda to Sydney in 1995, he played in four finals series with the Swans.
Lockett’s overall goalkicking average was also 4.8.
But none of that matters as he enjoys the quiet life not far from the former home of another Australian sporting legend, Sir Donald Bradman. Lockett’s hobby farm boasts “a few cows and calves, a couple of horses and a couple of dogs”.
When he’s not chasing cattle, the 1987 Brownlow medallist – he shared it with Hawthorn rover John Platten – runs around after his four girls, now aged 13-18. When The Weekly Review managed to track him down for a rare personal interview, Lockett was on his way out to do a school run.
It wasn’t really that find him. But after I called and caught him driving and unable to talk, I assumed that would be the end of it. Then, about 20 minutes later, he called back and agreed to chat. Over several exchanges, he was personable and forthcoming about his life on the land, even if he does dispute our view that he is quite possibly footy’s most famous number 4. “There’s plenty of others better known than me,” he says without hesitation.
Farm life clearly agrees with the former Ballarat boy, who is happy in his own skin away from the spotlight.
“I bought the property when I finished playing footy and I’ve been here ever since,” he says.
Lockett rarely makes public appearances. A big fuss was made when he attended the launch of former teammate Paul Kelly’s book in 2003 and again at his induction as a St Kilda legend in 2010. But mostly he has managed to avoid the spotlight, apart from the odd mention of his greyhounds and dirt-bike racing.
Still he’s bemused that some people think he’s a recluse when all he is doing is living the quiet life like so many other ex-footballers. But, then again, only he has kicked more goals than anyone else in the history of the game.
Since retiring from footy, Lockett has continued his interest in greyhounds – a lifelong passion – and still rides dirt bikes, despite a serious accident in 2010 that led to several operations on his arm. He had been practising for the 460-kilometre Finke Desert Race in the Northern Territory.
Lockett has had more luck with the dogs, with his sprinter Renegade Chief winning the group one AJS Corporation Silver Chief Classic at The Meadows in January last year.
“I’ve only got one racing now,” he says. “[The others] are finished racing; they’re only pets now.”
The days when Lockett was mobbed on the field after kicking 100 goals in a season – which he did no fewer than six times – are a distant memory. Now he’s more likely to be mobbed by animals on his way to a shed.
But there is no escaping the legend. Lockett was born in 1966, the year his Saints won their only grand final. The champion full forward kicked a record 1360 goals in 281 games over 18 seasons from 1983-2002. In 1992 alone he kicked 132 goals.
Such figures are unheard of in a modern era dominated by leaner, quicker players who run the length of the ground. Today’s full forwards are just as likely to turn up in defence, as everyone on the field floods into one team’s forward 50.
Big full forwards in the 1980s and 1990s rarely ventured outside the 50-metre arc and were the focus of play. The best, including Lockett and Jason Dunstall, were superstars.
Like Dunstall, who kicked 1254 goals in 269 games for Hawthorn from 1985-1998, the physically solid and imposing Lockett dominated the goal square, forcing opponents out with short bursts of pace and brute strength.
While Dunstall won four premierships with Hawthorn, the ultimate prize eluded Lockett. But it wasn’t for want of trying. In 1996, he sensationally kicked a point after the siren to guide the Swans into the grand final, which they lost to North Melbourne.
Such Herculean efforts were par for the course for Plugger, who was simply there to play footy and did it better than most, his feats unlikely to ever be equalled.
Lockett’s daughters, who don’t remember much, if anything, about his playing days, are not into football. For a start, they live in Rugby League heartland and dad isn’t one to brag about his deeds on the footy field.
“They don’t follow the footy a great deal,” Lockett says.
Instead the girls enjoy netball and dancing, which Lockett is happy to facilitate.
But Lockett certainly hasn’t given up on footy. He still follows the Saints and the Swans, and he’s keen to see how Lance Franklin will go at Sydney this season. “Every now and again I watch a game on the telly,” he says. “It’s just good to sit back and watch a good game of football.”
What happens when St Kilda plays Sydney? “Whatever will be, will be; it doesn’t matter,” he says. “I don’t favour one over the other.” Lockett still attends the odd game and in 2013 saw the Swans beat the Saints by 59 points. “I went to the footy last year to watch Sydney and St Kilda at the SCG,” he says. “I stood in the outer with my two youngest daughters.”
While he admits to being technologically challenged – he doesn’t use email and still has a fax – Lockett doesn’t oppose the way football has evolved. He agrees modern footy is much faster and the players must be fitter to cover the whole ground, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“By the look of it, you look like you’ve got to run the whole time,” he says. “I wasn’t known for being the fittest bloke around during my playing career.”
The fact Lockett has avoided the post-footy gravy train, and the media careers so many former players crave, is hardly surprising. Before he took the then VFL by storm as a 17-year-old, he was simply a country lad from Ballarat.
That never left him, which helps explain why he never sought the spotlight. “I’m not a recluse,” he says. “I’ve got plenty to keep me busy. Footy took up a lot of time. There’s other things to do. I enjoy doing other things.”
Simple.
BY THE NUMBERS
Brownlow Medal | 1987 (Tied with John Platten)
Club Best and Fairest | St Kilda: 1987, 1991 Sydney: 1995
Australian Football Hall of Fame Inductee | 2006
All Australian | 1987, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1998
E.J. Whitten Medal | 1995
AFL Players Association MVP | 1987
Coleman Medal | 1987, 1991, 1996, 1998
St Kilda Leading Goalkicker | 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
Sydney Leading Goalkicker | 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999
