Rory Lobb

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.

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
Fremantle leading goalkicker: 2022
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

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[lower-alpha 1]	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. , 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.

External links

• Rory Lobb's profile on the official website of the Fremantle Football Club
• Rory Lobb's playing statistics from AFL Tables