Andrew McQualter (born 9 June 1986) is the current senior coach of the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and first competed in 1987 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL). McQualter played 89 games for the

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club's name originates fro ...

and 5 games as a rookie for the

Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns, officially the Gold Coast Football Club, are a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast in the ...

. He later moved into coaching, serving as the caretaker senior coach at the

Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers or colloquially the Tiges, is a professional Australian rules football team competing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Founded in 1885 in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond, Victoria, Ric ...

after

Damien Hardwick Damien Patrick Hardwick (born 18 August 1972) is a current Australian rules football coach and former player who is the head coach of the Gold Coast Suns in the Australian Football League. He is the former senior coach of the Richmond Football ...

stepped down in May 2023. McQualter was appointed West Coast's senior coach in September 2024 after the replacement of caretaker senior

coach Jarrad Schofield.

Early years and junior football

McQualter was raised in

Traralgon, Victoria Traralgon ( , ) is a city located in the east of the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia and the most populous city in the City of Latrobe and the region. The urban population of Traralgon at the was 26,907. It is th ...

, and attended

Gippsland Grammar School Gippsland Grammar School is a private school, private Anglican co-educational boarding school, boarding and day school. Located in Gippsland, Gippsland, Victoria. The School has three campuses, two in Sale, Victoria, Sale, and one in Bairnsdal ...

and later

Caulfield Grammar School Caulfield Grammar School is a private, co-educational, Anglican, International Baccalaureate, day and boarding school, located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1881 as a boys' school, Caulfield Grammar began admitting girls exactly ...

as a boarder along with future St Kilda teammate

Brendon Goddard Brendon James Goddard (born 20 May 1985) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for St Kilda and Essendon in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played for the St Kilda Football Club from 2003 to 2012, then with ...

. McQualter and Goddard both captained the school's First XVIII football team. McQualter captained the Victorian Country Under-16 and Under-18 teams at the National Football Championships.

Playing career

St Kilda

McQualter was drafted by with a first round selection, number 17th overall in the 2004 AFL Draft. McQualter debuted for St Kilda in Round 8 of the 2005 season against the West Coast Eagles at Subiaco in Perth, with 16 possessions. He averaged 13 possessions per game over seven senior games in the 2005 season. He appeared in 10 games in the 2006 season. At the end of the 2007 season, McQualter had played 23 games, earning 137 kicks and 121 handballs, for a total of 258 disposals (an average of 11.2 possessions per game). McQualter was officially delisted by the Saints at the end of the 2007 season, despite having another year to run on a two-year contract. He was reported as saying that he felt he had "stagnated" in his third year of football. He was then redrafted by the

onto the club's

rookie list The rookie list is a means for Australian Football League (AFL) clubs to maintain additional players outside the 38-man primary or senior list. Category B rookie-listed players are not eligible to play in AFL home-and-away or finals matches unle ...

in the 2007 Draft and returned to the team. McQualter began the 2008 season quietly on 's rookie list, but began to turn in several solid performances with St Kilda's affiliate in the

Victoria Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL). With his continued good form McQualter was temporarily elevated off the rookie list and selected to play against Sydney in Round 12. He cemented his place in the senior team after several tagging jobs and played nine consecutive games, a personal best for McQualter at the time. He played his first AFL final in the 2008 1st Qualifying Final against

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

. McQualter was promoted back onto St Kilda's primary list at the end of the 2008 season. McQualter played in 21 of 22 matches in the 2009 season in which St Kilda qualified in first position for the 2009 finals series, winning the club’s third minor premiership. St Kilda won through to the 2009 grand final after qualifying and preliminary final wins. McQualter played in the

2009 AFL Grand Final The 2009 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the St Kilda Football Club and the Geelong Football Club at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 26 September 2009. It was the 113th annual AFL Grand Final, grand final ...

in which St Kilda were defeated by 12 points. McQualter averaged 14.4 possessions per game and kicked 22 goals in 24 matches during the 2009 season. As of the end of the 2009 season, McQualter had played in six finals matches, including one grand final. McQualter played 25 games in 2010, including four finals matches. As of the end of the 2010 season, McQualter had played in 10 AFL finals matches, including three grand finals. He was delisted at the end of the 2011 season following the Saints' elimination final loss to the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a Austral ...

. McQualter played for St Kilda from 2005 until 2011 for a total of 89 games and kicked a total of 37 goals.

Gold Coast Suns

McQualter joined the Gold Coast Suns' rookie list in 2012 and began playing in the Suns'

North East Australian Football League The North East Australian Football League (NEAFL ) was an Australian rules football league in New South Wales, Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. The league was formed in November 2010, and its inaugural ...

(NEAFL) reserves team. McQualter played for Gold Coast Suns in his only season at the club in 2012 for a total of 5 games and 2 goals.

Playing statistics

: , - ,

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2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

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2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

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2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

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2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

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2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

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2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

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2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

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Coaching career

Richmond Football Club

McQualter joined the

in 2014, serving as a VFL player and in an assistant coaching role as development coach under senior coach Damien Hardwick. He then became a midfield assistant coach for the

in 2016. On May 25, 2023, McQualter was appointed as the interm senior coach of Richmond for the remainder of the 2023 season, after senior coach

stepped down at the conclusion of Round 10. McQaulter then coached Richmond for a total of 13 games with seven wins and six losses and then the club finished thirteenth on the ladder and did not make the finals. McQualter was not retained as senior coach of Richmond at the end of the 2023 season and was replaced by

Adem Yze Adem Yze ( ; born 21 September 1977)MelbourneFC.com.aPlayer Profile – Adem Yze, ''Official AFL Website of the Melbourne Football Club'', 12 August 2008. is an Australian rules football coach and former player. He played for the Melbourne Footb ...

. McQualter then left the Richmond Football Club at the end of the 2023 season.

Melbourne Football Club

In late 2023, it was announced that McQualter had joined the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons or colloquially the Dees, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

as an assistant under senior coach

Simon Goodwin Simon Goodwin (born 26 December 1976) is an Australian rules football coach and former player. He has been the senior coach of the Melbourne Football Club of the Australian Football League (AFL) since 2017. As a player, Goodwin tallied 275 AF ...

. McQualter parted ways with Melbourne at the end of the 2024 season.

West Coast Eagles

On 30 September 2024, McQualter was officially announced as the senior coach of the

, succeeding caretaker senior coach Jarrad Schofield, who replaced senior coach

Adam Simpson Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam si ...

after Simpson was sacked in the middle of the 2024 season and becoming just the seventh senior coach in the club's history.

Coaching statistics

:''Statistics are correct to the end of Round 9, 2025.''

References

External links

*
Gold Coast Football Club profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McQualter, Andrew 1986 births Living people St Kilda Football Club players People educated at Caulfield Grammar School Gippsland Power players Gold Coast Football Club players Sandringham Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Traralgon Richmond Football Club coaches West Coast Eagles coaches