Brendon Bolton

Brendon Bolton (born 18 April 1979)^[2] is an Australian rules football coach who is currently serving as an assistant coach to Australian Football League club Hawthorn. Prior to serving in this role, he served as the head coach of Victorian Football League club Box Hill from November 2008 to October 2010, guiding the club to two consecutive finals series in his two seasons in charge.

Playing Career

At age 19, Bolton was fortunate to play in the 1998 TFL Grand Final. He won the Darrel Baldock medal for the best player on the ground that day. At twenty four, Bolton was appointed Captain-coach of North Hobart and he led them to the 2003 premiership. He won the Horrie Gorringe Medal that season.^[3]

Coaching Career

Brendon Bolton served as the head coach of Southern Football League club North Hobart, guiding the club to a Southern Football League Premiership in 2003.^[4]

Bolton served as the head coach of Victorian Football League club the Tasmanian Devils in 2006, taking over from former Fitzroy and North Melbourne player Matthew Armstrong, who left the club due to internal pressure from the Devil's playing group. He served as head coach for the remainder of the season, after which he was replaced with former Sydney Swans player Daryn Cresswell.

In 2008, Bolton served as the head coach of the Clarence Football Club in the Tasmanian Football League.^[5]

Bolton was appointed the head coach of the Box Hill Hawks on 6 November 2008.^[6] In his first season with the club in 2009, Bolton enjoyed a relatively successful season in charge, the Hawks finishing 5th on the VFL ladder, with 12 wins and 6 losses. The Hawks defeated Geelong in the First Elimination Final, before narrowly losing an epic semi-final to Port Melbourne 19.10(124) to 19.14 (128).

In Bolton's second season in charge of the club, the Hawks built on their improved form in 2009 with another strong performance in 2010. After an indifferent start to the season, the team came home strongly with seven consecutive wins in the second half of the season to again finish 5th on the ladder, with 11 wins and 7 losses. The Box Hill Hawks met the Bendigo Bombers at the Box Hill City Oval in the First Elimination Final, with the Hawks prevailing by 65 points, 20.16 (136) to 10.11 (71). In circumstances similar to that of the previous season, the Box Hill Hawks won its Elimination Final in strong fashion and again met Port Melbourne in the First Semi-final. In tense a match played in quagmire conditions at North Port Oval, the Box Hill Hawks defeated Port Melbourne for the first time in a finals game 14.11(95) to 12.17(89); the winning goal coming in the dying seconds. The following week, the Hawks met North Ballarat in the Preliminary Final at the Box Hill City Oval. Despite enjoying homeground advantage, the Hawks went down to the Roosters 16.18 (114) to 6.17 (53). The Roosters went on to claim the VFL Premiership, defeating the Northern Bullants 20.13 (133) to 13.8 (86)in the VFL Grand Final.

In his two seasons in charge of the Box Hill Hawks, Bolton coached 41 VFL Games including finals, achieving 26 wins and 15 losses for a winning percentage of 63.41%.

As a result of his good performances as the head coach of the Hawks, Bolton was promoted to an assistant coaching role with Box Hill's AFL affiliate Hawthorn.^[7]

Hawthorn

In 2013, Bolton coached the Hawthorn Hawks in a NAB Challenge Cup match against North Melbourne, with Hawthorn achieving a 65 point win.^[8]

He was the interim coach of the Hawthorn Football Club after head coach Alastair Clarkson was hospitalised and diagnosed with Guillain–Barré syndrome in May 2014.^{[9] [10]} After five matches, Clarkson received an endorsement from his doctors to resume his role as head coach.^[11] Bolton is the only man in the club's history to coach the club to five successive victories in his first five games.

References