Adam Cooney (born 30 September 1985) is a former professional

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 oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played for the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

and

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCracken family in their A ...

in the Australian Football League (AFL). He 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 ...

in 2008, with 24 votes becoming the tenth Western Bulldogs player to win the award.

Early life

Cooney attended Flagstaff Hill R-7 Schools,

Blackwood High School Blackwood High School is a co-educational secondary school located in Eden Hills, a south-eastern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, offering an international baccalaureate middle-years programme with six nearby primary schools and diploma p ...

and later

Aberfoyle Park High School Aberfoyle Park High School is a large state school, public secondary schools in the southern suburbs of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. Its facilities include the Community Library, Performing Arts Centre, Gymnasium, and the Informati ...

and played for the

Flagstaff Hill Football Club The Flagstaff Hill Football Club (also known as the Flagstaff Hill Falcons) is an Australian rules football club originally formed as Brighton Methodist Football Club based at Mitchell Park in 1963 in the former United Churches Football Leagu ...

AFL career

Cooney was recruited from West Adelaide in the

SANFL The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

to the with the number-one pick in the 2003 National Draft as a priority pick. Cooney was noted as a pacey player who could kick goals on the run from outside the

50-metre arc An Australian rules football playing field is a venue where Australian rules football is played. The playing field is typically a large oval-shaped grass surface, usually a modified cricket field. These fields may vary especially for variat ...

as well as

snap kick This list is an alphabetical glossary of Australian rules football terms, jargon and slang. While some of these entries are shared with other sports, Australian rules football has developed a unique and rich terminology. Where words in a senten ...

s near the goal posts. Cooney debuted in Round 1 2004 against 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 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football ...

, where he recorded 8 disposals and kicked a goal, and his first season saw him play 19 games and kick 11 goals for the season. He had a vastly improved 2005 season: he played every game, averaged 20 possessions a game and kicked 21 goals. He was ranked second for clearances in the Bulldogs team. Cooney progressed to the elite of the competition, four seasons after being selected as the number one draft pick. His threat as a goalkicking midfielder grew, in 2006 and 2007 he kicked 30 & 28 goals respectively, he then pushed into the upper bracket of ball winners, by collecting 458 and 469 total disposals over the 2006 & 2007 season, while maintaining his average of more than a goal per game and also directly assisting in many scores. Cooney was rewarded for a strong 2008 season by winning the

. He polled 24 votes, beating

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...

midfielder

Simon Black Simon Black (born 3 April 1979) is a former Australian rules football player and current assistant coach, who played his whole career with the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL). Black was a midfielder with a reputation fo ...

by one vote. Cooney is the first No. 1 draft pick (and the first player taken as a

priority draft pick The priority draft pick is a type of draft selection in the Australian Football League's AFL Draft. Priority draft picks are additional draft picks, located at or near the start of the draft, which are given only to the poorest performing teams, ...

) to win the award. His 2008 season saw him amass 637 total disposals and boot 23 goals, highlighted by a 25 disposal, 5 goal outing against 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 reser ...

in Round 7. He played 25 total games in 2008 and averaged 25.5 disposals per game. In 2009, Adam had another great season, playing 23 games, kicking 14 goals and averaging 26.8 disposals, although he only managed to poll 3 Brownlow Medal Votes. He also featured in the official advertisement for the AFL, brushing off tacklers including a

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

in a

bullfighting Bullfighting is a physical contest that involves a bullfighter attempting to subdue, immobilize, or kill a bull, usually according to a set of rules, guidelines, or cultural expectations. There are several variations, including some forms wh ...

ring. From the 2010-2012 season Cooney struggled with injury and form, his impact on game, particularly his goal kicking was very minimal, as he only provided 27 majors over 3 seasons, and playing a total of 47 games in that span. Cooney then bounced back in 2013, playing 19 games, kicking 19 goals and tallying 485 disposals for the season. The 2014 season was Cooney's final year at the Bulldogs, he kicked 13 goals and played 18 games. His last game for the Dog's saw him tally 20 disposals and 2 tackles, a game in which the Dog's lost to the GWS Giants. In October 2014, Cooney was traded to . The 2015 season was Cooney's first in the red and black, he only managed 11 games and kicked 10 goals, including 3 on debut against the Sydney Swans in Round 1. The Essendon Supplements Saga ordeal allowed Adam more of an opportunity to play regular senior football during the 2016 season. He managed to play 20 games and kick 6 goals, he also tallied 457 disposals. In August 2016, Cooney announced he would retire after the round 22 match against at

Etihad Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the 6th-largest ...

. His final AFL game was also his 250th game and was fittingly against his old side, the Bulldogs, he gathered 22 disposals and kicked a goal.

Personal life

Cooney proposed to his partner Haylea McCann with a Burger Ring. On 24 October 2009, he and McCann married in a ceremony at Glenelg Beach,

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

Statistics

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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 6 ...

, , 17 , , 19 , , 11 , , 12 , , 119 , , 105 , , 224 , , 44 , , 30 , , 0.6 , , 0.6 , , 6.3 , , 5.5 , , 11.8 , , 2.3 , , 1.6 , , 3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, , 17 , , 22 , , 21 , , 13 , , 236 , , 198 , , 434 , , 93 , , 56 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , 10.7 , , 9.0 , , 19.7 , , 4.2 , , 2.5 , , 12 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, , 17 , , 24 , , 30 , , 19 , , 242 , , 216 , , 458 , , 128 , , 60 , , 1.3 , , 0.8 , , 10.1 , , 9.0 , , 19.1 , , 5.3 , , 2.5 , , 4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, , 17 , , 22 , , 28 , , 21 , , 262 , , 207 , , 469 , , 112 , , 79 , , 1.3 , , 1.0 , , 11.9 , , 9.4 , , 21.3 , , 5.1 , , 3.6 , , 9 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, , 17 , , 25 , , 23 , , 6 , , 311 , , 326 , , 637 , , 98 , , 65 , , 0.9 , , 0.2 , , 12.4 , , 13.0 , , 25.5 , , 3.9 , , 2.6 , , 24 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, , 17 , , 23 , , 14 , , 15 , , 277 , , 340 , , 617 , , 81 , , 58 , , 0.6 , , 0.7 , , 12.0 , , 14.8 , , 26.8 , , 3.5 , , 2.5 , , 3 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, , 17 , , 20 , , 9 , , 12 , , 263 , , 252 , , 515 , , 79 , , 60 , , 0.5 , , 0.6 , , 13.2 , , 12.6 , , 25.8 , , 4.0 , , 3.0 , , 8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, , 17 , , 13 , , 9 , , 8 , , 156 , , 129 , , 285 , , 38 , , 40 , , 0.7 , , 0.6 , , 12.0 , , 9.9 , , 21.9 , , 2.9 , , 3.1 , , 2 , -style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, , 17 , , 14 , , 9 , , 6 , , 162 , , 131 , , 293 , , 38 , , 37 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 11.6 , , 9.4 , , 20.9 , , 2.7 , , 2.6 , , 3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, , 17 , , 19 , , 19 , , 11 , , 264 , , 221 , , 485 , , 82 , , 44 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , 13.9 , , 11.6 , , 25.5 , , 4.3 , , 2.3 , , 7 , -style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, , 17 , , 18 , , 13 , , 6 , , 190 , , 164 , , 354 , , 67 , , 59 , , 0.7 , , 0.3 , , 10.6 , , 9.1 , , 19.7 , , 3.7 , , 3.3 , , 7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, , 13 , , 11 , , 10 , , 4 , , 123 , , 64 , , 187 , , 33 , , 25 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 11.2 , , 5.8 , , 17.0 , , 3.0 , , 2.3 , , 0 , -style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, , 17 , , 20 , , 6 , , 14 , , 259 , , 198 , , 457 , , 116 , , 57 , , 0.3 , , 0.7 , , 13.0 , , 9.9 , , 22.8 , , 5.8 , , 2.8 , , 4 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 250 ! 202 ! 147 ! 2864 ! 2551 ! 5415 ! 1009 ! 670 ! 0.8 ! 0.6 ! 11.5 ! 10.2 ! 21.7 ! 4.0 ! 2.7 ! 86

Honours and achievements

*Individual **

: 2008 **

All-Australian Team 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-perf ...

: 2008 ** Dream Team Representative Honours in AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match: 2008 ** AFL Rising Star Nominee: 2004 (Round 21) ** Number 1 AFL Draft Pick: 2003

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooney, Adam 1985 births Living people Western Bulldogs players West Adelaide Football Club players All-Australians (AFL) Brownlow Medal winners Essendon Football Club players Flagstaff Hill Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Adelaide