'Give the stuff back': Unlikely pursuit ensues between AFL legend and shopping centre thief

A former AFL footballer has chased down a brazen shoplifter at a Melbourne shopping centre.

AFL legend Saverio Rocca was at Northland Shopping Centre yesterday when he witnessed a shopper leaving a store without paying.

"I approached the guy and said, 'You shouldn't be doing that ... give the stuff back'," Rocca told 9News.

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"He had one look back at me and then took off."

The 51-year-old gave chase before the five-finger thief dropped his loot, which was returned to the store.

Witness Danny Reddon was shocked to see Rocca's off-field heroics.

"He's a big guy ... I said, 'that's Sav Rocca'," Reddon said.

"He took the clothes back and I said, 'well done Sav', and he said, 'if he kept running I would have got him'," Reddon said.

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"It felt like about 3 kilometres but it was probably only about 50 metres," Rocca said.

"I felt like I was flying, like I was back in the old days, but I wouldn't have been moving very quick at all."

Rocca was gifted a 40 per cent discount for his good deed, but insists his professional running days are behind him.

"The running on the footy field is long gone ... that's the quickest I've run since the footy field," he said.

Rocca kicked 758 goals in more than 250 games with Collingwood and North Melbourne throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

He then joined the American football ranks as a punter with Washington and the Philadelphia Eagles.