Brendon Bolton (born 18 April 1979) is an

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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

coach who is currently serving as an assistant coach at 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 ...

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). Bolton previously was the head coach of the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Princes Park (stadium), Princes Park in Carlton North, Victoria, Carlton North, an inner suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The c ...

in the AFL, having served in the role from 2016 to 2019. Prior to serving in this role, he served as the head coach of

Victorian 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 ...

club Box Hill from November 2008 to October 2010, guiding the club to two consecutive finals series in his two seasons in charge. Bolton would return to Hawthorn shortly after leaving Carlton.

Playing career

At age 19, Bolton played in the 1998 TFL Grand Final. He won the

Darrel Baldock Darrel John Baldock (29 September 1938 – 2 February 2011) was an Australian sportsman and state politician. He played Australian rules football for the St Kilda Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL), East Devonport Football C ...

Medal for the best player on the ground that day. Bolton would then play 24 games for the

Tasmanian Devils The Tasmanian devil (''Sarcophilus harrisii''; palawa kani: ''purinina'') is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. It was formerly present across mainland Australia, but became extinct there around 3,500 years ago; it is now conf ...

in the 2001 and 2002

seasons. At twenty-four, Bolton was appointed Captain-coach of North Hobart and he led them to the 2003 premiership. He won the Horrie Gorringe Medal that season. His playing career was cut short by a hamstring injury in 2008.

Coaching career

Bolton served as the head coach of

Southern Football League The Southern League is a football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from East Anglia, the South and Midlands of England, and South Wales. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven a ...

club

North Hobart North Hobart is a suburb of the city of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. As its name suggests, it lies directly north of the Hobart City Centre. The main street of North Hobart is Elizabeth Street, which extends northward from the Elizabeth Stre ...

, guiding the club to a Southern Football League Premiership in 2003. Bolton served as the head coach of

club the

in 2006, taking over from former Fitzroy and

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

player Matthew Armstrong, who left the club due to internal pressure from the Devils' playing group. He served as head coach for the remainder of the season, after which he was replaced with former

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 ...

player

Daryn Cresswell Daryn Cresswell (born 22 May 1971) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League, and the former senior coach of the Tasmanian Devils Football Club that played in the Victorian Footb ...

. In 2008, Bolton served as the head coach of the

Clarence Football Club The Clarence Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Tasmanian State League, based in Bellerive, Tasmania. Before 1947, they existed as Bellerive Football Club. The Club play their home game ...

in the

Tasmanian Football League The Tasmanian State League (TSL), colloquially known as the Tasmanian Football League (TFL), was the highest-level Australian rules football competition in the state of Tasmania. It disbanded following the end of the 2024 TSL season, 2024 season ...

. Bolton was appointed the head coach of the Box Hill Hawks on 6 November 2008. In his first season with the club in 2009, Bolton enjoyed a relatively successful season in charge, the Hawks finishing 5th on the VFL ladder, with 12 wins and 6 losses. The Hawks defeated

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 ...

in the First Elimination Final, before narrowly losing an epic semi-final to

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of the Melbourne central business district, located within the Cities of City of Melbourne, Melbourne and City of Port Phillip, Port Phillip Local government ...

19.10 (124) to 19.14 (128). In Bolton's second season in charge of the club, the Hawks built on their improved form in 2009 with another strong performance in 2010. After an indifferent start to the season, the team came home strongly with seven consecutive wins in the second half of the season to again finish 5th on the ladder, with 11 wins and 7 losses. The Hawks met the

Bendigo Bombers Bendigo Gold was an Australian rules football club based in Bendigo, Victoria. The club debuted in the Victorian Football League (VFL) in 1998 as the Bendigo Diggers Football Club, which remained its legal name for the duration of the club's exis ...

at the

Box Hill City Oval Box Hill City Oval, is an Australian rules football and cricket stadium located in Box Hill, Victoria, Australia. It is the home ground of the Box Hill Hawks Football Club which plays in the Victorian Football League The Victorian Footb ...

in the First Elimination Final, prevailing by 65 points, 20.16 (136) to 10.11 (71). In circumstances similar to that of the previous season, Box Hill won its Elimination Final in strong fashion and again met Port Melbourne in the First Semi-final. In tense a match played in quagmire conditions at

North Port Oval North Port Oval, also known as the Port Melbourne Cricket Ground or by the sponsored name ETU Stadium, is an Australian rules football and cricket stadium located in Port Melbourne, Australia. The capacity of the venue is 6,000 people. It is ...

, the Hawks defeated Port Melbourne for the first time in a finals game 14.11 (95) to 12.17 (89), with the winning goal coming in the dying seconds. The following week, the Hawks met

North Ballarat The North Ballarat Football Club, nicknamed the Roosters, is an Australian rules football and netball club based at Mars Stadium in Ballarat. The club was founded in 1882 and has competed in the Ballarat Football Netball League (BFNL), and pr ...

in the Preliminary Final at the Box Hill City Oval. Despite enjoying home ground advantage, the Hawks went down to the Roosters 16.18 (114) to 6.17 (53) who went on to claim the VFL premiership the following weekend. In his two seasons in charge of the Box Hill Hawks, Bolton coached 41 VFL Games including finals, achieving 26 wins and 15 losses for a winning percentage of 63.41%. As a result of his good performances as the head coach of Box Hill, Bolton was promoted to an assistant coaching role with the club's

AFL AFL may refer to: Education * Angel Foundation for Learning, a Canadian Roman Catholic charity * Ankara Science High School, a high school in Ankara, Turkey, natively referred to as ''Ankara Fen Liesi'' * Assessment for learning Military * ...

affiliate Hawthorn.

Hawthorn

Bolton was appointed as an assistant coach at

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 Hawth ...

at the end of 2009, in the position of midfield under senior coach

Alastair Clarkson Alastair Thomas Clarkson (born 27 April 1968) is an Australian rules football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and was previously head coach of t ...

. In 2014, Bolton coached the Hawthorn Hawks in a NAB Challenge Cup match against

, with Hawthorn achieving a 65-point win. Bolton was made the interim senior coach of the

after regular senior coach

was hospitalised and diagnosed with

Guillain–Barré syndrome Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rapid-onset Paralysis, muscle weakness caused by the immune system damaging the peripheral nervous system. Typically, both sides of the body are involved, and the initial symptoms are changes in sensation ...

in May 2014. Bolton then coached Hawthorn for five games in the 2014 season in Clarkson's absence, compiling a 5–0 record. After five matches, Clarkson received an endorsement from his doctors to resume his role as senior coach. Bolton is the only senior coach in the club's history to coach the club to five successive victories in his first five games.

Carlton

On 25 August 2015, Bolton was announced as the senior coach of the Carlton Football Club for the 2016 season, succeeding caretaker senior coach John Barker who had been filling in for the sacked

Mick Malthouse Michael Raymond Malthouse (born 17 August 1953) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach, who played for the St Kilda Football Club and Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). After finishing his playing career, ...

. Brendon Bolton's first win at Carlton came on the back of a hard fought 4 point win over Fremantle at Domain Stadium. In the 2016 season, Carlton under Bolton finished fourteenth on the ladder with seven wins and fifteen losses. In the 2017 season, things did not improve for Bolton at the club, when Carlton under Bolton finished sixteenth on the ladder with six wins and sixteen losses. In the 2018 season, Carlton's on-field performance under Bolton, further deteriorated with the performance drop, when the club finished eighteenth, the last position on the ladder for the

wooden spoon A wooden spoon is a Kitchen utensil, utensil commonly used in food preparation. In addition to its culinary uses, wooden spoons also feature in folk art and culture. History The word ''spoon'' derives from an ancient word meaning a chip of woo ...

with two wins and twenty losses. On 3 June 2019, Bolton was sacked as senior coach of the Carlton Football Club after being defeated by the Essendon Football club in Round 11, 2019. Before his sacking, the club under Bolton had won only one of its 11 matches in the

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

, sitting at eighteenth, which is the last position on the ladder. Bolton coached Carlton to a total of 77 games with 16 wins and 61 losses with a winning percentage at 20 percent. Bolton was replaced by assistant coach David Teague as caretaker senior coach of the Carlton Football Club for the rest of the 2019 season, who was eventually appointed full-time senior coach.

Return to Hawthorn

Following the conclusion of the 2019 season, Bolton returned to Hawthorn to serve as the club's director of coaching under senior coach Clarkson. Bolton would remain in the role until the end of 2020, when he took up an assistant coaching position in the midfield in 2021. At the end of the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

was replaced as senior coach of Hawthorn by Sam Mitchell.

Collingwood

Fellow Hawthorn Football Club assistant coach

Craig McRae Craig McRae (born 22 September 1973) is a former Australian rules footballer and the current senior coach of the Collingwood Football Club. Playing career Glenelg Football Club McRae played for Glenelg Football Club in the SANFL from 1993 unti ...

was appointed the senior coach of the

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. ...

. Bolton then departed Hawthorn to join McRae at Collingwood. Bolton served as Director of Coaching and as an assistant coach in the midfield position under senior coach McRae at Collingwood Football Club. At the end of the 2024 season, Bolton left the Collingwood Football Club.

St Kilda

At the end of the 2024 season on October 15 2024, Bolton joined St Kilda as an assistant coach under senior coach

Ross Lyon Ross Lyon (born 8 November 1966) is a former Australian rules football player and the current senior coach of the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously coached St Kilda from 2007 to 2011 and the Fremantle ...

Coaching statistics

:''Statistics are correct to the end of the 2019 season'' , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , scope="row" ,

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

^ , , , 5 , , 5 , , 0 , , 0 , , 100.0% , , , , 18 , - , scope="row" ,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, , , 22 , , 7 , , 15 , , 0 , , 31.8% , , 14 , , 18 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , scope="row" ,

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, , , 22 , , 6 , , 16 , , 0 , , 27.2% , , 16 , , 18 , - , scope="row" ,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, , , 22 , , 2 , , 20 , , 0 , , 9.1% , , 18 , , 18 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , scope="row" ,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, , , 11 , , 1 , , 10 , , 0 , , 9.1% , , , , 18 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=2, Career totals ! 82 !! 21 !! 61 !! 0 !! 25.6% ! colspan=2, ^''Bolton was Hawthorn's caretaker coach for five weeks during 2014.''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolton, Brendon 1979 births Australian rules footballers from Tasmania Carlton Football Club coaches Hawthorn Football Club coaches Box Hill Football Club coaches Clarence Football Club coaches North Hobart Football Club coaches Clarence Football Club players North Hobart Football Club players North Launceston Football Club players Tasmanian Devils Football Club players Living people Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame inductees