31 Facts About Sav Rocca

Saverio Giovanni Rocca was born on 20 November 1973 and is an Australian former professional sportsman.

Sav Rocca played Australian rules football for Collingwood and the Kangaroos in the Australian Football League, and then switched to playing American football as a punter for the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins in the National Football League.

Sav Rocca then returned to Australia after the end of his NFL career, and worked as a kicking and ruck coach for the Carlton Football Club from 2015 to 2020.

At age 12, Sav Rocca recorded the longest kick by anyone of his age at the Reservoir football oval.

Sav Rocca began his sporting life in athletics, coached by George Bertolacci, and was a junior champion in shot put and the discus.

Sav Rocca decided to focus on Australian rules and after several seasons playing for Reservoir-Lakeside Football Club in the Diamond Valley Football League, his goalkicking talent became obvious.

Sav Rocca's brother is Anthony Rocca, who played professional football.

Sav Rocca joined Collingwood in 1991, the last year that allowed zoned players to avoid the draft process.

Sav Rocca was a strong full-forward with a huge kick, showing true signs as a key player to the Magpies in his debut season of 1992.

Sav Rocca played what he later considered the best game of his career in the inaugural Anzac Day match between Collingwood and Essendon, kicking nine goals; he was later retrospectively awarded an Anzac Medal for his best on ground performance, the match ended in a draw.

Sav Rocca won the Collingwood best and fairest award that year.

Sav Rocca continued to show he was a strong full-forward and always at the top in what seemed a disappointing side when it came to the ladder, he kicked bags of 66,76 and 68 in the next three seasons.

Sav Rocca placed second for the Coleman Medal for 1997 behind Tony Modra.

Sav Rocca kicked 98 goals in his first two seasons, enough to be the Roos' leading goalkicker in each year.

At 32 and under contract until the end of the season, Sav Rocca seemed close to retirement from the AFL.

Sav Rocca played his farewell game in the Round 22 match against his old club Collingwood; he kicked three goals.

Sav Rocca had tried out for the Buffalo Bills in 2006 but was not invited to training camp.

Sav Rocca was favoured over Johnson by placekicker David Akers as his holder for place kicks.

Sav Rocca was not perfect mishandling a snap on one attempt and failing to handle a poor snap on a second attempt in a game against the New York Jets.

Sav Rocca had 73 punts for 3,066 net yards for a 42.00 average during his first NFL season in 2007.

Sav Rocca, at 33 years of age, was the oldest rookie in NFL history, a title which previously belonged to another Australian-born punter, Ben Graham who, at the time, played for the Jets at age 31.

Sav Rocca was named the NFL Special Teams Player of the Month for September 2008, leading the league with a 44.1-yard net punting average and having seven punts downed inside the 20-yard-line.

On 22 April 2010, Sav Rocca signed his one-year restricted free agent tender with the Eagles.

Sav Rocca was signed by the Washington Redskins on 29 July 2011.

Sav Rocca was considered one of the Redskins' best free agency signings for the 2011 season due to the massive improvement he was from the several punters the team had in the 2010 season, which included Sam Paulescu, Josh Bidwell and Hunter Smith.

In Week 2 against the Arizona Cardinals, with ten seconds left in the game, Sav Rocca made an impressive tackle on Patrick Peterson, who attempted to make a punt return.

On 29 October 2012, it was reported that Sav Rocca had been playing with a torn meniscus in his kicking leg for the last two games and the Redskins planned to keep using him despite the injury.

Sav Rocca agreed to re-sign with the Redskins on a two-year contract on the first day of free agency for the 2013 season.

Sav Rocca appeared in all 16 regular season games and recorded 84 punts for 3,526 net yards for a 41.98 average.

Sav Rocca was released after the season on 4 March 2014.

Sav Rocca departed Carlton in March 2020 as AFL clubs shed their staffing due to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.