| Paul Roos | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Roos in 2023 | |||
| Personal information | |||
| Nickname | Roosy | ||
| Born | (1963-06-27)27 June 1963 (age 62) | ||
| Original team | Beverley Hills (YJFL) | ||
| Height | 188 cm (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Weight | 88 kg (194 lb) | ||
| Position | Key Defender | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1982–1994 | Fitzroy | 269 (270) | |
| 1995–1998 | Sydney | 87(19) | |
| Total | 356 (289) | ||
| Representative team honours | |||
| Years | Team | Games (Goals) | |
| Victoria | 14 (11) | ||
| Coaching career3 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (W–L–D) | |
| 2002–2010 | Sydney | 202 (116–84–2) | |
| 2014–2016 | Melbourne | 66 (21–45–0) | |
| Total | 268 (137–129-2) | ||
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1998. 3 Coaching statistics correct as of 2016. | |||
| Career highlights | |||
Player
Representative
Coach
| |||
| Sources:AFL Tables,AustralianFootball.com | |||
Paul Roos (born 27 June 1963) is a formerAustralian rules football coach who coached theSydney Swans andMelbourne Football Club in theAustralian Football League (AFL). As a player, he representedFitzroy andSydney during the 1980s and 1990s.
A versatile key-position player, Roos was a strong mark who was excellent at ground level, and in his prime was rated the best footballer in Australia.[1] He was one of the Fitzroy Lions' finest players in its final years, and was named at centre half back in Fitzroy's Team of the Century. In his 17 seasons of League football, he was only reported once, for abusive language, and was found not guilty.[2]
Roos was inducted into theAustralian Football Hall of Fame in 2005. He has won many accolades throughout his career: he was namedAll-Australian seven times; received the league's most valuable player (MVP) award; and represented Victoria on 14 occasions in State of Origin. He is also the AFL/VFL record holder for the number of games played wearing the number 1 jumper, which he wore throughout his 356-game career with both the Fitzroy Lions and the Sydney Swans.
After finishing as a player, Roos went on to become a successful coach. He was the senior coach of the Sydney Swans from 2002 to 2010 and guided the Swans to the2005 Premiership after they had finished the regular season in 3rd place on the ladder. The Swans' previous Premiership had been 72 years earlier when they were the South Melbourne Swans. Roos then coached theMelbourne Football Club from 2014 to 2016.
 | This section of abiography of a living persondoes notinclude anyreferences or sources. Please help by addingreliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourcedmust be removed immediately, especially if potentiallylibelous or harmful.(May 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Roos grew up in theMelbourne suburb ofDonvale and played junior football with Beverley Hills Football Club inDoncaster East. He attendedDonvale High School from 1975 until 1981. As Beverley Hills was inFitzroy'srecruiting zone, Roos was selected to play for the Fitzroy Lions in theirunder-19s team.
Roos made his senior VFL debut forFitzroy in Round 4 of the1982 season againstSydney, the club he would eventually move to 13 years later. Also making his debut along with Roos was 16-year-oldGary Pert,[3] who became one of Roos' best teammates.[4] In Round 9, he was named at full-forward againstSt Kilda and kicked seven goals in a 47-point win.[5][6]
In 1986, Roos polled a career high 16 votes in theBrownlow Medal to finish runner-up. He ended his career with 121 Brownlow votes (98 with Fitzroy and 23 with Sydney).[5]
Roos was appointed captain of Fitzroy in1988 and led the club in 122 games until 1994.[7]
During his playing career at Fitzroy, Roos was selected as anAll-Australian in 1985, 1987, 1988, 1991 (as captain) and 1992 (as captain). He also represented Victoria inState of Origin as captain.[7]
Roos left Fitzroy at the end of1994 to join the Sydney Swans. In leaving Fitzroy for Sydney, Roos cited financial difficulty, the departure of key players (such as Gary Pert toCollingwood) and the club's relocation to theWestern Oval as the main reasons for moving to Sydney.[4]
Roos played forFitzroy Football Club from 1982 until 1994, where he played for a total of 269 games and kicked a total of 270 goals.[8]
Roos joinedSydney Swans in1995 on a three-year contract.[4] While Roos was at the Swans, he was one of Sydney's best in the1996 AFL Grand Final loss toNorth Melbourne. He again qualified as an All-Australian in 1996 and 1997. He finished his playing career at theSydney Swans with 87 games and 19 goals at the end of1998.[7][5]
In his playing days, he was often cheered by supporters with a distinctive, deep rolling roar of "ROOOOOOS!".
When his playing career ended, in 1999, Roos moved to theUnited States, his wife’s homeland, Roos then spent some time in the United States and coached thenational side to victory overCanada. He is often credited as one of the key people in the success of the fledglingUnited States Australian Football League, establishing networks with key people in the country.[9]
_(cropped).jpg)
Returning to Australia and the Sydney Swans, Roos then became an assistant coach under senior coachRodney Eade in 2001.[10] Part-way through the 2002 season, with the Swans' record becoming worse by the week, Eade resigned. The club administration started the search for a new coach and it is widely believed that negotiations withTerry 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 senior 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.[11][5][12]
As caretaker senior 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 (six of their last ten), 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 in the last game of the year againstRichmond, 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 as full-time senior coach for the 2003 season (despite reportedly having to pay Wallace a considerable amount to unwind their almost-concluded deal with him).[11][5]
Under Roos' coaching, Sydney Swans participated in every finals series between 2003 and 2008. They made it to the preliminary final stage in 2003, the semi-final stage in 2004, won the Premiership in 2005 and almost retained it in 2006, losing the Grand Final by only one point, and then got eliminated in the first week of the 2007 finals. They made it to the second week of the 2008 finals. But 2009 was the second time under Roos' leadership that they didn't make the finals.[11]
Roos also implemented a policy of giving up first round draft picks in exchange for players from other clubs: namely,Darren Jolly,Ted Richards,Peter Everitt,Martin Mattner,Rhyce Shaw andShane Mumford in the years 2004–2009 inclusive.[13] all of whom earned more game-time than they did at their original clubs; this policy paying off for Paul Roos.[5]
In 2005, Roos' coaching style was criticised by AFLCEOAndrew Demetriou, who referred to the Swans'defensive andnegative style of play (presumably the tactics offlooding, 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 labelled by the media, especially in Melbourne, as theugly ducklings.[5]
Roos and his Swans were criticised for their game plan in a match againstSt Kilda in mid-2005. This led to the media, led byAndrew Demetriou and theNetwork Ten commentary team, led byStephen Quartermain,Tim Lane andRobert Walls describing their game plan as "disgusting" and "ugly".[14] The Swans misbehaved during the match, and lost the match 15.11 (101) – 8.10 (58),[15] a result which proved to be the turning point in the Swans' season, only losing three more matches (by single margins) for the rest of the year. Roos and the Swans would however have the last laugh as they defeated the Saints in the preliminary final with a 15.6 (96) – 9.11 (65) win, denying them a shot at their second premiership. Coincidentally, in the2005 AFL Grand Final, the Sydney Swans under Roos, would also kick 8.10 (58), this time defeating theWest Coast Eagles which scored 7.12 (54) to win thepremiership.[5]
Roos proved his critics wrong by leading the Swans to their first premiership in 72 years, with a hard-fought win against theWest 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.[5]
In the 2006 pre-season, Roos briefly returned to the US with his Swans side for anexhibition match against the Kangaroos atUCLA, and suggested that this should become an annual event.
Things became serious when the Swans lost at home to the rampantAdelaide 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 was "clearly incapable of winning the premiership",[16] but the Sydney Swans under Roos managed to reach the2006 AFL Grand Final against theWest Coast Eagles, losing by one point.
In Round 12, 2007, Sydney facedCollingwood, 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 forwardBarry Hall, who had been struggling with injury.
Roos also accusedCarlton of tanking to gain a third successivepriority draft pick when the Blues lost its final 11 matches of the regular season, most by lopsided margins (which ultimately led to the sacking of his Carlton counterpartDenis Pagan). This included a 62-point pasting from Roos' Swans in Round 15, the penultimate round before Pagan was sacked.
In early 2008, Roos was alleged to have been in the centre of a match-fixing controversy involving wingmanJarrad 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 againstHawthorn, 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 the2007 AFL season.
He also coached from the bench inthe first match of the 2008 season in which his Swans were beaten bySt Kilda in a tight match.
In 2008, the Swans under Roos made the finals in 6th position and then made a terrific 35 point come-from-behind win against the North Melbourne Kangaroos in the elimination final.[5]
The2009 season, turned out to be Roos' worst ever season at the Swans, and the Swans' worst season since 1995, when it failed to make the finals, winning only eight games (five of which came in the first nine rounds of the season) and finishing in 12th position. At the end of the 2009 season, Roos announced that he would retire and step down as senior coach of Sydney Swans at the end of the 2010 season.[17][5][18]
Roos coached out the2010 AFL season where the Sydney Swans returned to the finals after last year's absence from the finals. They defeatedCarlton by five points in its home elimination final but the following week were eliminated by theWestern Bulldogs in the second week of the finals by the same margin. He retired at the end of the season and was replaced by assistant coachJohn Longmire in a succession plan. In all he coached 202 games for Sydney, including 16 finals, 9 of which were won.[11][5][19][20]
On 6 September 2013, Roos was appointed senior coach of theMelbourne Football Club on a two-year contract, with the option of a third year.[21][22][23][5] Roos replaced Melbourne Football Club caretaker senior coachNeil Craig, who replacedMark Neeld, after Neeld was sacked in the middle of the 2013 season.[24] On 28 July 2014, Roos signed on for the third year.[25]
He has been accredited for helping the Demons improve their fortunes on the field; the club under Roos in his first season as Melbourne Demons Football Club senior coach in the2014 season won four games for the season and eighteen losses, where they finished seventeenth, which is the second-last placed position on the ladder.[26] However this doubled their total tally from the previous season, and its percentage improved from 54.07% in 2013 to 68.04% in 2014.[27] He also delivered on the promise of the club being "the hardest to play against".[28] However, in Round 21, 2014, Roos and the Demons came under fire after suffering a 64-point defeat to an injury-hitGreater Western Sydney side which could only operate a one-man bench in the entire second half.[29]
In the2015 season, Melbourne Demons under Roos finished in thirteenth place on the ladder with seven wins and fifteen losses.[26] In the2016 season, Melbourne Demons under Roos finished in eleventh place on the ladder with ten wins and twelve losses.[26]
Roos stepped down as Melbourne Football Club senior coach at the end of the 2016 season and was replaced by assistant coachSimon Goodwin in a succession plan.[30]
After retiring from coaching at AFL level, Roos was appointed head coach of the QBE Sydney Swans Academy, he is the main leader of the academy which has over 300 players. In addition, he had several football-related media roles, including writing for theHerald Sun and doing match day analysis forFox Footy. He also hostedOn the Couch onFox Footy alongsideGerard Healy andMike Sheahan between 2011 and 2013. Following his tenure as Melbourne coach, in November 2016 Roos joined radio stationTriple M in a special comments role as well as returning to Fox Footy as an expert commentator both positions he retains.[31]
Prior to being appointed as the senior coach of the Melbourne Demons in 2013, Roos was reluctant to coach another club after leaving the Sydney Swans. Despite informal inquiries from other clubs likeWest Coast,[32]Adelaide,[33]Melbourne,[34]Gold Coast,[35][36]Carlton,[37] and the successor to his old club Fitzroy, theBrisbane Lions,[38] Roos had repeatedly insisted he has no intention of coaching another AFL club[39][40]
Roos was critical of thesubstitute rule which was introduced by the AFL in 2011, claiming that the rule, which aimed to lessen injuries resulting from collisions, could have the opposite effect of forcing injured players to stay on the field:
The thing that concerns me the most is you can interchange a guy in the third quarter so he comes off, can't come back on again, and you get an injury in the last quarter of the game and you've got a healthy player sitting on the bench doing nothing and an unhealthy player still in your rotations. That really, really concerns me.[41]
G | Goals | K | Kicks | D | Disposals | T | Tackles |
B | Behinds | H | Handballs | M | Marks |
| Led the league after season and finals |
| Season | Team | No. | Games | Totals | Averages (per game) | Votes | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | B | K | H | D | M | T | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | |||||
| 1982 | Fitzroy | 1 | 13 | 26 | 15 | 66 | 34 | 100 | 31 | N/a | 2.0 | 1.2 | 5.1 | 2.6 | 7.7 | 2.4 | N/a | 0 |
| 1983 | Fitzroy | 1 | 23 | 22 | 19 | 235 | 140 | 375 | 111 | N/a | 1.0 | 0.8 | 10.2 | 6.1 | 16.3 | 4.8 | N/a | 3 |
| 1984 | Fitzroy | 1 | 22 | 10 | 10 | 283 | 118 | 401 | 129 | N/a | 0.5 | 0.5 | 12.9 | 5.4 | 18.2 | 5.9 | N/a | 6 |
| 1985 | Fitzroy | 1 | 22 | 3 | 1 | 328 | 139 | 467 | 153 | N/a | 0.1 | 0.0 | 14.9 | 6.3 | 21.2 | 7.0 | N/a | 16 |
| 1986 | Fitzroy | 1 | 24 | 5 | 3 | 371 | 158 | 529 | 150 | N/a | 0.2 | 0.1 | 15.5 | 6.6 | 22.0 | 6.3 | N/a | 16 |
| 1987 | Fitzroy | 1 | 21 | 29 | 17 | 300 | 132 | 432 | 169 | 16 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 14.3 | 6.3 | 20.6 | 8.0 | 0.8 | 10 |
| 1988 | Fitzroy | 1 | 20 | 30 | 21 | 278 | 128 | 406 | 149 | 26 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 13.9 | 6.4 | 20.3 | 7.5 | 1.3 | 4 |
| 1989 | Fitzroy | 1 | 20 | 36 | 16 | 308 | 76 | 384 | 140 | 19 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 15.4 | 3.8 | 19.2 | 7.0 | 1.0 | 8 |
| 1990 | Fitzroy | 1 | 22 | 49 | 38 | 280 | 97 | 377 | 137 | 16 | 2.2 | 1.7 | 12.7 | 4.4 | 17.1 | 6.2 | 0.7 | 3 |
| 1991 | Fitzroy | 1 | 22 | 21 | 18 | 288 | 173 | 461 | 123 | 18 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 13.1 | 7.9 | 21.0 | 5.6 | 0.8 | 11 |
| 1992 | Fitzroy | 1 | 22 | 17 | 9 | 388 | 143 | 531 | 149 | 28 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 17.6 | 6.5 | 24.1 | 6.8 | 1.3 | 10 |
| 1993 | Fitzroy | 1 | 16 | 8 | 13 | 223 | 141 | 364 | 109 | 28 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 13.9 | 8.8 | 22.8 | 6.8 | 1.8 | 5 |
| 1994 | Fitzroy | 1 | 22 | 14 | 11 | 316 | 207 | 523 | 141 | 33 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 14.4 | 9.4 | 23.8 | 6.4 | 1.5 | 6 |
| 1995 | Sydney | 1 | 21 | 7 | 13 | 234 | 187 | 421 | 113 | 14 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 11.1 | 8.9 | 20.0 | 5.4 | 0.7 | 2 |
| 1996 | Sydney | 1 | 24 | 4 | 5 | 276 | 204 | 480 | 156 | 24 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 11.5 | 8.5 | 20.0 | 6.5 | 1.0 | 14 |
| 1997 | Sydney | 1 | 21 | 6 | 3 | 240 | 158 | 398 | 98 | 15 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 11.4 | 7.5 | 19.0 | 4.7 | 0.7 | 7 |
| 1998 | Sydney | 1 | 21 | 2 | 4 | 174 | 174 | 348 | 82 | 25 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 16.6 | 3.9 | 1.2 | 0 |
| Career | 356 | 289 | 216 | 4588 | 2409 | 6997 | 2140 | 262 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 12.9 | 6.8 | 19.7 | 6.0 | 1.0 | 121 | ||
| Legend | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | Wins | L | Losses | D | Draws | W% | Winning percentage | LP | Ladder position | LT | League teams | ||
| Season | Team | Games | W | L | D | W % | LP | LT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Sydney | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 60.0% | 11 | 16 |
| 2003 | Sydney | 24 | 15 | 9 | 0 | 62.5% | 4 | 16 |
| 2004 | Sydney | 24 | 14 | 10 | 0 | 58.3% | 6 | 16 |
| 2005 | Sydney | 26 | 18 | 8 | 0 | 69.2% | 3 | 16 |
| 2006 | Sydney | 25 | 16 | 9 | 0 | 64.0% | 4 | 16 |
| 2007 | Sydney | 23 | 12 | 10 | 1 | 54.3% | 7 | 16 |
| 2008 | Sydney | 24 | 13 | 10 | 1 | 56.3% | 6 | 16 |
| 2009 | Sydney | 22 | 8 | 14 | 0 | 36.4% | 12 | 16 |
| 2010 | Sydney | 24 | 14 | 10 | 0 | 58.3% | 5 | 16 |
| 2014 | Melbourne | 22 | 4 | 18 | 0 | 18.2% | 17 | 18 |
| 2015 | Melbourne | 22 | 7 | 15 | 0 | 31.8% | 13 | 18 |
| 2016 | Melbourne | 22 | 10 | 12 | 0 | 45.5% | 11 | 18 |
| Career totals | 268 | 137 | 129 | 2 | 51.5% | |||
Teams
Individual
Teams
Individual
In 1992, Roos married American native Tami Hardy, a meditation teacher fromSan Diego.[44] They have two sons, Dylan and Tyler, the latter of whom appeared onThe Amazing Race Australia in 2019[45] and is currently dating American tennis playerAmanda Anisimova.[46][47][48][49][50]
In September 2003, Roos ruptured hisAchilles tendon during a game of social basketball, and was seen on crutches during the Swans' qualifying final win overPort Adelaide atAAMI Stadium the following weekend.[51]
In 2008 he was namedAustralian Father of the Year in recognition of his ability to balance the needs of his family with the responsibilities of managing a high-profile sports team.[52]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
