AFL great Saverio Rocca chases down brazen thief at Northland Shopping Centre

Harrison Reid
7NEWS Sport
The AFL great jumped into action after witnessing the brazen robbery.

Former AFL goalkicker and NFL punter Saverio Rocca has sprung into action to stop a would-be thief in his tracks at a Melbourne shopping centre on Sunday.

Witnesses told 7NEWS.com.au Rocca was on hand when a man came into JD Sports in Northland Shopping Centre at about 10.20am and started taking items off the rack.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Rocca speaks to 7NEWS about the incident.

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The man — who witnesses described as sketchy-looking with bad body odour — grabbed a jacket and other bits of clothing while shop assistants tried to help him.

Ignoring their assistance, the man left the store and ran down the nearby escalator.

Enter Rocca, who saw the incident unfold and made the snap decision to chase the man down the escalator.

JD Sports cameras show Rocca and the would-be shoplifter disappear out of picture for about 90 seconds before the former Collingwood and North Melbourne big man reappears with the goods in hand.

The entire incident played out between 10.20 and 10.30am.

Rocca later spoke to 7NEWS about the incident.

“It felt like 3kms, but it was probably only 50m and I felt like I was flying, like back in the old days. That’s the quickest I’ve run since the footy field I reckon,” he said.

“I saw this guy yanking some clothes from a sales assistant in the store and I asked her if he was stealing, and she said ‘yes’.

“He started running and all of a sudden I was running and chasing him as well.

“I yelled a couple of ‘f’ words and told him to stop, otherwise I wouldn’t be very happy.”

Rocca kicked 748 goals in 257 AFL games before moving to the US to become a punter in the NFL.

The 51-year-old averaged 42.9 yards from 517 punts for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Redskins between 2007-2013.

Rocca becomes the second AFL great this year to play the role of public-serving hero after Michael Voss performed a citizen’s arrest in August.

Voss was waiting for a coffee at Barton Milk Bar cafe in Hawthorn when a stolen car flipped onto the footpath nearby.

Two people emerged from the car and tried to flee on foot when Voss chased them down.

He then performed a citizen’s arrest before police arrived.

Originally published on 7NEWS Sport

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