Paul Roos (born 27 June 1963) 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 ...

coach who coached 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 ...

and

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 ...

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). As a player, he represented and during the 1980s and 1990s. A versatile key-position player, Roos was a strong mark who was excellent at ground level, and in his prime was rated the best footballer in Australia. He was one of the Fitzroy Lions' finest players in its final years, and was named at centre half back in Fitzroy's Team of the Century. In his 17 seasons of League football, he was only reported once, for abusive language, and was found not guilty. Roos 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 2005. He has won many accolades throughout his career: he 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 ...

seven times; received the league's most valuable player (MVP) award; and represented Victoria on 14 occasions in State of Origin. He is also the AFL/VFL record holder for the number of games played wearing the number 1 jumper, which he wore throughout his 356-game career with both the Fitzroy Lions and the Sydney Swans. After finishing as a player, Roos went on to become a successful coach. He was the senior coach of the Sydney Swans from 2002 to 2010 and guided the Swans to the 2005 Premiership after they had finished the regular season in 3rd place on the ladder. The Swans' previous Premiership had been 72 years earlier when they were the South Melbourne Swans. Roos then coached the

from 2014 to 2016.

Early life

Roos grew up in the

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 ...

suburb of Donvale and played junior football with Beverley Hills Football Club in Doncaster East. He attended Donvale High School from 1975 until 1981. As Beverley Hills was in 's recruiting zone, Roos was selected to play for the Fitzroy Lions in their Under 19's team.

Playing career

Fitzroy

Roos made his senior VFL debut for in Round 4 of the 1982 season against , the club he would eventually move to 13 years later. Also making his debut along with Roos was 16-year-old

Gary Pert Gary Pert (born 28 May 1965) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented and in the Australian Football League (AFL). Tall, well-built and strong in the air, Pert played over 200 league games, despite suffering two serious knee in ...

, who became one of Roos' best teammates. In Round 9, he was named at full-forward against and kicked seven goals in a 47-point win. In 1986, Roos polled a career high 16 votes in 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 ...

to finish runner-up. He ended his career with 121 Brownlow votes (98 with Fitzroy and 23 with Sydney). Roos was appointed captain of Fitzroy in 1988 and led the club in 122 games until 1994. During his playing career at Fitzroy, Roos was selected as an

in 1985, 1987, 1988, 1991 (as captain) and 1992 (as captain). He also represented Victoria in State of Origin as captain. Roos left Fitzroy at the end of

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 ...

to join the Sydney Swans. In leaving Fitzroy for Sydney, Roos cited financial difficulty, the departure of key players (such as Gary Pert to ) and the club's relocation to the Western Oval as the main reasons for moving to Sydney. Roos played for

Fitzroy Football Club The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of City of Fitzroy, Fitzroy, the club is base ...

from 1982 until 1994, where he played for a total of 269 games and kicked a total of 270 goals.

Sydney Swans

Roos joined

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 ...

on a three-year contract. While Roos was at the Swans, he was one of Sydney's best in the

1996 AFL Grand Final The 1996 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the North Melbourne Football Club and the Sydney Swans, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 28 September 1996. It was the 100th annual AFL Grand ...

loss to

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

. He again qualified as an All-Australian in 1996 and 1997. He finished his playing career at the

with 87 games and 19 goals at the end of

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 ...

. In his playing days, he was often cheered by supporters with a distinctive, deep rolling roar of "ROOOOOOS!".

Coaching career

United States

When his playing career ended, in 1999, Roos moved to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, his wife’s homeland, Roos then spent some time in the United States and coached the national side to victory over

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. He is often credited as one of the key people in the success of the fledgling

United States Australian Football League The United States Australian Football League (USAFL) is the Sport governing body, governing body for Australian rules football in the United States. It was conceived in 1996 and organized in 1997. It is based in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. As of 201 ...

, establishing networks with key people in the country.

Sydney Swans

Returning to Australia and the Sydney Swans, Roos then became an assistant coach under senior coach Rodney Eade in 2001. Part-way through the 2002 season, with the Swans' record becoming worse by the week, Eade resigned. The club administration started the search for a new coach and it is widely believed that negotiations with Terry Wallace were at an advanced stage. Nevertheless, when Eade finally went with several games of the minor round still to be played, Roos was appointed caretaker senior coach for the remainder of the 2002 season, a move hugely popular with Swans fans, who remembered his great contribution to the club as a player. As caretaker senior coach, Roos immediately transformed the dispirited Swans players. Several who had struggled under Eade blossomed under his leadership. Surprisingly, the Swans won most of their remaining games that year (six of their last ten), and the fans soon let it be known who they wanted as coach by reviving the famous "Roooos" call. Despite this, the club administration continued their talks with Wallace (and perhaps others). Finally however, they were unable to ignore the players' own support for Roos, when, after a win in the last game of the year against

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, all the players surrounded Roos on the field and, unprecedentedly, themselves joined in the "Roooos" call. The administrators knew when they were beaten, and appointed Roos as full-time senior coach for the 2003 season (despite reportedly having to pay Wallace a considerable amount to unwind their almost-concluded deal with him). Under Roos' coaching, Sydney Swans participated in every finals series between 2003 and 2008. They made it to the preliminary final stage in 2003, the semi-final stage in 2004, won the Premiership in 2005 and almost retained it in 2006, losing the Grand Final by only one point, and then got eliminated in the first week of the 2007 finals. They made it to the second week of the 2008 finals. But 2009 was the second time under Roos' leadership that they didn't make the finals. Roos also implemented a policy of giving up first round draft picks in exchange for players from other clubs: namely, Darren Jolly, Ted Richards, Peter Everitt, Martin Mattner, Rhyce Shaw and Shane Mumford in the years 2004–2009 inclusive. all of whom earned more game-time than they did at their original clubs; this policy paying off for Paul Roos. In 2005, Roos' coaching style was criticised by AFL

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Andrew Demetriou, who referred to the Swans' ''defensive'' and ''negative'' style of play (presumably the tactics of ''

flooding A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant concern in agriculture, civi ...

'', and retaining possession through short chip kicks). Demetriou even went so far as to claim that the Swans would never win a premiership playing such an unattractive style of football. As a result of Demetriou's criticisms, the Swans were labelled by the media, especially in Melbourne, as the ''ugly ducklings''. Roos and his Swans were criticised for their game plan in a match against in mid-2005. This led to the media, led by Andrew Demetriou and the

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...

commentary team, led by Stephen Quartermain, Tim Lane and Robert Walls describing their game plan as "disgusting" and "ugly". The Swans misbehaved during the match, and lost the match 15.11 (101) – 8.10 (58), a result which proved to be the turning point in the Swans' season, only losing three more matches (by single margins) for the rest of the year. Roos and the Swans would however have the last laugh as they defeated the Saints in the preliminary final with a 15.6 (96) – 9.11 (65) win, denying them a shot at their second premiership. Coincidentally, in the

2005 AFL Grand Final The 2005 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Sydney Swans and West Coast Eagles at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 24 September 2005. It was the 109th annual AFL Grand Final, grand final of the Australian ...

, the Sydney Swans under Roos, would also kick 8.10 (58), this time defeating the

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 ...

which scored 7.12 (54) to win the premiership. Roos proved his critics wrong by leading the Swans to their first premiership in 72 years, with a hard-fought win against the

in the most thrilling Grand Final for a number of years. Many believe that the AFL's change of rules for the 2006 season was in direct response to the Swans' style of play, but this was later denied by the AFL. In the 2006 pre-season, Roos briefly returned to the US with his Swans side for an exhibition match against the Kangaroos at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, and suggested that this should become an annual event. Things became serious when the Swans lost at home to the rampant

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 ...

by 39 points, 15.11 (101) to 8.14 (62). Roos cited a lack of hunger and even went so far as to say that his team was "clearly incapable of winning the premiership", but the Sydney Swans under Roos managed to reach the 2006 AFL Grand Final against the

, losing by one point. In Round 12, 2007, Sydney faced , and lost in a game that Roos described as the worst game he had ever coached in his five-year stint at the Swans. He responded by dropping star forward Barry Hall, who had been struggling with injury. Roos also accused of tanking to gain a third successive priority draft pick when the Blues lost its final 11 matches of the regular season, most by lopsided margins (which ultimately led to the sacking of his Carlton counterpart Denis Pagan). This included a 62-point pasting from Roos' Swans in Round 15, the penultimate round before Pagan was sacked. In early 2008, Roos was alleged to have been in the centre of a match-fixing controversy involving wingman Jarrad McVeigh. His alleged instructions to McVeigh was to "go forward, just don't kick a goal" during the final stages of the Swans' NAB Cup match against , which the Swans lost by two points. Roos was cleared of any wrongdoing by the AFL one month later, as it turned out to be a joke regarding McVeigh's poor accuracy during the 2007 AFL season. He also coached from the bench in the first match of the 2008 season in which his Swans were beaten by St Kilda in a tight match. In 2008, the Swans under Roos made the finals in 6th position and then made a terrific 35 point come-from-behind win against the North Melbourne Kangaroos in the elimination final. The 2009 season, turned out to be Roos' worst ever season at the Swans, and the Swans' worst season since 1995, when it failed to make the finals, winning only eight games (five of which came in the first nine rounds of the season) and finishing in 12th position. At the end of the 2009 season, Roos announced that he would retire and step down as senior coach of Sydney Swans at the end of the 2010 season. Roos coached out the 2010 AFL season where the Sydney Swans returned to the finals after last year's absence from the finals. They defeated by five points in its home elimination final but the following week were eliminated by the in the second week of the finals by the same margin. He retired at the end of the season and was replaced by assistant coach John Longmire in a succession plan. In all he coached 202 games for Sydney, including 16 finals, 9 of which were won.

Melbourne Football Club

On 6 September 2013, Roos was appointed senior coach of the

on a two-year contract, with the option of a third year. Roos replaced Melbourne Football Club caretaker senior coach Neil Craig, who replaced Mark Neeld, after Neeld was sacked in the middle of the 2013 season. On 28 July 2014, Roos signed on for the third year. He has been accredited for helping the Demons improve their fortunes on the field; the club under Roos in his first season as Melbourne Demons Football Club senior coach in the 2014 season won four games for the season and eighteen losses, where they finished seventeenth, which is the second-last placed position on the ladder. However this doubled their total tally from the previous season, and its percentage improved from 54.07% in 2013 to 68.04% in 2014. He also delivered on the promise of the club being "the hardest to play against". However, in Round 21, 2014, Roos and the Demons came under fire after suffering a 64-point defeat to an injury-hit side which could only operate a one-man bench in the entire second half. In the 2015 season, Melbourne Demons under Roos finished in thirteenth place on the ladder with seven wins and fifteen losses. In the 2016 season, Melbourne Demons under Roos finished in eleventh place on the ladder with ten wins and twelve losses. Roos stepped down as Melbourne Football Club senior coach at the end of the 2016 season and was replaced by assistant coach Simon Goodwin in a succession plan.

Media work

After retiring from coaching at AFL level, Roos was appointed head coach of the QBE Sydney Swans Academy, he is the main leader of the academy which has over 300 players. In addition, he had several football-related media roles, including writing for the

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a Conservatism, conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the American Rupert Murdoch, Murd ...

and doing match day analysis for

Fox Footy Fox Footy (stylised as FOX FOOTY) is an Australian rules football subscription television channel dedicated to screening Australian rules football matches and related programming. It is owned by Fox Sports Australia operated out of its Melbou ...

. He also hosted '' On the Couch'' on

alongside Gerard Healy and Mike Sheahan between 2011 and 2013. Following his tenure as Melbourne coach, in November 2016 Roos joined radio station

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 45 radio stations with flagship stations broadcasting a mainstream/classic rock music format in Sydney, Melbourne, and B ...

in a special comments role as well as returning to Fox Footy as an expert commentator both positions he retains. Prior to being appointed as the senior coach of the Melbourne Demons in 2013, Roos was reluctant to coach another club after leaving the Sydney Swans. Despite informal inquiries from other clubs like , , , , , and the successor to his old club Fitzroy, the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...

, Roos had repeatedly insisted he has no intention of coaching another AFL club Roos was critical of the substitute rule which was introduced by the AFL in 2011, claiming that the rule, which aimed to lessen injuries resulting from collisions, could have the opposite effect of forcing injured players to stay on the field:

''The thing that concerns me the most is you can interchange a guy in the third quarter so he comes off, can't come back on again, and you get an injury in the last quarter of the game and you've got a healthy player sitting on the bench doing nothing and an unhealthy player still in your rotations. That really, really concerns me.''

Statistics

Playing statistics

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

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 13 , , 26 , , 15 , , 66 , , 34 , , 100 , , 31 , , , , 2.0 , , 1.2, , 5.1 , , 2.6 , , 7.7 , , 2.4 , , , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 23 , , 22 , , 19 , , 235 , , 140 , , 375 , , 111 , , , , 1.0 , , 0.8 , , 10.2 , , 6.1 , , 16.3 , , 4.8 , , , , 3 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 22 , , 10 , , 10 , , 283 , , 118 , , 401 , , 129 , , , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 12.9 , , 5.4 , , 18.2 , , 5.9 , , , , 6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 22 , , 3 , , 1 , , 328 , , 139 , , 467 , , 153 , , , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 14.9 , , 6.3 , , 21.2 , , 7.0 , , , , 16 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 1986 , style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 24 , , 5 , , 3 , , 371 , , 158 , , 529 , , 150 , , , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 15.5 , , 6.6 , , 22.0 , , 6.3 , , , , 16 , - ! 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;", , 1 , , 21 , , 29 , , 17 , , 300 , , 132 , , 432 , , 169 , , 16 , , 1.4 , , 0.8 , , 14.3 , , 6.3 , , 20.6 , , bgcolor="DD6E81", 8.0 , , 0.8 , , 10 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 1988 , style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 20 , , 30 , , 21 , , 278 , , 128 , , 406 , , 149 , , 26 , , 1.5 , , 1.1 , , 13.9 , , 6.4 , , 20.3 , , 7.5 , , 1.3 , , 4 , - ! 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;", , 1 , , 20 , , 36 , , 16 , , 308 , , 76 , , 384 , , 140 , , 19 , , 1.8 , , 0.8 , , 15.4 , , 3.8 , , 19.2 , , 7.0 , , 1.0 , , 8 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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;", , 1 , , 22 , , 49 , , 38 , , 280 , , 97 , , 377 , , 137 , , 16 , , 2.2 , , 1.7 , , 12.7 , , 4.4 , , 17.1 , , 6.2 , , 0.7 , , 3 , - ! 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;", , 1 , , 22 , , 21 , , 18 , , 288 , , 173 , , 461 , , 123 , , 18 , , 1.0 , , 0.8 , , 13.1 , , 7.9 , , 21.0 , , 5.6 , , 0.8 , , 11 , - style="background-color: #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;", , 1 , , 22 , , 17 , , 9 , , 388 , , 143 , , 531 , , 149 , , 28 , , 0.8 , , 0.4 , , 17.6 , , 6.5 , , 24.1 , , 6.8 , , 1.3 , , 10 , - ! 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;", , 1 , , 16 , , 8 , , 13 , , 223 , , 141 , , 364 , , 109 , , 28 , , 0.5 , , 0.8 , , 13.9 , , 8.8 , , 22.8 , , 6.8 , , 1.8 , , 5 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 22 , , 14 , , 11 , , 316 , , 207 , , 523 , , 141 , , 33 , , 0.6 , , 0.5 , , 14.4 , , 9.4 , , 23.8 , , 6.4 , , 1.5 , , 6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 21 , , 7 , , 13 , , 234 , , 187 , , 421 , , 113 , , 14 , , 0.3 , , 0.6 , , 11.1 , , 8.9 , , 20.0 , , 5.4 , , 0.7 , , 2 , - style="background-color: #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;", , 1 , , 24 , , 4 , , 5 , , 276 , , 204 , , 480 , , 156 , , 24 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 11.5 , , 8.5 , , 20.0 , , 6.5 , , 1.0 , , 14 , - ! 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;", , 1 , , 21 , , 6 , , 3 , , 240 , , 158 , , 398 , , 98 , , 15 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 11.4 , , 7.5 , , 19.0 , , 4.7 , , 0.7 , , 7 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 21 , , 2 , , 4 , , 174 , , 174 , , 348 , , 82 , , 25 , , 0.1 , , 0.2 , , 8.3 , , 8.3 , , 16.6 , , 3.9 , , 1.2 , , 0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 356 ! 289 ! 216 ! 4588 ! 2409 ! 6997 ! 2140 ! 262 ! 0.8 ! 0.6 ! 12.9 ! 6.8 ! 19.7 ! 6.0 ! 1.0 ! 121

Coaching statistics

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

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 , , 6 , , 4 , , 0 , , 60.0% , , 11 , , 16 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center; font-weight:normal" ,

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;", , 24 , , 15 , , 9 , , 0 , , 62.5% , , 4 , , 16 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center; font-weight:normal" ,

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;", , 24 , , 14 , , 10 , , 0 , , 58.3% , , 6 , , 16 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center; font-weight:normal" ,

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;", , 26 , , 18 , , 8 , , 0 , , 69.2% , , 3 , , 16 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center; font-weight:normal" ,

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;", , 25 , , 16 , , 9 , , 0 , , 64.0% , , 4 , , 16 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center; font-weight:normal" ,

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;", , 23 , , 12 , , 10 , , 1 , , 54.3% , , 7 , , 16 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center; font-weight:normal" ,

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;", , 24 , , 13 , , 10 , , 1 , , 56.3% , , 6 , , 16 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center; font-weight:normal" ,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 22 , , 8 , , 14 , , 0 , , 36.4% , , 12 , , 16 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center; font-weight:normal" ,

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 24 , , 14 , , 10 , , 0 , , 58.3% , , 5 , , 16 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center; font-weight:normal" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 22 , , 4 , , 18 , , 0 , , 18.2% , , 17 , , 18 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center; font-weight:normal" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 22 , , 7 , , 15 , , 0 , , 31.8% , , 13 , , 18 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center; font-weight:normal" ,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 22 , , 10 , , 12 , , 0 , , 45.5% , , 11 , , 18 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=2, Career totals ! 268 ! 137 ! 129 ! 2 ! 51.5% ! colspan=2,

Honours and achievements

Playing honours

Teams *

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 * Leigh Matthews Trophy (AFLPA MVP Award): 1986 *

, 1988,

( C),

* AFLPA Best Captain Award: 1992 * Australian Football Media Association Player of the Year Award: 1986 * Mitchell Medal (Fitzroy F.C. B&F): 1985, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1994 * Fitzroy F.C. Leading Goalkicker: 1990 * Fitzroy Football Club Captain: 1988–1990, 1992–1994 * Fitzroy F.C. Team of the Century – Centre Half Back * Australian Football Hall of Fame inductee: 2005 * Brisbane Lions Hall of Fame Inductee: 2012

Coaching honours

Teams *

AFL Premiership This page is a complete chronological listing of VFL/AFL premiers. The Australian Football League (AFL), known as the Victorian Football League (VFL) until 1989, is the elite national competition in men's Australian rules football. The inaugur ...

(

Individual * Jock McHale Medal: 2005 *

Personal life

In 1992, Roos married American native Tami Hardy, a meditation teacher from

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

. They have two sons, Dylan and Tyler, the latter of whom appeared on '' The Amazing Race Australia'' in 2019 and is currently dating American tennis player

Amanda Anisimova Amanda Kay Victoria Anisimova ( ; ; born August 31, 2001) is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles WTA rankings, WTA ranking of world No. 13, achieved on 16 June 2025. Anisimova has won three WTA Tour titles, inc ...

. In September 2003, Roos ruptured his

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

during a game of social basketball, and was seen on crutches during the Swans' qualifying final win over

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 AAMI Stadium the following weekend. In 2008 he was named

Australian Father of the Year The Australian Father of the Year Award is presented annually to "a distinguished father who has demonstrated support, guidance and love to his children or other children through his working role or family life." Awards The award was inaugurated ...

in recognition of his ability to balance the needs of his family with the responsibilities of managing a high-profile sports team.

References

Bibliography

External links

*
Paul Roos' profile and statistics
from AustralianFootball.com
Paul Roos
''Official Paul Roos Website''
Brisbane Lions Hall of Fame induction video at Youtube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roos, Paul Australian rules footballers from Melbourne All-Australians (1953–1988) All-Australian coaches Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Sydney Swans coaches Sydney Swans premiership coaches Fitzroy Football Club players Place of birth missing (living people) Leigh Matthews Trophy winners Sydney Swans players Victorian State of Origin players Mitchell Medal winners All-Australians (AFL) Melbourne Football Club coaches 1963 births Living people E. J. Whitten Medal winners Australia international rules football team players VFL/AFL premiership coaches People from Donvale, Victoria