Paul Roos

Paul Roos is the AFL premiership-winning coach of the Swans and one of Australia’s most admired sporting personalities. His leadership skills have transformed the way coaches approach their work. Paul is a newspaper columnist and one of Australia’s most motivating public speakers.

About Paul Roos:

Paul Roos coached the Swans to victory in the 2005 AFL premiership, signalling the end of a 72 year drought for the club.

With more than 92,000 fans watching at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and hundreds of thousands more glued to television screens around the world, this was Roos’ moment of glory. The former 356-match AFL superstar had just witnessed a nail-biting final quarter in the 2005 grand final that saw his beloved Swans come from behind to snatch an historic 58-54 victory over the West Coast Eagles.

The Roos factor in the Swans triumph was generously acknowledged in post-match tributes. One from Peter Schwab, former triple Hawthorn premiership player and later the Hawks’ club coach, said it for all.

“The greatest strength in Roos’ coaching,” he wrote the next day, “appears to be his ability to make a group of players believe that everything is about and for the team”.

In 2006 Roos’ Swans made it to the MCG again on Grand Final Day but were beaten by one point by West Coast. Roos’ true spirit was revealed that day when he accepted the defeat the same way he treated the victory the year before….the mark of a great sportsman.

Roos answered a call to fill the vacant senior coaching position at the Swans midway through the 2002 season, after an outstanding career as a player and a brief period as full-time assistant coach. Appointed to a three year term effective season 2003, he remarkably guided the Swans into the play-offs in 2003, his talents acknowledged with his naming as AFL Coach of the Year.

Roos played 87 games for the Swans after joining the Sydney Cricket Ground-headquartered club in 1995 following a star-studded career with the old Fitzroy club – now the Brisbane Lions – including six seasons as captain. During his career with Fitzroy, he was a member of the Victorian representative team 10 years running, two as captain. He was also named in the All-Australian team on seven occasions, twice as skipper.

An extremely mobile player with expansive marking and kicking skills, Roos was runner-up in the Brownlow Medal – AFL’s highest individual player award – in 1986, having finished third the year before. He won the E J Whitten Medal, awarded to the best Victorian player in State of Origin football, in 1985 and 1988. In 2008, he was named Australian Father of the Year. The award recognises a high profile father for their significant contribution to family and community, and is presented by the Australian Father’s Day Council, in conjunction with organising charity, The Shepherd Centre.