Mark Dwyer (born 5 August 1964) 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played with Fitzroy and St Kilda in the

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 ...

(VFL) during the 1980s. Dwyer was a wingman, best remembered for his strong debut season. He had started 1986 playing with

Koroit Koroit is a small rural town in western Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia a few kilometres north of the Princes Highway, north-west of Warrnambool, Victoria, Warrnambool and west of Melbourne. It is in the Shire of Moyne local govern ...

but got a permit to join Fitzroy's reserves team during the season. In his second reserves outing he had 40 possessions and was promoted to the seniors by coach

David Parkin David Alexander Parkin (born 12 September 1942) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and for the Subiaco Football Club in the Western Australian Natio ...

. He made his VFL debut in round 15 and played every game for the rest of the year, including their thrilling finals wins over

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

and

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

as well as their preliminary final loss to Hawthorn. He polled at least one vote in each of his first five games in the 1986

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as Charlie), is awarded to the best and fairest player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the f ...

count and another three in his seventh. This gave him 10 votes and was enough to finish equal 11th, despite making just eight appearances. Everyone who had polled more votes had played 16 or more games. His success on the night likely cost teammate Paul Roos the medal, as the Fitzroy player fell one vote short. In 1987, injury problems restricted him to just two VFL games and in the subsequent pre-season he tore his Achilles tendon during a practice match. As a result, he was traded to St Kilda midway through the year. A left footer, he played his only game for St Kilda in 1988 and spent the 1989 season in the VFA with

Sandringham Sandringham can refer to: Places Australia * Sandringham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Sandringham, Queensland, a rural locality * Sandringham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne **Sandringham railway line **Sandringham railway station * ...

. He returned to Koroit in 1990 where he continued playing before moving to

Warrnambool Warrnambool (; Eastern Maar, Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the Census in Australia#2021, 2021 census, Warrnambool had a populati ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dwyer, Mark 1964 births Fitzroy Football Club players St Kilda Football Club players Sandringham Football Club players Warrnambool Football Club players Koroit Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Living people