Paul Kelly (born 28 July 1969) 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, winner of 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 ...

and captain of the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a Austral ...

for ten seasons. He was and still is known to Swans fans everywhere as "Captain Courageous". Born and raised in

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 57,003 as of 2021, it is an important agricultural, m ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Kelly attended St Michaels School and initially played

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

for Wagga Brothers but turned to Australian rules football at age 15. Recruited to the AFL by the Swans, Kelly made his debut in 1990 after being the best player in his school, and was appointed captain in 1993 at just 23 years of age, won the Brownlow Medal (the AFL's highest individual honour) in 1995, won club best and fairests in 1992, 1993, 1996 and 1997,

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 ...

selection in 1995, 1996 and 1997 (the last two as captain), and the

AFL Players Association The AFL Players Association (AFLPA, also simply known as AFL Players) is the representative body for all current and past professional Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) players. The AFLPA promotes and protects its member ...

's Robert Rose Award for Most Courageous Player in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2000. Kelly led the Swans to the AFL Grand Final in 1996—its first since 1945—and was considered one of the best players in the competition during the mid-1990s, but from 1998 onwards was severely hampered by injuries. Kelly retired after 234 AFL games and served as the Swans runner in 2003 before retiring to his farm near Wagga Wagga. His autobiography, ''Swan Song'', was published in 2003 and covers the period until his retirement from football. His No. 14 jumper was retired for 5 years, before it was brought out again, this time to be worn by Craig Bird. The current wearer of the no. 14 jumper at the Swans is co-captain Callum Mills. In 2005, Kelly was on hand to present the premiership cup to Paul Roos and Barry Hall after the Swans' nailbiting 4-point Grand Final win. In 2006, he presented the Brownlow Medal to former team mate,

Adam Goodes Adam Roy Goodes (born 8 January 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Goodes holds an elite place in VFL/AFL history as a dual Brownlow Medallist, d ...

. He was inducted into the

Australian Football Hall of Fame The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the 1996 AFL season, centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media pe ...

in July, 2007.

Statistics

:Paul Kelly's player profile at AFL Tables
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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;", , 45 , , 10 , , 2 , , 4 , , 48 , , 43 , , 91 , , 15 , , 8 , , 0.2 , , 0.4 , , 4.8 , , 4.3 , , 9.1 , , 1.5 , , 0.8 , - ! 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;", , 14 , , 20 , , 14 , , 20 , , 219 , , 173 , , 392 , , 52 , , 51 , , 0.7 , , 1.0 , , 11.0 , , 8.7 , , 19.6 , , 2.6 , , 2.6 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! 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;", , 14 , , 22 , , 8 , , 16 , , 310 , , 216 , , 526 , , 63 , , 73 , , 0.4 , , 0.7 , , 14.1 , , 9.8 , , 23.9 , , 2.9 , , 3.3 , - ! 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;", , 14 , , 20 , , 11 , , 6 , , 269 , , 153 , , 422 , , 55 , , 67 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 13.5 , , 7.7 , , 21.1 , , 2.8 , , 3.4 , - style="background:#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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 18 , , 15 , , 12 , , 226 , , 206 , , 432 , , 70 , , 42 , , 0.8 , , 0.7 , , 12.6 , , 11.4 , , 24.0 , , 3.9 , , 2.3 , - ! 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;", , 14 , , 22 , , 15 , , 11 , , 285 , , 153 , , 438 , , 68 , , 77 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 13.0 , , 7.0 , , 19.9 , , 3.1 , , 3.5 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! 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;", , 14 , , 25 , , 18 , , 13 , , 371 , , 205 , , 576 , , 128 , , 70 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 14.8 , , 8.2 , , 23.0 , , 5.1 , , 2.8 , - ! 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;", , 14 , , 23 , , 26 , , 30 , , 376 , , 178 , , 554 , , 100 , , 40 , , 1.1 , , 1.3 , , 16.3 , , 7.7 , , 24.1 , , 4.3 , , 1.7 , -style="background:#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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 16 , , 27 , , 11 , , 229 , , 108 , , 337 , , 64 , , 28 , , 1.7 , , 0.7 , , 14.3 , , 6.8 , , 21.1 , , 4.0 , , 1.8 , - ! 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;", , 14 , , 21 , , 28 , , 25 , , 267 , , 137 , , 404 , , 86 , , 29 , , 1.3 , , 1.2 , , 12.7 , , 6.5 , , 19.2 , , 4.1 , , 1.4 , -style="background:#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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 8 , , 10 , , 2 , , 67 , , 38 , , 105 , , 31 , , 16 , , 1.3 , , 0.3 , , 8.4 , , 4.8 , , 13.1 , , 3.9 , , 2.0 , - ! 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;", , 14 , , 11 , , 13 , , 11 , , 117 , , 48 , , 165 , , 52 , , 28 , , 1.2 , , 1.0 , , 10.6 , , 4.4 , , 15.0 , , 4.7 , , 2.5 , -style="background:#eaeaea;" ! 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;", , 14 , , 18 , , 13 , , 13 , , 200 , , 135 , , 335 , , 61 , , 65 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 11.1 , , 7.5 , , 18.6 , , 3.4 , , 3.6 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 234 ! 200 ! 174 ! 2984 ! 1793 ! 4777 ! 845 ! 594 ! 0.9 ! 0.7 ! 12.8 ! 7.7 ! 20.4 ! 3.6 ! 2.5

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 ...

(

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 ...

*Individual **

: 1995 ** Bob Skilton Medal (Sydney Swans Best & Fairest): 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997 **

: 1995, 1996, 1997 ** AFLPA Best Captain Award: 1999 ** AFLPA Robert Rose Most Courageous Player Award: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000 ** Sydney Swans Captain: 1993-2002 ** Sydney Swans Team of the Century - forward pocket (vice-captain) **

inductee: 2007

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Paul 1969 births Living people Sydney Swans players Bob Skilton Medal winners All-Australians (AFL) Brownlow Medal winners Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Australian rules footballers from Wagga Wagga Australian people of Irish descent Allies State of Origin players New South Wales Australian rules football State of Origin players