Anthony William Brownless (born 28 January 1967) 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 oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er and radio and television media personality who represented in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL) during the 1980s and 1990s.

Early life

Brownless was born and raised in

Jerilderie Jerilderie is a small, rural town in the southern Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Murrumbidgee Local Government Area. At th Jerilderie had a population of 922 people. It can be found along the Newell Highway ...

, a rural town in New South Wales. He first played football for his local team, the

Jerilderie Football Club The Jerilderie Football Netball Club is an Australian rules football and netball club based in Jerilderie, a town in the Riverina region of New South Wales. The club teams currently compete in the Picola & District FNL, which Jerilderie FNC j ...

, when it was part of the

Murray Football League The Murray Football Netball League is an Australian rules football and netball league affiliated with the Victorian Country Football League. The league covers a large area of northern Victoria and southern New South Wales from Shepparton in the ...

. He boarded for three years in Kilmore, Victoria, at Assumption College, one of Australia's most renowned "football nurseries", a school which has a strong tradition of producing footballers who have gone on to play in the AFL. In 1984, his final year at the school, Brownless kicked 155 goals for the school team.

Career

VFL/AFL

Geelong asked Brownless to come and train, but instead he chose to return home to Jerilderie to be with family and friends and play a season of senior football before going to Geelong. During the 1985 season, he kicked 148 goals for the Jerilderie senior team while working as a farmhand. Jerilderie made it to the grand final but lost. Brownless kicked six of the team's nine goals despite having injured an ankle in the semi-final. Brownless moved to Geelong in time for the

1986 VFL season The 1986 VFL season was the 90th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 29 March until 27 September, and comprised a ...

and began working as a groundsman at

Kardinia Park Kardinia Park is a major public park located in South Geelong, Victoria. A number of public and sporting facilities are located in the park: a major AFL stadium, a secondary football oval, a cricket field, an open air swimming pool, a number of ...

. He said that playing for Geelong was a natural progression for him because of the town's rural atmosphere:

''It's really like a big country town and the club's a lot like a country club. You're all behind one another and you're all pretty close. It's a good feeling.''

Brownless made his senior VFL debut in Round 1, 1986 and quickly made a name for himself as a strong

full-forward Full-forward is a position in Australian rules football and Gaelic football with a key focus on kicking goals. The Coleman Medal is awarded to the player, often a full-forward, who has kicked the most goals in an Australian Football League seaso ...

, winning the Cats' best first year player award that year. He went on to play 198 games and kick 441 goals, putting him fifth in Geelong's all-time goalkicking list, behind Gary Ablett (1021),

Doug Wade Douglas Graeme Wade (born 16 October 1941) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club and North Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He was the League's leading goal scorer ( ...

(834) Tom Hawkins (545) and Steve Johnson (452). One of Brownless' fondest memories was kicking a goal after the siren against Footscray in their 1994 qualifying final. With Geelong trailing by one point, he marked the ball within scoring range with just seconds left and kicked a goal to send Geelong through to the next stage of the

finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. While the Cats eventually made it to the

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

, they lost that match. Brownless played in four losing grand final teams with Geelong. Brownless "retired“ in 1997 at 30 years of age, although the reason for the retirement was because he wasn't required at the club for the

1998 AFL Season The 1998 AFL season was the 102nd season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured sixt ...

. Brownless has the record for most goals in a game at the Gabba, with 11.

State of Origin

Brownless first played State of Origin in 1988 for New South Wales. Playing in the

State of Origin Carnival Representative matches in Australian rules football are matches between representative teams played under the Australian rules football, Australian rules, most notably of the British colonisation of Australia, colonies and later States and ter ...

that year, he kicked three goals in the tournament, two in the first against

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

and one in the second against

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. In 1993 he again played in the State of Origin Carnival, being selected for NSW/ACT against

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. With

Wayne Carey Wayne Francis Carey (born 27 May 1971) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the North Melbourne Football Club and Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A dual-premiership captain at North Melbou ...

and

John Longmire John Longmire (born 31 December 1970) is the current coach of the Sydney Swans. As a player, he represented the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 1988 to 1999. Early years Longmire was born in Corowa, ...

in the side, Brownless played at centre half back. In 1995 he kicked five goals and was named in the best players for

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

in a win over Western Australia.

Statistics

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

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 16 , , 14 , , 32 , , 16 , , 112 , , 50 , , 162 , , 80 , , 0 , , 2.3 , , 1.1 , , 8.0 , , 3.6 , , 11.6 , , 5.7 , , 0.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 16 , , 14 , , 30 , , 22 , , 112 , , 48 , , 160 , , 75 , , 20 , , 2.1 , , 1.6 , , 8.0 , , 3.4 , , 11.4 , , 5.4 , , 1.4 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 16 , , 7 , , 14 , , 7 , , 44 , , 21 , , 65 , , 28 , , 6 , , 2.0 , , 1.0 , , 6.3 , , 3.0 , , 9.3 , , 4.0 , , 0.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 1989 , style="text-align:center;", , 16 , , 26 , , 46 , , 34 , , 228 , , 120 , , 348 , , 143 , , 19 , , 1.8 , , 1.3 , , 8.8 , , 4.6 , , 13.4 , , 5.5 , , 0.7 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 16 , , 22 , , 35 , , 22 , , 241 , , 143 , , 384 , , 122 , , 21 , , 1.6 , , 1.0 , , 11.0 , , 17.5 , , 6.5 , , 5.5 , , 1.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 16 , , 20 , , 81 , , 54 , , 223 , , 72 , , 295 , , 142 , , 13 , , 4.1 , , 2.7 , , 11.2 , , 3.6 , , 14.8 , , 7.1 , , 0.7 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 16 , , 24 , , 79 , , 46 , , 213 , , 100 , , 313 , , 141 , , 16 , , 3.3 , , 1.9 , , 8.9 , , 4.2 , , 13.0 , , 5.9 , , 0.7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 16 , , 11 , , 20 , , 14 , , 100 , , 43 , , 143 , , 51 , , 7 , , 1.8 , , 1.3 , , 9.1 , , 3.9 , , 13.0 , , 4.6 , , 0.6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 16 , , 17 , , 34 , , 21 , , 153 , , 45 , , 198 , , 84 , , 11 , , 2.0 , , 1.2 , , 9.0 , , 2.6 , , 11.6 , , 4.9 , , 0.6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 16 , , 24 , , 45 , , 36 , , 208 , , 114 , , 322 , , 126 , , 32 , , 1.9 , , 1.5 , , 8.7 , , 4.8 , , 13.4 , , 5.3 , , 1.3 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 16 , , 11 , , 20 , , 11 , , 88 , , 135 , , 47 , , 51 , , 14 , , 1.8 , , 1.0 , , 8.0 , , 4.3 , , 12.3 , , 4.6 , , 1.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 16 , , 8 , , 5 , , 8 , , 35 , , 19 , , 54 , , 15 , , 2 , , 0.6 , , 1.0 , , 4.4 , , 2.4 , , 6.8 , , 1.9 , , 0.3 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 198 ! 441 ! 291 ! 1757 ! 822 ! 2579 ! 1058 ! 161 ! 2.2 ! 1.5 ! 8.9 ! 4.2 ! 13.0 ! 5.3 ! 0.9

Media career and life after football

When Brownless retired from football he moved into the media, appearing regularly on '' The Footy Show''. On ''The Footy Show'' he appeared in "The House of Bulger" segment as the family's matriarch Joybell Bulger. He joined 95.5 K-Rock in Geelong as a sales representative. Soon, on their "Big Mattress" breakfast show, he co-hosted a sport/comedy segment called "On The Bench" with ex-Geelong player

Dwayne Russell Shane John Russell (born 4 March 1965) known as Dwayne Russell is a former professional Australian rules footballer and currently a commentator of the sport. Born in Adelaide, Russell made his senior football debut as a sixteen-year-old in 19 ...

and the Essendon fanatic "Ferret" (Russell Taylor), twice a week. A long list of Geelong players were included in "On The Bench" as special guests including Barry Stoneham, Tim McGrath and Paul Couch. In 1992 he became the inaugural winner of the Mirrool Silo Kick in the

Riverina The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation ...

, kicking an Aussie Rules football 32 metres plus over the Mirrool Silos. In August 1999, it was reported that due to Brownless' connections in the local political scene, both the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

(ALP) and the ruling

Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party. It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Au ...

were keen to recruit Brownless into politics, despite his limited experience. Labor leader

Steve Bracks Stephen Phillip Bracks (born 15 October 1954) is a former Australian politician and was the 44th Premier of Victoria. He first won the electoral district of Williamstown in 1994 for the Labor Party and was party leader and premier from 1999 ...

, who would go on to win the state election that year, was a Geelong supporter, and Brownless had persuaded the then Premier

Jeff Kennett Jeffrey Gibb Kennett (born 2 March 1948) is a former Australian politician who was the 43rd Premier of Victoria between 1992 and 1999, and currently a media commentator. He was previously the president of the Hawthorn Football Club, serving ...

's wife, Felicity, to become Geelong's female number one ticket holder. By 2005, Brownless had featured on '' The Sunday Footy Show'' as well as earning continual appearances on ''The Footy Show''. He also co-hosted ''

Morning Glory Morning glory (also written as morning-glory) is the common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae, whose current taxonomy and systematics are in flux. Morning glory species belong to many genera, some of ...

'', a weekday breakfast show on Melbourne radio station

SEN 1116 1116 SEN (call sign 3AK) is an Australian radio station in Victoria. Owned and operated by Pacific Star Network, it broadcasts a sports radio format from Lower Plenty to Greater Melbourne. First broadcast on 29 November 1931 as 3AK, the st ...

. Brownless finished his 5-day-a-week stint in November 2008. Brownless appeared on '' Before the Bounce'', a weekly football show on

Foxtel Foxtel is an Australian pay television company—operating in cable television, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April 2018, superseding an earlier company from 1995. The service was establi ...

alongside

Jason Dunstall Jason Hadfield Dunstall (born 14 August 1964) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Dunstall is arguably the greatest Australian rules footballer to come from ...

and

Danny Frawley Daniel Patrick Frawley (8 September 1963 – 9 September 2019) was an Australian rules football player, coach, administrator, commentator and media personality. He played 240 games for the St Kilda Football Club in the Victorian Football League ...

until the end of the 2008 AFL season. In May 2008, Brownless was added as a regular on the Thursday night AFL Footy Show to replace an incapacitated Sam Newman, but he was relegated to guest panelist upon Newman's return. From 2009 until the show's termination in 2019, Brownless had once again become a regular alongside

Shane Crawford Shane Barry Crawford (born 9 September 1974) is a former Australian rules football player, television media personality and author. He played 305 senior games for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and won the ...

to replace

Trevor Marmalade Trevor Marmalade (born Jason van de Velde, 26 April 1962) is an Australian comedian and radio and television presenter. Marmalade is of Dutch people, Dutch descent and grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Surrey Hills, Victoria, Surrey Hills. C ...

, alternating each week with Crawford and, since 2012,

Matthew Lloyd Matthew James Lloyd (born 16 April 1978) is a former professional Australian rules footballer, who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A highly decorated full-forward, Lloyd's AFL's honours include ...

. In March 2010, Brownless joined

Triple M Melbourne Triple M Melbourne is a radio station broadcasting in Melbourne, Victoria. Its target demographic is the 18-54 age group. Triple M Melbourne is part of Southern Cross Austereo's Triple M Network and broadcasts on the 105.1 MHz frequency. Th ...

's new drive show ''

The Rush Hour ''The Rush Hour'' is a 1928 American silent comedy film directed by E. Mason Hopper and starring Marie Prevost, Harrison Ford and Seena Owen. Cast * Marie Prevost as Margie Dolan * Harrison Ford as Dan Morley * Seena Owen as Yvonne Dor� ...

'' with

James Brayshaw James Antony Brayshaw (born 11 May 1967) is an Australian media personality and retired cricketer working in television for the Seven Network and radio for Triple M. For Seven Sport, he hosts and calls Test cricket during summer and Australian F ...

. Brownless bought the Cumberland Hotel in

Castlemaine, Victoria Castlemaine ( , Variation in Australian English, non-locally also ) is a small city in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, in the Goldfields region of Victoria, Goldfields region about 120 kilometres (75 miles) northwest by road from ...

. He also owns the Cremorne Hotel in

Newtown, Victoria Newtown is an inner western suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. At the , Newtown had a population of 10,155. It is a primarily residential area occupying one of the highest points of urban Geelong, has always been a desirable place of resid ...

In January 2020, Brownless appeared in the sixth season of the Australian version of '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!''. In September 2021, Brownless announced he was leaving '' The Sunday Footy Show'' and the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

after 27 years with the network.

Personal life

Brownless was married to Nicki. They have two daughters, Lucy and Ruby, and two sons, Oscar and Max. Brownless and Nicki made headlines in 2016 and beyond after it came to light that they had separated after 18 years of marriage in 2015, and that Nicki had proceeded to have a relationship with one of Brownless's colleagues,

Garry Lyon Garry Peter Lyon (born 13 September 1967) is a former professional Australian rules football player and was captain of the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Since his retirement from football, he has been mai ...

. The relationship caused a bitter falling-out between Brownless and Lyon, causing Lyon to leave The Footy Show with depression.

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

* *
Profile at Australian Football
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brownless, Billy 1967 births Living people Australian people of Irish descent All-Australians (AFL) New South Wales Australian rules football State of Origin players Australian radio personalities Australian television presenters Geelong Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Geelong Australian rules footballers from New South Wales Allies State of Origin players I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (Australian TV series) participants