| Mick Nunan | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Michael Allen Nunan | ||
| Date of birth | (1949-04-12)12 April 1949 (age 75) | ||
| Original team(s) | Port Pirie | ||
| Height | 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) | ||
| Weight | 63 kg (139 lb) | ||
| Playing career | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1966–1977 | Sturt | 188 (259) | |
| 1971 | Richmond | 1(3) | |
| 1978–1979 | Norwood | 36(34) | |
| 1980–1982 | North Adelaide | 34(18) | |
| Total | 259 (313) | ||
| Representative team honours | |||
| Years | Team | Games (Goals) | |
| South Australia | 3 (?) | ||
| Coaching career | |||
| Years | Club | Games (W–L–D) | |
| 1981–1992 | North Adelaide | 279 (157–120–2) | |
| 1996 | Fitzroy | 14(1–13–0) | |
| Total | 293 (158–133–2) | ||
| Career highlights | |||
| |||
| Sources:AFL Tables,AustralianFootball.com | |||
Michael Allen Nunan (born 12 April 1949) is a formerAustralian rules footballer who played for theSturt Football Club,Norwood Football Club and theNorth Adelaide Football Club in theSouth Australian National Football League (SANFL), as well as for theRichmond Football Club in theVictorian Football League (VFL).
Nunan had a highly decorated playing career, winning premierships with Sturt and Norwood before becoming coach of North Adelaide and leading the club to two premierships. He was alsoFitzroy Football Club's last official AFL senior coach in 1996, resigning halfway through the season as news came out that Fitzroy's AFL operations would be taken over byBrisbane Bears and that the Bears would become theBrisbane Lions.[1]
Nunan was recognized for his achievements in South Australian football when he was among the inaugural inductees at the establishment of theSouth Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2002.
Nunan played his football as a rover.[2] He joinedSturt fromPort Pirie in 1966 and during his 188 games with the Double Blues, he played in their 1969, 1970, 1974 and 1976 premiership sides. Having spent his whole playing career at Sturt under the tutelage of the legendaryJack Oatey, it was no surprise that Nunan was heavily influenced by him when he later became a coach.[2] He played in the 1978 premiership side during the first of his two seasons atNorwood. He then coachedNorth Adelaide to premierships in 1987 and 1991 during his twelve seasons as senior coach.
His solitaryVFL senior game came while he was onNational Service training inMelbourne. The previous week he had played in theRichmond reserves side while fellow Sturt footballer andconscript,Malcolm Greenslade, played in the senior side. The next week they both played in the seniors. Both then returned to the SANFL.
Nunan was appointed senior coach ofFitzroy Football Club for the1996 season, when he replaced caretaker senior coachAlan McConnell, who replacedBernie Quinlan, after Quinlan was sacked in the middle of the 1995 season.[3]
Nunan was at the helm for Fitzroy's last ever AFL win, in Round 8 againstFremantle atWhitten Oval on 16 May 1996. It was an emotional day for many Fitzroy fans, and he described it as "a relief and reward for those players who had worked very hard to improve their skill levels".[4] After Fitzroy lost to Essendon in Round 14, 1996 and just 48 hours after the Fitzroy administrator at the time negotiated a deal with Brisbane Bears whereby Brisbane would take over Fitzroy's AFL operations, Nunan announced his resignation as senior coach of Fitzroy Football Club to the staff and players, which he had planned to do if the deal with Brisbane went ahead. As he left the room, he remembered that the club doorman, Tommy Couch, had taken a liking to Nunan's jacket and had asked him if he could have it if he couldn't fulfill his commitments. So he returned and handed Couch the jacket.[5][6][7][8] Nunan was then replaced byAlan McConnell, who returned to the role in his second stint as caretaker senior coach of Fitzroy Football Club in the 1996 season for Fitzroy's last eight games within the AFL.[3] At the end of the 1996 season, the Fitzroy Football Club's AFL operations were taken over byBrisbane Bears, and Brisbane Bears then becameBrisbane Lions.[1][9][10]