Warwick Capper

Warwick Capper (born 12 June 1963) is a retired high profile professional Australian rules football full-forward who played with the Sydney Swans with a short stint at the Brisbane Bears in the VFL (now AFL).

Capper kicked 388 goals in 124 games from 1983–1991,^[1] his best season being 1987 when he kicked 103 goals. He was known for his ability to take high flying marks and he won the Mark of the Year at the peak of his career in 1987.

For a long time, Capper was one of the few well-known Australian Rules players in Brisbane and Sydney and is known for his flamboyant on and off field personality.

Early life

Warwick Capper was born in Victoria. He grew up in Huntingdale.

He began playing football for the Oakleigh Dragons Football Club, winning the under-11 best and fairest in 1974, playing in the same team as David Rhys Jones.^[2]

It was not long before Capper began to attract the attention of talent scouts, and he was recruited by the Sydney Swans during the club's first years in Sydney.

Football career

Capper was noted for his marking ability rather than his kicking accuracy. With several spectacular high marks in his career, he was nominated for Mark of the Year on several occasions and won in 1987, with a mark that is captured in Jamie Cooper's painting the Game That Made Australia, commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport.^[3]

Although Capper was more famous for his marking, in 1987 he managed 103 goals at an average of 4.48 per game. He finished runner up in the Coleman Medal in both 1986 (to Brian Taylor) and 1987 (to Tony Lockett).

He was also well known for his looks, his long blonde locks of hair, deeply tanned skin, white boots and extremely tight shorts.^[4] This formed part of the flamboyant image of the Swans club during the years in which it was owned by Geoffrey Edelsten.

When Capper moved to the Brisbane Bears at the end of the 1987 season with a $350,000 three year contract, he became the highest paid player in the VFL. Capper did not do well in Queensland and returned to Sydney after having kicked only 71 goals in 34 games.

At the end of his VFL career, he returned to Queensland in 1992 to play semi-professionally with the Southport Sharks.

Off-field notoriety

In 1985 Capper released a single "I Only Take What's Mine",^[5] referred to as "wonderfully woeful".^[6] In 1986 made a guest appearance on Australian soap opera Neighbours^[7] and has also starred in a pornographic movie.^[8]

Since retiring from football, Capper has juggled media appearances and various jobs including council roadworker. In 1993, Capper posed in an explicit pictorial with his then-wife, Joanne Capper, for the August issue of Australian Penthouse magazine. He also announced that he was to become a male stripper.^[9]

He has had continued participation in football only through charity AFL Legends Match. In 2002, he had a brief stint as skills coach for former club Southport.^[10]

Capper makes regular appearances on television as a guest on shows such as The AFL Footy Show. He appeared briefly on the reality television show Celebrity Big Brother, but he was ejected from the series by the show's producer for exposing his penis to fellow housemate Kimberley Cooper during an argument.^[11]

In 2005, Capper released an autobiography called Fool Forward in which he openly admitted to using illegal drugs (amphetamines) during his VFL/AFL career.^[12] This caused controversy since such use would not be sanctioned under the current AFL anti-doping policy.

Shortly after the Sydney Swans won the 2005 AFL Grand Final, Capper again made tabloid news due to his split with longtime wife Joanne.

In 2006, Capper again made the news after an incident with film director Kayran Noskca, leading to a broken nose.^[13]

In 2008, Capper again made news headlines when he had cosmetic surgery involving botox and liposuction.^[14] He also challenged former professional boxer Jeff Fenech to a fight.^[15] In 2009, he did box in a promotional charity match, losing a match against Wendell Sailor, whom Capper had previously criticised.^[16]

In late 2010 he once again put himself back in the spotlight by becoming the face of a major promotional campaign for Quickbeds.com a discount accommodation website. He appears in online and off-line promotional material and across the accommodation website promoting the website as 'cheap and easy – just like me'.^[17]

In 2011 Capper made a cameo appearance in the premiere episode of the television program The Joy of Sets,^[18] recommencing his short-lived alliance with the former hosts of Get This. Capper continued to make unlikely cameo appearances during re-enactments in subsequent episodes, dressed in nothing but gold hotpants.^[19]

Capper was a participant on The Celebrity Apprentice Australia, where he was the first contestant to be fired.^[20]

2009 Queensland state election

Capper intended to contest the 2009 Queensland state election in the electoral district of Beaudesert as an independent. Capper announced he would run after Pauline Hanson announced officially that she is to be a candidate in the seat.^[21] Capper's political endeavour collapsed a few days later when he was advised that he had missed the midday deadline on 3 March to register with the Electoral Commission Queensland.^[22] When asked if Capper's running in the election was a joke, his campaign manager, Mark Jackson, replied that politics was a joke.^[23]

Lads' magazine Zoo Weekly bankrolled his short-lived campaign, but denied it was responsible for not lodging his registration, blaming Capper's campaign manager.^[23]

References

• Ken Piesse (1995). The Complete Guide to Australian Football. Pan Macmillan Australia. ISBN 0-330-35712-3. 
• 60 minutes interview

External links

• Warwick Capper
• Warwick Capper's statistics from AFL Tables