AFL players 'star' on silver screen

16:9. Darren Jolly/TV

The most famous movie made about Aussie Rules, one that featured some quality old school names was The Club from 1980. Starring Jack Thompson and former Seachange grump John Howard, the film was based on a play by David Williamson about the Collingwood footy club. As a result it showcased the acting chops of Lou Richards, Jack Dyer and Bob Davis, all commentators at the time, along with players Rene Kink and Peter Daicos.

Another notable movie to feature an AFL player was one called Fortress starring the Highlander himself, Christopher Lambert, from the early ‘90s. Former Sydney and Brisbane forward Warwick Capper had a blink-and-you-miss-it appearance in the film but it’s so quick we can’t find any clips of it on YouTube. So we’ve just gone with his infamous appearance on Celebrity Big Brother from 2002, instead.

The one player from the 1980s that did go on to, well, bigger and better things was former Geelong and Melbourne hellraiser Mark ‘Jacko’ Jackson.
 
Jackson even made it as far as the US where he was part of a short-lived sci-fi TV show called The Highwayman.

But seeing as we don’t get too much of a glimpse of Jacko in this clip, we thought we’d throw in this classic as well, one of the great singles of the 1980s.

In more recent times, The Footy Show tried to create their own Soap Opera with The House of Bulger.

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Collingwood players also appeared – for no reason whatsoever that we can see – in this episode of Neighbours.

And former Carlton champion Anthony Koutoufides also found time to appear on Gladiators.

Which of course brings us back to Jolly and his wife Deane and their appearance on The Block.

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