Michael Braun (born 24 March 1978) 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 ...

er who played for the AFL's

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 ...

. Playing for Echuca United as a youngster in the Northern and Echuca Football League, he was recruited from

Echuca Echuca ( ) is a town on the banks of the Murray River and Campaspe River in Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. The border town of Moama is adjacent on the northern side of the Murray River in New South Wales. Echuca is the administrative cen ...

Bendigo Pioneers The Bendigo Pioneers is an Australian rules football team in the statewide Victorian under-18s league, the Talent League. History The Bendigo Pioneers is an Australian rules football team playing in Talent League since 1993 based in Bendigo, Vic ...

and made his debut in 1997. Braun announced his AFL retirement midway through the

2008 AFL season The 2008 AFL season was the 112th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured sixt ...

, effective at the end of the season. After retiring from playing football he became the Colts' coach at

East Perth Football Club The East Perth Football Club, nicknamed the Royals, is an Australian rules football club based in Leederville, Western Australia, current playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). Formed in 1902 as the Unio ...

in the WAFL.

Honours

* Runner-up in the Bendigo Pioneers best and fairest in 1996, and represented Victoria Country in the championships. * Runner-up in the club champion award 1999 * Best Clubman in 2003 * Member of the

International Rules International rules football (; also known as international rules in Australia and compromise rules or Aussie rules in Ireland) is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed to facilitate international represe ...

team in 2004 * Member of the West Coast Eagles 2006 premiership team

Controversies

In 2007, Braun ended his acceptance speech for the Ross Glendinning Medal with "Let's have a fucking good year" on live television and in front of a crowd of 42,000 at Subiaco Oval. The Eagles originally fined him $500, but the AFL stepped in, severely reprimanded the Eagles and fined him a further $5,000 for the blunder. It was also the same match in which teammate Adam Selwood was involved in an altercation with Fremantle's

Des Headland Desmond John Headland, Jr (born 21 January 1981) is a retired Australian rules footballer, Following on from his AFL career he continued on finishing his playing career for Subiaco in the West Australian Football League. He was also a former c ...

. Later that year, then-Western Bulldogs player Jason Akermanis wrote a column about performance-enhancing drugs and his views on their presence in sport, which included comments that he believed a specific opposing player, whom he did not name, had been using the drugs based on how strong a runner the player was for his size. The

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

and

Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media (communication), media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The ...

named Braun as the player in question, damaging his reputation and subjecting him to an investigation by the

Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) was a Australian Government, government statutory authority tasked to protect Australia's sporting integrity through the elimination of doping in sport, doping. The authority was part of the D ...

, which cleared him of wrongdoing. Braun was ultimately awarded defamation damages against Seven and Fairfax, and received an apology from Akermanis, who conceded that he had been referring to Braun, and admitted that he had been wrong.

Statistics

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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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 38 , , 7 , , 1 , , 0 , , 61 , , 33 , , 94 , , 19 , , 15 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 8.7 , , 4.7 , , 13.4 , , 2.7 , , 2.1 , - ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 10 , , 20 , , 14 , , 10 , , 201 , , 101 , , 302 , , 65 , , 41 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 10.1 , , 5.1 , , 15.1 , , 3.3 , , 2.1 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 10 , , 24 , , 4 , , 10 , , 287 , , 167 , , 454 , , 104 , , 30 , , 0.2 , , 0.4 , , 12.0 , , 7.0 , , 18.9 , , 4.3 , , 1.3 , - ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 10 , , 12 , , 6 , , 4 , , 124 , , 89 , , 213 , , 55 , , 19 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 10.3 , , 7.4 , , 17.8 , , 4.6 , , 1.6 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 10 , , 9 , , 3 , , 1 , , 69 , , 39 , , 108 , , 32 , , 17 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 7.7 , , 4.3 , , 12.0 , , 3.6 , , 1.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 10 , , 20 , , 4 , , 3 , , 185 , , 86 , , 271 , , 61 , , 51 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 9.3 , , 4.3 , , 13.6 , , 3.1 , , 2.6 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 10 , , 22 , , 4 , , 6 , , 225 , , 127 , , 352 , , 78 , , 53 , , 0.2 , , 0.3 , , 10.2 , , 5.8 , , 16.0 , , 3.5 , , 2.4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 10 , , 23 , , 9 , , 9 , , 259 , , 172 , , 431 , , 119 , , 71 , , 0.4 , , 0.4 , , 11.3 , , 7.5 , , 18.7 , , 5.2 , , 3.1 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 10 , , 24 , , 7 , , 5 , , 274 , , 222 , , 496 , , 127 , , 48 , , 0.3 , , 0.2 , , 11.4 , , 9.3 , , 20.7 , , 5.3 , , 2.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 10 , , 25 , , 4 , , 8 , , 248 , , 256 , , 504 , , 110 , , 73 , , 0.2 , , 0.3 , , 9.9 , , 10.2 , , 20.2 , , 4.4 , , 2.9 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 10 , , 24 , , 6 , , 6 , , 227 , , 287 , , 514 , , 93 , , 68 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 8.2 , , 10.6 , , 18.7 , , 3.6 , , 2.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 10 , , 18 , , 4 , , 1 , , 147 , , 190 , , 337 , , 65 , , 53 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 8.2 , , 10.6 , , 18.7 , , 3.6 , , 2.9 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 228 ! 66 ! 63 ! 2307 ! 1769 ! 4076 ! 928 ! 539 ! 0.3 ! 0.3 ! 10.1 ! 7.8 ! 17.9 ! 4.1 ! 2.4

Outside football

Michael married his long-time girlfriend Bree in November 2007 and they have a son called Noah born in October 2008. They now also have a girl called Logan. Braun can also be found regularly reviewing West Australian restaurants for a local website.Michael Braun Visits Riverbank Estate – Eatingwa Articles

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Braun, Michael 1978 births Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Living people West Coast Eagles players West Coast Eagles premiership players Sportspeople from Echuca Bendigo Pioneers players Australia international rules football team players Subiaco Football Club players East Perth Football Club players VFL/AFL premiership players