Mark James Mickan (born 30 January 1961) is a former professional

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 for the

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Bears were a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, now known as the Brisbane Lions. Granted a Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL), licence in 1986, ...

and

Adelaide Football Club The Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed the Crows, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Adelaide, South Australia that was founded in 1990. The Crows have fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since 199 ...

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). Mickan began his senior career with

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

(SANFL) club in 1981 and finished back at West Adelaide in 1994.

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

selection in 1988 marked the pinnacle of his playing career. He has a sister, Patricia Mickan, who was a basketballer. He coached SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens in 1998 and 1999, Glenelg for years from 2006 to June 2011, and West Adelaide from 2014 to 2017. In 2015, Mickan led West Adelaide to the club's first premiership since 1983 when they defeated Woodville-West Torrens by 30 points in the 2015 SANFL Grand Final. It was also Mickan's first premiership as a senior coach. Mickan was diagnosed with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

in late 2016.

Playing career

Recruited from the Renmark Rovers in West Adelaide's country zone (

Riverland Football League The Riverland Football League is an Australian rules football league located in South Australia's Riverland region. History The origins of this league was in 1909 when Lyrup, Renmark Town and Fairview Rovers founded the Murray Football Associat ...

), the talented tall ruckman started his SANFL league career in 1981 and quickly established himself alongside Dexter Kennedy as the club's leading ruckman until Kennedy left to join

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

at the end of 1982. After a stellar 1983 season as The Bloods number one ruckman, Mickan was cruelly robbed of the chance to play in West Adelaide's Grand Final win (the club's first in 22 years) over Sturt due to a torn posterior

ligament A ligament is a type of fibrous connective tissue in the body that connects bones to other bones. It also connects flight feathers to bones, in dinosaurs and birds. All 30,000 species of amniotes (land animals with internal bones) have liga ...

suffered in Round 20 of the 22 round regular season against Woodville at

Football Park Football Park, known commercially as AAMI Stadium, was an Australian rules football stadium located in West Lakes, a western suburb of Adelaide, the state capital of South Australia, Australia. It was built in 1973 by the South Australian N ...

in the early game of a double header. His place in the side was taken by tall Dirk de Jong, who had actually retired from league football earlier in the year but was persuaded to come back after Mickan's injury by coach

Neil Kerley Donald Neil Kerley (20 February 1934 – 29 June 2022) was an Australian rules footballer and coach. He is best known for taking three clubs to four South Australian National Football League (SANFL) premierships over three decades as both a p ...

. Strong seasons in 1983, 1985 and 1986 resulted in his winning club Best & Fairest awards, while in 1986 West coach John Cahill named him the team captain for the season. Following the 1986 SANFL season in which West Adelaide finished in seventh place, Mickan left to join the new Brisbane Bears playing 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) in

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

. Mickan's qualities as a leader and player were instantly recognised with his new club where he was appointed the inaugural captain by coach Peter Knights. This is especially noteworthy given the team included

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 ...

club captain Mark "Chocco" Williams, who was appointed as Mickan's vice-captain, as well as the 1985 Brownlow Medallist Brad Hardie. While the newly formed side suffered many crises during its early years Mickan's skills were recognised and he was named in the

All-Australian Team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

following the 1988 Bicentennial Carnival played in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. Mickan returned to

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

to play for the newly formed

(AFL) team the

Adelaide Crows The Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed the Crows, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Adelaide, South Australia that was founded in 1990. The Crows have fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since 199 ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

, winning Adelaide's inaugural Club Champion award despite missing the first three rounds of the season due to Crows coach

Graham Cornes Graham Studley Cornes OAM (born 31 March 1948 in Melbourne, Victoria) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach, as well as a media personality. From 1995 until early 2013, Cornes co-hosted a weekday drivetime sports program that he ho ...

early preference for ruckman Romano Negri. While not selected for the Crows opening three games, Mickan played the required three SANFL games with West Adelaide to qualify for SANFL finals football. Mickan became West Adelaide's number one ruckman, and played a prominent role in helping the Kevin Morris coached Bloods to the SANFL Grand Final where they lost to

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct (Australia), precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. Laid out in a grid plan in three section ...

in a spiteful match which featured several all-in brawls. With younger ruckmen such as Shaun Rehn (West Adelaide) and David Pittman ( Norwood) quickly hitting their straps for the Crows and his form dropping, Mickan gradually fell out of favour with The Crows and coach Cornes to the point that he only played two games for the club in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

, and played the majority of the year with West Adelaide. His form for The Bloods saw Mickan win his fourth club Best & Fairest award under the coaching of his original coach from back in 1981,

. Following the 1994 SANFL season Mark Mickan retired from league football having played 139 SANFL games with West Adelaide, 48 VFL/AFL games with Brisbane and 37 AFL games with Adelaide between 1981 and 1994. Mickan also represented

on five occasions through his career

Coaching career

After retiring as a player Mickan continued to pursue his football interests as a coach. In 1998–99 seasons he coached Woodville-West Torrens in the SANFL, achieving 6th and 3rd-place finishes. Assistant coaching roles at AFL the Crows and in the 2000s followed. In 2006 Mickan was appointed coach of Glenelg on a three-year contract. Glenelg finished sixth in his first year as coach and in 2007 Mickan led the Bays to their first finals appearance since 1999. In the finals they beat Sturt in the Elimination Final before going down to Woodville-West Torrens in the First Semi Final by six points and finished Fourth overall. In 2008 Mickan was named SANFL coach of the year for Glenelg's rise to the top of the premiership ladder after the minor round. After a series of disappointing finals' performances in 2009 and 2010 and a belief by the Glenelg board that he could not take the club any further, Mickan was sacked from the Glenelg coaching position on 20 June 2011. In late 2011 it was announced by West Adelaide that the four time Best & Fairest winner had been appointed the Football Manager at the club from 2012. He left the position before the start of 2013, but was appointed Bloods head coach for the 2014 SANFL season, replacing Andrew Collins who had chosen to return home to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

after 6 years and one Grand Final appearance (2012) with the club. Although West Adelaide slumped to a 6–12 record in

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 ...

to finish in 9th place (2nd last) after finishing 2nd in 2012 and 3rd in 2013, they bounced back in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

to finish the minor round with an 11–7 record and 3rd place on the SANFL ladder. Mickan then led The Bloods to their second Grand Final appearance in four years and their first premiership since 1983 when Westies defeated Woodville-West Torrens in the 2015 SANFL Grand Final at the

Adelaide Oval The Adelaide Oval is a stadium in Adelaide in the state of South Australia. It is located in the Adelaide Parklands, parklands. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby league, ...

on 27 September. His contract with West Adelaide was not renewed at the end of the 2017 SANFL season. In season 2018 Mickan coached the Under 11 juniors at the Henley Sharks Football Club. Mark Mickan was one of 113 inaugural inductees into the South Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2002 and is also a member of the West Adelaide Football Club Hall of Fame. Mickan holds degrees in both Teaching and Psychology, currently teaching at

St Michael's College, Adelaide St Michael's College is a Catholic school in the Lasallian tradition located in the western suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. The college consists of two campuses; a primary campus located at Beverley for students in Reception to Year 6, an ...

References

External links

SA Football Hall of Fame

AFL official stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mickan, Mark Adelaide Football Club players All-Australians (1953–1988) Australian rules footballers from South Australia Brisbane Bears players Glenelg Football Club coaches Woodville-West Torrens Football Club coaches Malcolm Blight Medal winners South Australian State of Origin players West Adelaide Football Club players West Adelaide Football Club coaches South Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees 1961 births Living people