Paul Couch (19 July 1964 – 5 March 2016) was 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

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

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 ...

Football career

Prior to playing with Geelong, Couch initially tried out with Fitzroy but was rejected for being too slow. He was recruited from the

Warrnambool Football Club The Warrnambool Football Netball Club, nicknamed the ''Blues'', is an Australian rules football and netball club based in the Warrnambool, city of the same name. Warrnambool teams compete in the Hampden Football Netball League, where the footbal ...

and, though never blessed with pace and with a very "one-sided" left-foot kick, he had the ability to make position and place his team to advantage throughout twelve (often knee injury–ridden) years. As a traditional " centreman", Couch was the pivot for the leading teams of 1989–1995. While lacking outright pace, he had a strong work ethic, along with a good football brain and disposal skills, and was well-regarded as a centreman. Couch played 259 games and kicked 203 goals for Geelong from 1985 to 1997 and won the

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 ...

in 1989. Couch was known for his broad toothy smile. He formed a strong partnership in the midfield with good friend Mark Bairstow. Together, they both serviced tenured forwards Gary Ablett and Billy Brownless with pinpoint passes. Couch represented Victoria five times, was named

All-Australian 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 ...

two times (1991, 1995) and won three club

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

awards (1986, 1989, 1995), as well as being named in Geelong's Team of the Century.

Family

Couch's son Tom Couch played three games for the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons or colloquially the Dees, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

before being delisted in 2013. He is currently signed to Collingwood's VFL. Couch's nephew, Nick Couch, plays for the

North Ballarat Football Club 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

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). His father, Bill Couch, played in the

Hampden Football League The Hampden Football Netball League is an Australian rules football and netball league based in South-Western Victoria, with clubs located in towns along or near the Princes Highway from Camperdown to Portland. The league is a major country ...

for the

, winning the club's best and fairest twice and playing in four premierships. Couch's two brothers, Bill and Peter, also played for Warrnambool.

Death

Couch died on 5 March 2016; he was cycling with friends near Apollo Bay, Victoria, when he came off his bike. It was reported he had a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

Playing statistics

:Paul Couch's player profile at AFL Tables
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1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

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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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 18 , , 12 , , 10 , , 247 , , 143 , , 390 , , 80 , , , , 0.7 , , 0.6 , , 13.7 , , 7.9 , , 21.7 , , 4.4 , , , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 19 , , 14 , , 14 , , 292 , , 118 , , 410 , , 78 , , 32 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 15.4 , , 6.2 , , 21.6 , , 4.1 , , 1.7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 17 , , 15 , , 13 , , 262 , , 174 , , 436 , , 67 , , 27 , , 0.9 , , 0.8 , , 15.4 , , 10.2 , , 25.6 , , 3.9 , , 1.6 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 26 , , 23 , , 19 , , 415 , , 285 , , bgcolor="DD6E81", 700 , , 82 , , 56 , , 0.9 , , 0.7 , , 16.0 , , 11.0 , , 26.9 , , 3.2 , , 2.2 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 20 , , 13 , , 16 , , 286 , , 222 , , 508 , , 63 , , 35 , , 0.7 , , 0.8 , , 14.3 , , 11.1 , , 25.4 , , 3.2 , , 1.8 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 24 , , 21 , , 17 , , 374 , , 262 , , 636 , , 73 , , 44 , , 0.9 , , 0.7 , , 15.6 , , 10.9 , , 26.5 , , 3.0 , , 1.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 23 , , 26 , , 14 , , 293 , , 201 , , 494 , , 82 , , 43 , , 1.1 , , 0.6 , , 12.7 , , 8.7 , , 21.5 , , 3.6 , , 1.9 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 20 , , 14 , , 10 , , 260 , , 179 , , 439 , , 38 , , 32 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 13.0 , , 9.0 , , 22.0 , , 1.9 , , 1.6 , - ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 24 , , 29 , , 23 , , 327 , , 229 , , 556 , , 64 , , 53 , , 1.2 , , 1.0 , , 13.6 , , 9.5 , , 23.2 , , 2.7 , , 2.2 , -style="background:#eaeaea;" ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 25 , , 13 , , 12 , , 401 , , 221 , , 622 , , 57 , , 48 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 16.0 , , 8.8 , , 24.9 , , 2.3 , , 1.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 21 , , 5 , , 10 , , 330 , , 134 , , 464 , , 72 , , 35 , , 0.2 , , 0.5 , , 15.7 , , 6.4 , , 22.1 , , 3.4 , , 1.7 , -style="background:#eaeaea;" ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 5 , , 3 , , 0 , , 49 , , 29 , , 78 , , 8 , , 6 , , 0.6 , , 0.0 , , 9.8 , , 5.8 , , 15.6 , , 1.6 , , 1.2 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 259 ! 203 ! 181 ! 3738 ! 2304 ! 6042 ! 824 ! 411 ! 0.8 ! 0.7 ! 14.4 ! 8.9 ! 23.3 ! 3.2 ! 1.8

Honours and achievements

*Team **

McClelland Trophy The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football club championship trophy, awarded each year to the club with the best aggregate performance across the Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) seasons. The trophy was inaugur ...

(

): 1992 *Individual **

: 1989 **

Carji Greeves Medal The Carji Greeves Medal is a name given in recent decades to an Australian rules football award given to the player(s) adjudged best and fairest for the Geelong Football Club for the season. The voting system has changed a number of times. Fo ...

: 1986, 1989, 1995 **

: 1991, 1995 ** Geelong F.C. Team of the Century – Interchange

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Couch, Paul 1964 births All-Australians (AFL) Brownlow Medal winners Carji Greeves Medal winners Geelong Football Club players Warrnambool Football Club players Victorian State of Origin players 2016 deaths Australia international rules football team players Australian rules footballer from Warrnambool