Gary James Ayres (born 28 September 1960) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played for the

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawt ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling ...

(AFL). He is currently the senior coach for the Montrose Football Club in the

Eastern Football Netball League The Eastern Football Netball League (known previously as the Eastern Districts Football League and later the Eastern Football League) is an Australian rules football league, based in the eastern suburbs of metropolitan Melbourne. History The ...

(EFNL). Ayres' playing career is honored by the existence of the Gary Ayres Award, an annual award given to the player judged best-afield by the

AFL Coaches Association The AFL Coaches Association (AFLCA) is the representative body for Australian Football League coaches. History The AFLCA was founded in 2002, and as of 2015 had 178 members. Every year annually since 2003, the AFLCA has released a set of awards ...

throughout each

AFL finals series The Australian Football League finals series, more generally known as the AFL finals, and known from 1897 until 1989 as the Victorian Football League finals series or VFL finals, is a playoff tournament held at the end of each AFL season to deter ...

Playing career

Hawthorn

Beginning his playing career with

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

in 1978, he had an illustrious career spanning from 1978 until 1993, playing 269 games and booting 70 goals. He was part of a total of 5 premiership teams – 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, and 1991. He won the

Norm Smith Medal The Norm Smith Medal is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best on ground in the Grand Final of the Australian Football League (AFL). Prior to 1990 the competition was known as the Victorian Footbal ...

twice, adjudged best on ground in 1986 and 1988 and is one of only four players in the history of the AFL to do so. Ayres captained Victoria against Tasmania in the 1989 State of Origin contest. He captained the Hawks in his final two years from 1992–1993. Gary played most of his football in defence, particular the

back pocket In the sport of Australian rules football, each of the eighteen players in a team is assigned to a particular named position on the field of play. These positions describe both the player's main role and by implication their location on the gro ...

position. He was nicknamed " Conan" by fans in reference to his powerful upper-body physique. He used his body to good effect in body on body contested situations. Ayres' height and weight was 187 cm / 100 kg.

Allan Jeans Allan Lindsay Jeans (21 September 1933 – 13 July 2011) was an Australian rules footballer and coach. He was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame at its inception in 1996. Jeans was known for his oratory and motivation skills as a ...

described Ayres as "a good driver in heavy traffic" In 2020, Ayres revealed that the circumstances that led to his retirement from his playing career with Hawthorn at the end of the 1993 season, was after a disconnect with senior coach

Alan Joyce Alan Joyce (born 21 October 1942) is a former Australian rules footballer who after playing 49 games for Hawthorn became a premiership winning coach for the club. Originally from Glen Iris, Joyce played in the ruck for Hawthorn, and ultimate ...

and his frustration after being dropped to the reserves side.

Statistics

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1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 33 , , 2 , , 3 , , 0 , , 9 , , 8 , , 17 , , 4 , , , , 1.5 , , 0.0 , , 4.5 , , 4.0 , , 8.5 , , 2.0 , , , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" ,

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 10 , , 11 , , 12 , , 72 , , 26 , , 98 , , 19 , , , , 1.1 , , 1.2 , , 7.2 , , 2.6 , , 9.8 , , 1.9 , , , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 7 , , 5 , , 4 , , 44 , , 17 , , 61 , , 16 , , , , 0.7 , , 0.6 , , 6.3 , , 2.4 , , 8.7 , , 2.3 , , , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" ,

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 3 , , 0 , , 0 , , 12 , , 5 , , 17 , , 3 , , , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 4.0 , , 1.7 , , 5.7 , , 1.0 , , , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 14 , , 0 , , 0 , , 120 , , 110 , , 230 , , 50 , , , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 8.6 , , 7.9 , , 16.4 , , 3.6 , , , , 2 , - , scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C ,

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

^# , , , , 7 , 18 , , 1 , , 1 , , 189 , , 95 , , 284 , , 68 , , , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 10.5 , , 5.3 , , 15.8 , , 3.8 , , , , 6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 21 , , 2 , , 2 , , 294 , , 96 , , 390 , , 92 , , , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 14.0 , , 4.6 , , 18.6 , , 4.4 , , , , 12 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" ,

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 24 , , 1 , , 3 , , 289 , , 95 , , 384 , , 89 , , , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 12.0 , , 4.0 , , 16.0 , , 3.7 , , , , 2 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C ,

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal en ...

^# , , , , 7 , 25 , , 5 , , 1 , , 278 , , 173 , , 451 , , 78 , , , , 0.2 , , 0.0 , , 11.1 , , 6.9 , , 18.0 , , 3.1 , , , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 24 , , 5 , , 4 , , 238 , , 157 , , 395 , , 95 , , 44 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 9.9 , , 6.5 , , 16.5 , , 4.0 , , 1.8 , , 5 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C ,

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

^# , , , , 7 , 22 , , 1 , , 8 , , 308 , , 133 , , 441 , , 113 , , 32 , , 0.0 , , 0.4 , , 14.0 , , 6.0 , , 20.0 , , 5.1 , , 1.5 , , 11 , - , scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C ,

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

^# , , , , 7 , 24 , , 5 , , 3 , , 307 , , 169 , , 476 , , 105 , , 48 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 12.8 , , 7.0 , , 19.8 , , 4.4 , , 2.0 , , 6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 22 , , 15 , , 8 , , 248 , , 153 , , 401 , , 69 , , 46 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 11.3 , , 7.0 , , 18.2 , , 3.1 , , 2.1 , , 4 , - , scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C ,

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

^# , , , , 7 , 22 , , 14 , , 10 , , 245 , , 174 , , 419 , , 74 , , 50 , , 0.6 , , 0.5 , , 11.1 , , 7.9 , , 19.0 , , 3.4 , , 2.3 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 14 , , 1 , , 1 , , 143 , , 114 , , 257 , , 53 , , 25 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 10.2 , , 8.1 , , 18.4 , , 3.8 , , 1.8 , , 2 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 17 , , 1 , , 1 , , 148 , , 98 , , 246 , , 59 , , 23 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 8.7 , , 5.8 , , 14.5 , , 3.5 , , 1.4 , , 1 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 269 ! 70 ! 58 ! 2944 ! 1623 ! 4567 ! 987 ! 268 ! 0.3 ! 0.2 ! 10.9 ! 6.0 ! 17.0 ! 3.7 ! 1.8 ! 51

Honours and achievements

Team * 5× VFL/AFL premiership player ():

* 2×

McClelland Trophy The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football trophy which has been awarded each year since 1951 by the Australian Football League (known prior to 1990 as the Victorian Football League) to the best-performing club in the home-and-away sea ...

():

Individual * 2×

Peter Crimmins Medal The Peter Crimmins Medal is an Australian rules football award given to the player(s) from the Hawthorn Football Club deemed best and fairest for the season. Peter Crimmins was a rover for Hawthorn, playing from 1966 to 1975. He died of cancer jus ...

* 3×

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Ov ...

(

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

): 1984, 1989, 1990 *

( Victoria 2nd XVIII team): 1990 (c) *

Australian Football Hall of Fame The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the Centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, coac ...

: 1999 Inductee * Hawthorn F.C. Hall of Fame * Hawthorn F.C. Team of the Century

Coaching career

Geelong Football Club senior coach (1995-1999)

After his retirement from his playing career, Ayres turned to coaching; starting as an assistant coach under senior coach

Malcolm Blight Malcolm Jack Blight AM (born 16 February 1950) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for and coached the North Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and Woodville Football Club in the South Australian Nati ...

Geelong Geelong ( ) ( Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the south eastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon ...

for the 1994 season. After Blight's resignation in 1994, following Geelong's defeat to the West Coast Eagles in the 1994 Grand Final, Ayres was appointed Geelong Football Club senior coach for the 1995 season after Blight handed the coaching reigns to Ayres. In his first year and season as Geelong Football Club senior coach, Geelong lost to Carlton in the 1995 Grand Final by a margin of 61 points under Ayres, which was their fourth Grand Final defeat in seven seasons. In the 1996 season, Geelong under Ayres finished seventh with thirteen wins, one draw and eight losses, where they made it to the qualifying final losing to

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at ...

. In the 1997 season, Ayres guided Geelong to finish second on the ladder with fifteen wins and seven losses, but however lost to

again in the qualifying finals and were eliminated by the eventual premiers

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

in the semi finals. In the 1998 season, Geelong with Ayres struggled and finished twelve with nine wins and thirteen losses. In 1999, at the end of a disappointing 1999 season where Geelong under Ayres finished eleventh with ten wins and twelve losses and after the

board Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, a t ...

of Geelong Football Club, that was led by CEO Brian Cook, refused to offer him a contract extension beyond the 2000 AFL season, Ayres quit as Geelong Football Club senior coach to take the coaching position at

where Malcolm Blight had, again, just resigned. Ayres was replaced by

Mark Thompson Mark Thompson may refer to: Sports * Mark Thompson (American football) (born 1994), American football player * Mark Thompson (baseball) (born 1971), baseball player * Mark Thompson (footballer) (born 1963), former Australian rules football prem ...

as Geelong Football Club senior coach. Ayres coached Geelong Football Club to a total of 116 games with 65 wins 50 losses and one draw to a winning percentage of 56 percent.

Adelaide Football Club senior coach (2000-2004)

Ayres once again replaced

, this time as

Adelaide Football Club The Adelaide Crows (officially the Adelaide Football Club) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1990. The Crows has fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since ...

senior coach at the end of the 1999 season and coached Adelaide from 2000 until 2004. In his first season at the Crows, the club struggled and finished eleventh with nine wins and thirteen losses at the end of the 2000 season. Ayres, however guided the Crows to the final series in the next three seasons in the 2001 season, 2002 season and 2003 season, including reaching the elimination final in 2001, where they were eliminated by Carlton, the preliminary final in 2002, where they were eliminated by the eventual runners-up Collingwood and the Semi finals in 2003, where they were eliminated by the eventual premiers

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...

. However, during the 2004 season, the club with Ayres found themselves struggling again where Adelaide sat twelve on the ladder with four wins and nine losses after Round 13, 2004. When told he would not continue as senior coach for the 2005 season, Ayres quit midseason. Though he had been given the opportunity to stay for the rest of the 2004 season, he told the Adelaide board that if he could not coach the following year, he would leave immediately. He then walked out of the club's office without shaking hands or responding to media enquiries. Ayres coached Adelaide to a total of 107 games with a 55–52 win–loss ratio to a winning percentage of 51.4 percent. He was replaced by assistant coach

Neil Craig Neil Passmore Craig (born 11 January 1956) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Norwood Football Club, Sturt Football Club and the North Adelaide Football Club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). H ...

as caretaker senior coach of Adelaide Football Club for the remainder of the 2004 season and was eventually employed full-time senior coach.

Post AFL senior coaching roles

Essendon Football Club assistant coach (2006-2007)

In 2006, he returned to coaching as

assistant coach A sports coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''coach'' is that of a horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultimately from the Hung ...

at the

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCracken family in their A ...

, under senior coach Kevin Sheedy. When

Matthew Knights Matthew Knights (born 5 October 1970) is an Australian rules football coach and former player who is currently serving as an assistant coach with the Geelong Football Club. Knights played in the midfield for the Richmond Football Club from 19 ...

was appointed as senior coach of Essendon at the end of the 2007 season, Knights vowed to modernise the club's support staff, Ayres subsequently lost his position as assistant coach.

Port Melbourne Football Club senior coach (VFL) (2008-2021)

In 2008, Ayres was appointed senior coach of the

Port Melbourne Football Club The Port Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Borough, is an Australian rules football club based in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Port Melbourne. The club was founded in 1874 and has been competing in the Victorian Football Association/Leag ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

. He is the longest-serving coach in the club's history. Ayres has coached Port Melbourne to two premierships and three minor premierships, which included the club's perfect 2011 season, in which the club won all 21 of its premiership matches. Ayres then led the club to another premiership in 2017. Ayres left the Port Melbourne Football Club at the end of the 2021 season, after he served as senior coach of the club for a total of fourteen years. Ayres came to this decision after being overlooked for re-appointment as senior coach for the 2022 season, when the club decided not to renew his contract as senior coach, when it expired at the end of 2021.

Head coaching record

Explanatory notes

Other roles and contributions

Awards

On 24 October 2000, Ayres was awarded the

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, offi ...

for contribution to Australian Football.

Media career

In 2005, Ayres spent the year in the media on

Fox Footy Channel The Fox Footy Channel was a channel exclusively dedicated to Australian rules football. It was owned by Foxtel and operated out of their Melbourne based studios. From 2002 - 2006 it was available on Foxtel, Austar, Optus Television, TransTV ...

. Prior to that he also had a stint on Seven's ''

Talking Footy ''Talking Footy'' was an Australian rules football television program on the Seven Network broadcast from 1994 to 2004 and 2013–2020. The show was hosted mainly by Bruce McAvaney and Luke Darcy in both runs of the show. Original format (1 ...

''.

References

External links

* * *
Footywire: Gary Ayres Coaching Record
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayres, Gary 1960 births Living people Geelong Football Club coaches Adelaide Football Club coaches Hawthorn Football Club players Hawthorn Football Club Premiership players Port Melbourne Football Club coaches Warragul Football Club players Peter Crimmins Medal winners Norm Smith Medal winners Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Victorian State of Origin players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal People from Warragul Five-time VFL/AFL Premiership players