Geelong legend Garry Hocking has laughed off a scary theft next door to his home that saw the thief try to ‘squash’ him into a car when he intervened.
The 57-year-old said he was cleaning his car at his home in Belmont, in Geelong’s southern suburbs, when the incident unfolded on Thursday.
Hocking said he was first alerted to the situation when he heard a car playing loud dance music near his house, which is quite unusual for the area.
The veteran of 274 games for the Cats said he saw a man take a generator from a ute next door and put it into his car.
‘I’ve looked through the bedroom window … and there’s a bloke next door in the ute,’ Hocking told Triple M radio, cracking jokes as he described what unfolded.
‘I’ve seen him rip off the generator, I’ve raced out [and yelled], “Oi!”
Geelong footy legend Garry Hocking (pictured) has revealed a thief attempted to squash him into a car as he tried to stop a theft next-door to his home last Thursday
Hocking (pictured being chaired off the field after his 250th game for the Cats) saw the man stealing a generator and tried to pull it back out of his car
‘He’s thrown it in the back seat [of his car] and for the life of me I’m trying to get this generator out, it’s hooked on the back of the seat.
‘He’s gone and tried to drive off, chaos happening, my next door neighbour thought it was a [Facebook] Marketplace gone wrong.
‘All of a sudden he’s tried to veer me into the ute, so I’ve let go.
‘He tried to squash me between the car as I was trying to get the generator out and it was sitting there near the ute he’s pinched the generator from.
‘[I was] so disappointed I couldn’t get it out, I just had to let go.’
Triple M panel member Jay Clarke then asked, ‘So you risked your life?’
‘These are the things you do, mate,’ Hocking replied, before revealing how his wife reacted.
‘She was out the front. She was in tears, thinking she might have to get a bag and pick up me arms, me legs, me head, me torso,’ he told the panel, which also featured his fellow Geelong great Isaac Smith.
The veteran of 274 AFL games said his wife was ‘in tears’ after witnessing the incident
The Daily Mail has contacted Victoria Police for comment.
Hocking, who was nicknamed ‘Buddha’, was one of Geelong’s biggest stars in a career that lasted from 1987 to 2001.
He won club best and fairest awards in 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1996, and was a four-time All Australian in addition to finishing in the top three of the Brownlow Medal count four times.
Hocking was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2008 and is a member of Geelong’s team of the century.
He made headlines in 1999 when he changed his name to ‘Whiskas’ by deed poll in a publicity stunt to promote the popular cat food brand in return for a large sum of money that helped the club at a time when it was in dire straits financially.
