| Peter Schwab | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Nickname | Schwabby | ||
| Born | (1960-09-22)22 September 1960 (age 65) | ||
| Original team | Bennettswood | ||
| Height | 180 cm (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Weight | 83 kg (183 lb) | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1980–1991 | Hawthorn | 171 (38) | |
| Coaching career3 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (W–L–D) | |
| 2000–2004 | Hawthorn | 104 (49–55–0) | |
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1991. 3 Coaching statistics correct as of 2004. | |||
| Career highlights | |||
| Sources:AFL Tables,AustralianFootball.com | |||
Peter Schwab (born 22 September 1960) is a formerAustralian rules footballer and coach who also became the Umpiring Director for theAFL.[1][2][3]
Recruited fromBennettswood Football Club, Schwab played withHawthorn Football Club from 1980 to 1991. He played 171 games and scored 38 goals. Schwab was used mainly as a utility. Schwab was also part of the 1983, 1986 and 1988 flags with Hawthorn.[3][4][5]
Schwab missed Hawthorn's1989 VFL Grand Final victory after he was suspended for strikingEssendon'sAndrew Manning.[3][6]
In 1992, Schwab became assistant coach at theRichmond Football Club.[5]
Schwab returned to Hawthorn as assistant coach under senior coachKen Judge in 1996 and 1997.[7][5]
Schwab then managed the AFL Umpiring Department for two years.[5]
Schwab became Hawthorn's senior coach for five seasons from 2000, when Schwab replacedKen Judge, who resigned as Hawthorn Football Club senior coach at the end the 1999 season. He took Hawthorn into the finals in his first year.[3] They eliminated Geelong in the first elimination final, but the following week they were eliminated by Kangaroos in the semi-final. He took the Hawks to the finals again in 2001, where they eliminated Sydney in the elimination final and they eliminated Port Adelaide in the semi-final. They eventually lost to Essendon in a thriller at the MCG in the Preliminary Finals. Also during the 2001 season, Schwab took a leave of absence for one game, after Schwab was first diagnosed with a benign arrhythmia of the heart.[8] Assistant coachChris Connolly then took over as interim senior coach in the absence of Schwab, for the Round 17, 2001 against Carlton, and Hawthorn won this game, withBen Dixon kicking the winning goalafter the siren.[8][9] In 2002 and 2003, Hawthorn under Schwab just missed out of the finals, finishing 10th and 9th.[10]
In the2004 season, Schwab announced during the pre-season that the Hawks would win the premiership; however, by Round 16, 2004, the Hawks under Schwab sat in the last position on the ladder with two wins and fourteen losses, and there was pressure on Schwab to resign.[11] Schwab then announced he would step down at the end of the 2004 season.[12] However, after one more game, the Hawks under Schwab were thrashed by theKangaroos by a margin of 80 points in Round 17, 2004, and he resigned immediately, citing it was too hard to continue.[13][14] Schwab was replaced by assistant coachDonald McDonald, who became caretaker senior coach of the Hawthorn Football Club for the remainder of the 2004 season.[13][15][16]
Years later, in 2022, Schwab reflected on his resignation as senior coach of Hawthorn in theHerald Sun and stated: "Once the 2004 season started, things started to spiral down, we had some personnel issues, but there were reasons why we were so poor, but failure accepts noalibis, so it kept coming and we weren’t getting any better. If anything we were getting worse", and "I wasn’t right and the players weren’t right".[17]
He also coached Australian rules football at prominent Melbourne SchoolWesley College, Melbourne, for a number of years from 2006. He currently works forDe La Salle College, Malvern, as of 2018.[18]
| Team | Year | Home and Away Season | Finals | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Drew | % | Position | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| HAW | 2000 | 12 | 10 | 0 | .545 | 8th out of 18 | 1 | 1 | .500 | Lost toNorth Melbourne inSemi Final |
| HAW | 2001 | 13 | 9 | 0 | .937 | 6th out of 18 | 2 | 1 | .667 | Lost toEssendon inPreliminary Final |
| HAW | 2002 | 11 | 11 | 0 | .500 | 10th out of 18 | — | — | — | — |
| HAW | 2003 | 12 | 10 | 0 | .545 | 9th out of 18 | — | — | — | — |
| HAW | 2004 | 2[n 1] | 15 | 0 | .118 | (resigned after R17) | — | — | — | — |
| Total | 50 | 55 | 0 | .476 | 3 | 2 | .600 | |||
In November 2013, Schwab took up the role of Senior Director of Coaching and Development atBrisbane Lions.[2] In this role, Schwab oversaw the management of the coaching staff and provided support to Senior Coach,Justin Leppitsch.[20] Schwab left the Brisbane Lions Football Club on 1 December 2016 to accept the role as the AFL's national umpiring director.[21]
Schwab then took up the role of AFL's national umpiring director on 1 December 2016,[22] until he was sacked from the position on 14 November 2017 after serving in the role for one year.[23]
Schwab went to Burwood High School and completed a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.), Physical education at university.Schwab was a PE teacher at St Michael's Grammar School