Andrew Leoncelli was born on 17 July 1974 and is a former Italian-Australian rules footballer who played for Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League.
11 Facts About Andrew Leoncelli
1.
2.
Andrew Leoncelli was delisted from the senior list of Carlton and was offered a place on their supplementary list but found the club environment at Carlton overly focused on senior older more established players with junior development low on the clubs priority at that time.
3.
Andrew Leoncelli decided to move on from the club at the end of 1994 when he moved to Brisbane to pursue in his education, where he studied law and commerce at the University of Queensland in St Lucia.
4.
Andrew Leoncelli lifted weights and ran to keep fit playing soccer and some games of rugby union, but it was when he saw the Brisbane Lions training at his university that he realised how much he missed the game.
5.
Andrew Leoncelli wrote David Parkin a letter saying he refused to believe he was finished at 19 years of age and to watch out for his return.
6.
Andrew Leoncelli moved back to Melbourne then played amateur football for the Old Xaverians in 1995 winning the club best and fairest, playing state football for Victoria and winning the Victorian Amateur Football Association premiership.
7.
Andrew Leoncelli finally made his league debut in 1996 with Melbourne.
8.
Andrew Leoncelli built his game playing against the likes of Nicky Winmar, Peter Riccardi and Mark Ricciuto.
9.
Andrew Leoncelli was appointed deputy vice-captain for 2000 and played a vital role in Melbourne's finals series, but had an uncharacteristic disappointing game in the Grand Final.
10.
Andrew Leoncelli had a flat 2001 season and at one stage was dropped, but followed up with a fine 2002 season.
11.
Andrew Leoncelli was forced into retirement late in 2003 at the age of 29, having played all of the 16 games up to that point.