Paul Roos

Paul Roos (born 27 June 1963) is a former Australian rules football coach who coached the Sydney Swans and Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

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.

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 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, 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.

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

During his playing career at Fitzroy, Roos was selected as an All-Australian in 1985, 1987, 1988, 1991 (as captain) and 1992 (as captain).

He also represented Victoria in State of Origin as captain.

In 1986, Roos polled a career high 16 votes in the Brownlow Medal 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.

Roos left Fitzroy at the end of 1994 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 joined Sydney Swans in 1995 on a three-year contract.

While Roos was at the Swans, he was one of Sydney's best in the 1996 AFL Grand Final loss to North Melbourne.

He again qualified as an All-Australian in 1996 and 1997.

He finished his playing career at the Sydney Swans with 87 games and 19 goals at the end of 1998.

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

When his playing career ended, in 1999, Roos moved to the United States, his wife’s homeland, Roos then spent some time in the United States and coached the national side to victory over Canada.

He is often credited as one of the key people in the success of the fledgling United States Australian Football League, establishing networks with key people in the country.

Returning to Australia and the Sydney Swans, Roos then became an assistant coach under senior coach Rodney Eade in 2001.

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.

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.

Roos was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2005.

He has won many accolades throughout his career: he was named All-Australian 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.

Roos then coached the Melbourne Football Club from 2014 to 2016.

Roos grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Donvale and played junior football with Beverley Hills Football Club in Doncaster East.