| David Parkin OAM | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | David Alexander Parkin | ||
| Date of birth | (1942-09-12)12 September 1942 (age 82) | ||
| Original team(s) | Melbourne High School | ||
| Height | 180 cm (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Weight | 80 kg (176 lb) | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1961–1974 | Hawthorn | 211 (21) | |
| 1975 | Subiaco | 8 (2) | |
| Total | 219 (23) | ||
| Representative team honours | |||
| Years | Team | Games (Goals) | |
| Victoria | 5 (?) | ||
| Coaching career3 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (W–L–D) | |
| 1977–1980 | Hawthorn | 94(57–37–0) | |
| 1981–1985 | Carlton | 120(79–40–1) | |
| 1986–1988 | Fitzroy | 69(30–39–0) | |
| 1991–2000 | Carlton | 235(140–94–1) | |
| Total | 518 (306–210–2) | ||
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1974. 3 Coaching statistics correct as of 2000. | |||
| Career highlights | |||
| |||
| Sources:AFL Tables,AustralianFootball.com | |||
David Alexander Parkin (born 12 September 1942) is a formerAustralian rules footballer and coach who played for theHawthorn Football Club in theVictorian Football League (VFL) and for theSubiaco Football Club in theWestern Australian National Football League (WANFL).
However, Parkin's stature in the history of Australian rules football is based mainly on his achievements as a coach. Building on his experience as a player and educator, Parkin won four premierships (one at Hawthorn, three at Carlton) and is considered one of the most influential coaches of the modern era.
Parkin attendedHawthorn West Primary School, the birthplace of his passion for Australian rules football.[1] He completed his secondary education atMelbourne High School; during his time there he was the school vice-captain and the captain of the football team.
Parkin was a toughback-pocket player who played 211 games for theHawthorn Football Club (and kicked 21 goals) in a career spanning from 1961 to 1974.[2][3] He won theBest and Fairest award for Hawthorn in 1965, and was captain of the club from 1969 to 1973, including Hawthorn's1971 premiership winning side.[4] He represented Victoria 5 times at interstate football.[5][6][7]
Parkin went toWestern Australia and captain-coachedSubiaco in 1975. He was back at Hawthorn as Assistant coach under senior coachJohn Kennedy in 1976. Kennedy retired at the end of 1976 and Parkin was promoted to senior coach.[8][9]
Parkin replacedJohn Kennedy as Hawthorn Football Club senior coach after Kennedy stepped down.[10][11] Parkin was senior coach with Hawthorn from 1977 to 1980 and became the second person to coach Hawthorn to apremiership in 1978.[4][12]However, The Hawks under Parkin in the1980 season had a disappointing season, where they finished in eight place and therefore missed out of the finals.[13] After finding out that Hawthorn were looking around at other possible coaches to replace him, Parkin penned his letter of resignation as Hawthorn Football Club senior coach at the end of the 1980 season and hand delivered it intoGlenferrie Oval.[14] Parkin was then replaced byAllan Jeans as Hawthorn Football Club senior coach.
Parkin then replacedPeter Jones as senior coach of Carlton Football Club, at the end of the 1980 season.[15] and coachedCarlton in his first stint from 1981 to 1985 and winning back to back premierships. Firstly in1981, when Parkin guided Carlton to a premiership victory againstCollingwood by a margin of 20 points, in Parkin's first year as senior coach of Carlton and again in1982, when Parkin guided Carlton to another premiership victory for the second straight consecutive year in a row, this time againstRichmond by a margin of 18 points.[16][17]However, Carlton under Parkin in the1985 season fell short of expectations and had a disappointing season, where Carlton were eliminated byNorth Melbourne in the elimination final.[18] Parkin was sacked as Carlton Football Club senior coach at the end of the 1985 season and was replaced byRobert Walls in a jointly announced agreement withFitzroy Football Club to swap senior coaches for 1986.[19][20]
Parkin then replacedRobert Walls as senior coach ofFitzroy in a jointly announced agreement with Carlton Football Club to swap senior coaches.[21] Parkin then coached Fitzroy from 1986 to 1988.[22] Fitzroy under Parkin made the preliminary final in his first season at the Lions as senior coach,[23] but failed to reach the finals in the following two years. Parkin was sacked by Fitzroy as senior coach at the end of the 1988 season.[24][25]Parkin was then replaced byRod Austin as Fitzroy Football Club senior coach.
AfterAlex Jesaulenko stepped down as Carlton Football Club senior coach at the end of the 1990 season, Carlton PresidentJohn Elliott offered Parkin the job.[26] Parkin then returned to become the senior coach of Carlton for a second stint from 1991 until 2000.[27] He was named Carlton's Coach of the Century, and is regarded by Carlton supporters as the club's greatest ever coach. During this second stint, Parkin guided Carlton to win the1995 premiership againstGeelong by a margin of 61 points.[28] He also took Carlton to Grand Finals in 1993 and 1999 which they lost to Essendon and North Melbourne, respectively.[29] At the end of the 2000 season Parkin retired as Carlton senior coach and handed the coaching reins to his assistant coachWayne Brittain.[30]
Parkin then returned to Hawthorn in 2001 as director of coaching under senior coachPeter Schwab, where he continued until 30 October 2002, when he left the club after the end of the 2002 season.[31][32] In 2003, he wrote a controversial article in the Herald-Sun labeling six Hawthorn players asMummy's Boys because of their lightweight frames.[33] Parkin believed players should be bigger, heavier and stronger. Three of those he listed, namelyMichael Osborne,Rick Ladson andChance Bateman went on to play in Hawthorn's 2008 Premiership.
G | Goals | K | Kicks | D | Disposals | T | Tackles |
B | Behinds | H | Handballs | M | Marks |
| Season | Team | No. | Games | Totals | Averages (per game) | Votes | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | B | K | H | D | M | T | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | |||||
| 1961 | Hawthorn | 33 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | — | — | — | — | 0 |
| 1962 | Hawthorn | 27 | 10 | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | 0.3 | 0.0 | — | — | — | — | — | 3 |
| 1963 | Hawthorn | 27 | 21 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | — | — | — | — | 0 |
| 1964 | Hawthorn | 27 | 13 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | 0.2 | 0.0 | — | — | — | — | — | 0 |
| 1965 | Hawthorn | 27 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 207 | 11 | 218 | 47 | — | 0.0 | 0.1 | 12.9 | 0.7 | 13.6 | 2.9 | — | 8 |
| 1966 | Hawthorn | 27 | 14 | 0 | 5 | 205 | 19 | 224 | 43 | — | 0.0 | 0.4 | 14.6 | 1.4 | 16.0 | 3.1 | — | 4 |
| 1967 | Hawthorn | 27 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 199 | 17 | 216 | 43 | — | 0.0 | 0.0 | 13.3 | 1.1 | 14.4 | 2.9 | — | 3 |
| 1968 | Hawthorn | 27 | 18 | 3 | 2 | 243 | 14 | 257 | 41 | — | 0.2 | 0.1 | 13.5 | 0.8 | 14.3 | 2.3 | — | 12 |
| 1969 | Hawthorn | 27 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 209 | 18 | 227 | 26 | — | 0.2 | 0.1 | 14.9 | 1.3 | 16.2 | 1.9 | — | 0 |
| 1970 | Hawthorn | 27 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 265 | 30 | 295 | 66 | — | 0.0 | 0.0 | 13.9 | 1.6 | 15.5 | 3.5 | — | 5 |
| 1971# | Hawthorn | 27 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 313 | 37 | 350 | 83 | — | 0.0 | 0.0 | 14.2 | 1.7 | 15.9 | 3.8 | — | 6 |
| 1972 | Hawthorn | 27 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 254 | 33 | 287 | 67 | — | 0.0 | 0.0 | 12.7 | 1.7 | 14.4 | 3.4 | — | 1 |
| 1973 | Hawthorn | 27 | 15 | 3 | 5 | 210 | 42 | 252 | 47 | — | 0.2 | 0.3 | 14.0 | 2.8 | 16.8 | 3.1 | — | 9 |
| 1974 | Hawthorn | 27 | 13 | 7 | 8 | 94 | 29 | 123 | 21 | — | 0.5 | 0.6 | 7.2 | 2.2 | 9.5 | 1.6 | — | 0 |
| Career | 211 | 21 | 23 | 2199 | 250 | 2449 | 484 | — | 0.1 | 0.1 | 13.2 | 1.5 | 14.7 | 2.9 | — | 51 | ||
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Hawthorn | 25 | 18 | 7 | 0 | 72.0% | 2 | 12 |
| 1978# | Hawthorn | 25 | 19 | 6 | 0 | 76.0% | 2 | 12 |
| 1979 | Hawthorn | 22 | 10 | 12 | 0 | 45.5% | 7 | 12 |
| 1980 | Hawthorn | 22 | 10 | 12 | 0 | 45.5% | 8 | 12 |
| 1981# | Carlton | 24 | 19 | 5 | 0 | 79.2% | 1 | 12 |
| 1982# | Carlton | 26 | 19 | 6 | 1 | 75.0% | 3 | 12 |
| 1983 | Carlton | 23 | 13 | 10 | 0 | 56.5% | 5 | 12 |
| 1984 | Carlton | 24 | 13 | 11 | 0 | 54.2% | 3 | 12 |
| 1985 | Carlton | 23 | 15 | 8 | 0 | 65.2% | 4 | 12 |
| 1986 | Fitzroy | 25 | 15 | 10 | 0 | 60.0% | 4 | 12 |
| 1987 | Fitzroy | 22 | 8 | 14 | 0 | 36.4% | 11 | 14 |
| 1988 | Fitzroy | 22 | 7 | 15 | 0 | 31.8% | 12 | 14 |
| 1991 | Carlton | 22 | 8 | 14 | 0 | 36.4% | 11 | 15 |
| 1992 | Carlton | 22 | 14 | 8 | 0 | 63.6% | 7 | 15 |
| 1993 | Carlton | 23 | 15 | 7 | 1 | 67.4% | 2 | 15 |
| 1994 | Carlton | 24 | 15 | 9 | 0 | 62.5% | 2 | 15 |
| 1995# | Carlton | 25 | 23 | 2 | 0 | 92.0% | 1 | 16 |
| 1996 | Carlton | 24 | 15 | 9 | 0 | 62.5% | 5 | 16 |
| 1997 | Carlton | 22 | 10 | 12 | 0 | 45.5% | 11 | 16 |
| 1998 | Carlton | 22 | 9 | 13 | 0 | 40.9% | 11 | 16 |
| 1999 | Carlton | 26 | 14 | 12 | 0 | 53.8% | 6 | 16 |
| 2000 | Carlton | 25 | 17 | 8 | 0 | 68.0% | 2 | 16 |
| Career totals | 518 | 306 | 210 | 2 | 59.27% | |||
Team
Individual
Team
Individual
Parkin is currently a media commentator who has appeared onTalking Footy on theSeven Network and a commentator forABC Radio. He was a panellist onFox Footy's now defunct show,Fox League Teams.
He is a lecturer in Sports and Exercise Science atDeakin University, Melbourne campus. In honour of his significant contribution to Australian society in leadership, sport and education, Deakin University also established the annual David Parkin Oration for Sport and Social Change. He holds a Bachelor of Education from theUniversity of Western Australia.[36]
He was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent surgery in March 2009.[37]
He received anAustralian Sports Medal in 2000 and a Medal of theOrder of Australia in 2013.[38][39] In 2002 he was inducted into theAustralian Football Hall of Fame.[40] He was inducted into theSport Australia Hall of Fame in 2010.[41]
