Mathew Capuano (born 2 September 1975) 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 spent his AFL career with the

North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos or colloquially the Roos, is a professional Australian rules football club. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AF ...

and 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 ...

. Post playing career Capuano was a development coach at 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 ...

. He was famously sacked by St. Kilda during the 2003 season.

Kangaroos career

Capuano made his AFL debut for North Melbourne in the 1994 season; He played a total of 82 games for the Kangaroos, and was a member of the club's

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

and

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

premiership side.

St Kilda career

Capuano's career with the Saints was plagued by shoulder and knee injuries. He played 25 games in his three seasons for the Saints. Although making his 100th AFL appearance in Round 8,

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, he underwent a knee surgery after Round 9 and missed all remaining AFL games that season.

Mid-season sacking

After making six appearances in the first nine rounds of the 2003 season, Capuano was sacked by the Saints. The coach, Grant Thomas, explained that Capuano's poor form led to his sacking. While it is suggested that the young and rising Saints did not need Capuano's service anymore, the Saints were also criticised for axing Capuano at the wrong time as

Trent Knobel Trent Knobel (born 23 May 1980) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Lions, the St Kilda Football Club, and the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League. Knobel, a ruckman originally from the Gold ...

and

Barry Brooks Barry Brooks (born 24 December 1983) is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League (AFL). Early career Brooks was recruited as the number 15 draft pick in the 2001 AFL Draft from Grassy. He failed to m ...

, their other two ruckmen, were both injured at the time. Although a number of VFL clubs sought Capuano's services after he was sacked, he did not accept any offers and spent the latter half of 2003 travelling Europe. He also did not nominate for the

2003 AFL Draft The 2003 AFL draft was the 2003 instance of the AFL draft, the annual draft (sports), draft of talented players by Australian rules football teams that participate in the main competition of that sport, the Australian Football League. The 2003 d ...

and spent 2004 playing for in the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting f ...

Coaching

Capuano signed with the

in 2009 to coach their ruckmen on a part-time basis. The following season, the Blues made Capuano a full-time development coach and a direct ruck coach. He remained with Carlton in the development role until the end of the 2017 AFL season.

Playing statistics

: , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, , 40 , , 3 , , 1 , , 0 , , 3 , , 4 , , 7 , , 6 , , 3 , , 3 , , 0.3 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 1.3 , , 2.3 , , 2.0 , , 1.0 , , 1.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, , 16 , , 15 , , 5 , , 4 , , 68 , , 63 , , 131 , , 46 , , 6 , , 88 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 4.5 , , 4.2 , , 8.7 , , 3.1 , , 0.4 , , 5.9 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" ,

, , 16 , , 18 , , 6 , , 0 , , 81 , , 62 , , 143 , , 41 , , 1 , , 81 , , 0.3 , , 0.0 , , 4.5 , , 3.4 , , 7.9 , , 2.3 , , 0.1 , , 4.5 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, , 16 , , 0 , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, , 16 , , 13 , , 3 , , 3 , , 59 , , 26 , , 85 , , 25 , , 7 , , 121 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 4.5 , , 2.0 , , 6.5 , , 1.9 , , 0.5 , , 9.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" ,

, , 16 , , 19 , , 4 , , 4 , , 127 , , 65 , , 192 , , 63 , , 11 , , 263 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 6.7 , , 3.4 , , 10.1 , , 3.3 , , 0.6 , , 13.8 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, , 16 , , 14 , , 5 , , 2 , , 69 , , 19 , , 88 , , 36 , , 13 , , 129 , , 0.4 , , 0.1 , , 4.9 , , 1.4 , , 6.3 , , 2.6 , , 0.9 , , 9.2 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, , 16 , , 12 , , 8 , , 0 , , 70 , , 26 , , 96 , , 51 , , 4 , , 119 , , 0.7 , , 0.0 , , 5.8 , , 2.2 , , 8.0 , , 4.3 , , 0.3 , , 9.9 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, , 16 , , 7 , , 4 , , 0 , , 44 , , 37 , , 81 , , 37 , , 3 , , 37 , , 0.6 , , 0.0 , , 6.3 , , 5.3 , , 11.6 , , 5.3 , , 0.4 , , 5.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, , 16 , , 6 , , 1 , , 0 , , 27 , , 24 , , 51 , , 21 , , 7 , , 43 , , 0.2 , , 0.0 , , 4.5 , , 4.0 , , 8.5 , , 3.5 , , 1.2 , , 7.2 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 107 ! 37 ! 13 ! 548 ! 326 ! 874 ! 326 ! 55 ! 884 ! 0.3 ! 0.1 ! 5.1 ! 3.0 ! 8.2 ! 3.0 ! 0.5 ! 8.3

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Capuano, Mathew 1975 births Living people North Melbourne Football Club players North Melbourne Football Club premiership players St Kilda Football Club players South Fremantle Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Geelong Falcons players People from Creswick, Victoria VFL/AFL premiership players