Paul Roos (Australian rules footballer)
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Birth | 27 June 1963 , Melbourne, Australia |
| Recruited from | Beverley Hills Football Club |
| Playing career¹ | |
| Debut | 1982, Fitzroy Football Club vs. {{{debutopponent}}}, at {{{debutstadium}}} |
| Team(s) | Fitzroy (1982 - 1994)
269 games, 270 goals Sydney Swans (1995-1998) 87 games, 19 goals |
| Coaching career¹ | |
| Team(s) | Sydney Swans (2002-)
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| ¹ Statistics to end of Round 8, 2008 season | |
| Career highlights | |
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This article is about the Australian rules football player. For the South African rugby player, see: Paul Roos (South Africa).
Paul Roos (born 27 June 1963) is a former Australian rules football player in the VFL/AFL and now a coach in the Australian Football League. Paul Roos is one of Australia’s most admired sporting personalities and is also a Newspaper columnist and professional speaker, he is regarded as one of Australia’s leading motivational keynote presenters.[1]
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[edit] Playing career
Roos grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Donvale and played junior football with Beverley Hills Football Club in East Doncaster. He attended Donvale High School from 1975 until 1981.
Roos played the majority of his career with the Fitzroy Football Club in the centre half-back position. His first league game was round 4 on Sunday, 18 April 1982, against the Sydney Swans at the Sydney Cricket Ground.[2] Roos captained Fitzroy 122 times in seasons 1988-1990 and 1992-1994 during difficult times of the constant threat of merger and relocation. In 1986, Roos polled a career high 16 votes in the Brownlow Medal to finish runner-up. He ended his career with 121 Brownlow votes (98 with Fitzroy and 23 with Sydney).
During his playing career at Fitzroy, he was selected as an All-Australian in 1987, 1988, 1991 (as captain) and 1992 (as captain). He also represented Victoria in State of Origin as captain.
He finished his career at the Sydney Swans with 87 games and 19 goals during seasons 1995-1998. While Roos was at the Swans, he was one of the Sydney's best in the 1996 Grand Final loss to North Melbourne. He again qualified as an All-Australian in 1996 and 1997.
Roos has played more AFL/VFL games wearing the number 1 jumper than any other player - every one of his 356 games at Fitzroy and Sydney.
In his playing days, he was often cheered by supporters with a deep rolling roar of "ROOOOOOS!". This was so distinctive that even fans outside the ground could be in no doubt who was making the play at the time.
[edit] Coaching career
[edit] USA
When his career ended, Roos spent some time in the United States and coached the national side to victory over Canada. He is often credited as one of the key people in the success of the fledgling United States Australian Football League, establishing networks with key people in the US.
[edit] Sydney Swans
Returning to Australia and the Swans, Roos then became an assistant coach to Rodney Eade. Part-way through the 2002 season, with the Swans' record getting worse by the week, Eade was Sacked. The club administration started the search for a new coach, and it is widely believed that negotiations with Terry Wallace were at an advanced stage. Nevertheless, when Eade finally went with several games of the minor round still to be played, Roos was appointed Caretaker coach for the remainder of the 2002 season, a move hugely popular with Swans fans, who remembered his great contribution to the club as a player.
As Caretaker coach, Roos immediately transformed the dispirited Swans players. Several who had struggled under Eade blossomed under his leadership. Surprisingly, the Swans won most of their remaining games that year, and the fans soon let it be known who they wanted as coach by reviving the famous "ROOOOS" call. Despite this, the club administration continued their talks with Wallace (and perhaps others). Finally however, they were unable to ignore the players' own support for Roos, when, after a win late in the season, all the players surrounded Roos on the field and, unprecedentedly, themselves joined in the "ROOOOS" call. The administrators knew when they were beaten, and appointed Roos coach for the 2003 season (despite reportedly having to pay Wallace a considerable amount to unwind their almost-concluded deal with him).
Under Roos' coaching, Sydney have participated in every finals series since 2003. They made it to the preliminary final stage in 2003, the semifinal stage in 2004, won the Premiership in 2005 and almost retained in 2006, losing by only one point, and then got eliminated in the first week of the 2007 finals.
[edit] 2005
In 2005, Roos' coaching style was criticized by AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou, who referred to the Swans' defensive and negative style of play (presumably the tactics of flooding, and retaining possession through short chip kicks). Demetriou even went so far as to claim that the Swans would never win a premiership playing such an unattractive style of football. As a result of Demetriou's criticisms, the Swans were labeled by the media, especially in Melbourne, as the ugly ducklings.
Roos and his Swans were condemned for the way they played against St. Kilda in Round 10, 2005, with most media, led by Demetriou, describing them as "disgusting" and "ugly". There were also claims the Swans "misbehaved" during the match. The Swans lost the match 15.11.(101) to 8.10.(58) [1], a result which appeared to be the turning point in the Swans' season, but gained revenge in the Preliminary Final with a 96-65 win, denying the Saints a shot at their second premiership. Coincidentally, in the Grand Final, they also kicked 8.10.(58), this time winning against the West Coast Eagles.
Roos proved his critics wrong by leading the Swans to their first premiership in 72 years, with a hard-fought win against the West Coast Eagles in the most thrilling Grand Final for a number of years. Many believe that the AFL's change of rules for the 2006 season was in direct response to the Swans' style of play, but this was later denied by the AFL.
[edit] 2006
In the 2006 pre-season, Roos briefly returned to the US with his Swans side for an exhibition match against the Kangaroos at UCLA, and suggested that this should become an annual event.
Things became serious when the Swans lost at home to the rampant Adelaide Crows by 39 points, 15.11 (101) to 8.14 (62). Roos cited a lack of hunger and even went so far as to say that his team were "clearly incapable of winning the premiership".[3]
[edit] 2007
In Round 12, Sydney faced Collingwood, and lost in a game that Roos described as the worst game he had ever coached in his five-year stint at the Swans. He responded by dropping star forward Barry Hall, who had been struggling with injury.
[edit] 2008
In early 2008 Roos was alleged to have been in the centre of a match-fixing controversy involving wingman Jarrad McVeigh. His alleged instructions to McVeigh was to "go forward, just don't kick a goal" during the final stages of the Swans' NAB Cup match against Hawthorn, which the Swans lost by two points. Roos was cleared of any wrongdoing by the AFL one month later, as it turned out to be a joke regarding McVeigh's poor accuracy during the 2007 AFL season.
He also coached from the bench in the first match of the 2008 season in which his Swans was beaten by St Kilda in a tight match.
[edit] References
- AFL Tables (2007). Paul Roos: Statistics. Retrieved online (26 October 2007). http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/players/P/Paul_Roos.html
- Australian Football League (2007). Statistics: All Australian. Accessed online (26 October 2007). http://stats.afl.com.au/public/statistics/all_Australian/all_Australian_2006.shtml?season_idIndex=0
- ^ Paul Roos | Sporting Personality for Motivational Speaking, Media Presenting, Corporate Training AFL Coaching
- ^ Final Siren (2008). Fitzroy 1982. Retrieved on 31 March 2008.
- ^ We can't win the flag, says Roos - AFL - Sport - smh.com.au
[edit] External links
- Paul Roos Official Paul Roos Website
| Preceded by Greg Williams |
Leigh Matthews Trophy 1986 |
Succeeded by Tony Lockett |
| Preceded by Matt Rendell |
Fitzroy captain 1988 - 1990 |
Succeeded by Richard Osborne |
| Preceded by Richard Osborne |
Fitzroy captain 1992 - 1994 |
Succeeded by Brad Boyd |
| Preceded by Rodney Eade |
Sydney Swans coach 2002 - |
Succeeded by 'Incumbent' |
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