Brendon Bolton (born 18 April 1979) is an Australian rules football coach who is currently serving as the director of coaching with the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League. Bolton previously was the head coach of the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Me ...

in the Australian Football League, having served in the role from 2016 to 2019. Prior to serving in this role, he served as the head coach of

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

club Box Hill from November 2008 to October 2010, guiding the club to two consecutive finals series in his two seasons in charge. Bolton would return to Hawthorn shortly after leaving Carlton

Playing career

At age 19, Bolton played in the 1998 TFL Grand Final. He won the

Darrel Baldock Darrel John Baldock AM (29 September 1938 – 2 February 2011) was an Australian sportsman and state politician. He played Australian rules football for the St Kilda Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL), East Devonport Footba ...

Medal for the best player on the ground that day. Bolton would then play 24 games for the

Tasmanian Devils The Tasmanian devil (''Sarcophilus harrisii'') (palawa kani: purinina) is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. Until recently, it was only found on the island states and territories of Australia, state of Tasmania, but it has be ...

in the 2001 and 2002

seasons. At twenty-four, Bolton was appointed Captain-coach of North Hobart and he led them to the 2003 premiership. He won the Horrie Gorringe Medal that season. His playing career was cut short by a hamstring injury in 2008.

Coaching career

Brendon Bolton served as the head coach of Southern Football League club North Hobart, guiding the club to a Southern Football League Premiership in 2003. Bolton served as the head coach of

club the

in 2006, taking over from former

Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

and

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at ...

player Matthew Armstrong, who left the club due to internal pressure from the Devils' playing group. He served as head coach for the remainder of the season, after which he was replaced with former Sydney Swans player

Daryn Cresswell Daryn Cresswell (born 22 May 1971) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League, and the former senior coach of the Tasmanian Devils Football Club that played in the Victorian Foo ...

. In 2008, Bolton served as the head coach of the

Clarence Football Club The Clarence Football Club, nicknamed ''The Kangaroos'' (and usually referred to as simply "The Roos"), is an Australian rules football club playing in the Tasmanian State League, based in Bellerive, Tasmania. Before 1947, they existed as Bel ...

in the

Tasmanian Football League The Tasmanian State League (TSL), colloquially known as the "Tasmanian Football League (TFL)" (formerly known as the "Tasmanian Australian National Football League (TANFL)" and several other short-term names) is the highest ranked Australian r ...

. Bolton was appointed the head coach of the Box Hill Hawks on 6 November 2008. In his first season with the club in 2009, Bolton enjoyed a relatively successful season in charge, the Hawks finishing 5th on the VFL ladder, with 12 wins and 6 losses. The Hawks defeated Geelong in the First Elimination Final, before narrowly losing an epic semi-final to

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city List of Melbourne suburbs, suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the Cities of ...

19.10 (124) to 19.14 (128). In Bolton's second season in charge of the club, the Hawks built on their improved form in 2009 with another strong performance in 2010. After an indifferent start to the season, the team came home strongly with seven consecutive wins in the second half of the season to again finish 5th on the ladder, with 11 wins and 7 losses. The Hawks met the

Bendigo Bombers The Bendigo Gold Football Club was an Australian rules football club based in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia. The club played in the Victorian Football League (VFL) from 1998 until 2014, under the nicknames Diggers, Bombers and Gold at different ti ...

at the Box Hill City Oval in the First Elimination Final, prevailing by 65 points, 20.16 (136) to 10.11 (71). In circumstances similar to that of the previous season, Box Hill won its Elimination Final in strong fashion and again met Port Melbourne in the First Semi-final. In tense a match played in quagmire conditions at

North Port Oval North Port Oval, also known as the Port Melbourne Cricket Ground or by the sponsored name ETU Stadium, is an Australian rules football and cricket stadium located in Port Melbourne, Australia. The capacity of the venue is 6,000 people. It is ...

, the Hawks defeated Port Melbourne for the first time in a finals game 14.11 (95) to 12.17 (89), with the winning goal coming in the dying seconds. The following week, the Hawks met North Ballarat in the Preliminary Final at the Box Hill City Oval. Despite enjoying home ground advantage, the Hawks went down to the Roosters 16.18 (114) to 6.17 (53) who went on to claim the VFL premiership the following weekend. In his two seasons in charge of the Box Hill Hawks, Bolton coached 41 VFL Games including finals, achieving 26 wins and 15 losses for a winning percentage of 63.41%. As a result of his good performances as the head coach of Box Hill, Bolton was promoted to an assistant coaching role with the club's

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

affiliate

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

Hawthorn

Bolton was appointed as an assistant coach at

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawt ...

at the end of 2009, in the position of midfield under senior coach

Alastair Clarkson Alastair Thomas Clarkson (born 27 April 1968) is an Australian rules football coach and former player who is currently the head coach of the North Melbourne Football Club. He was previously the head coach of the Hawthorn Football Club in the ...

. In 2014, Bolton coached the Hawthorn Hawks in a NAB Challenge Cup match against

, with Hawthorn achieving a 65-point win. Bolton was made the interim senior coach of the

after regular senior coach

was hospitalised and diagnosed with

Guillain–Barré syndrome Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rapid-onset muscle weakness caused by the immune system damaging the peripheral nervous system. Typically, both sides of the body are involved, and the initial symptoms are changes in sensation or pain oft ...

in May 2014. Bolton then coached Hawthorn for five games in the 2014 season in Clarkson's absence, where the Hawks under Bolton won each of the five games straight in a row. After five matches, Clarkson received an endorsement from his doctors to resume his role as senior coach. Bolton is the only senior coach in the club's history to coach the club to five successive victories in his first five games.

Carlton

On 25 August 2015, Bolton was announced as the senior coach of the Carlton Football Club for the 2016 season, succeeding caretaker senior coach John Barker who had been filling in for the sacked

Mick Malthouse Michael Raymond Malthouse (born 17 August 1953) is a former Australian rules footballer, who played for the St Kilda Football Club and Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). After finishing his playing career, Malthou ...

. Brendon Bolton's first win at Carlton came on the back of a hard fought 4 point win over Fremantle at Domain Stadium. In the 2016 season, Carlton under Bolton finished fourteenth on the ladder with seven wins and fifteen losses. In the 2017 season, things did not improve for Bolton at the club, when Carlton under Bolton finished sixteenth on the ladder with six wins and sixteen losses. In the 2018 season, Carlton's on-field performance under Bolton, further deteriorated with the performance drop, when the club finished eighteenth, the last position on the ladder for the

wooden spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to: * Wooden spoon, implement * Wooden spoon (award) A wooden spoon is an award that is given to an individual or team that has come last in a competition. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous e ...

with two wins and twenty losses. On 3 June 2019, Bolton was sacked as senior coach of the Carlton Football Club after being defeated by the Essendon Football club in Round 11, 2019. Before his sacking, the club under Bolton had won only one of its 11 matches in the 2019 season, sitting at eighteenth, which is the last position on the ladder. Bolton coached Carlton to a total of 77 games with 16 wins and 61 losses with a winning percentage at 20 percent. Bolton was replaced by assistant coach David Teague as caretaker senior coach of the Carlton Football Club for the rest of the 2019 season, who was eventually appointed full-time senior coach.

Return to Hawthorn

Following the conclusion of the 2019 season, Bolton returned to Hawthorn to serve as the club's director of coaching under senior coach Clarkson. Bolton would remain in the role until the end of 2020, when he took up an assistant coaching position in the midfield in 2021. At the end of the 2021 season,

was replaced as senior coach of Hawthorn by Sam Mitchell.

Collingwood

Fellow Hawthorn Football Club assistant coach

Craig McRae Craig McRae (born 22 September 1973) is a former Australian rules footballer and the current senior coach of the Collingwood Football Club. Playing career Originally from South Australian National Football League club Glenelg, McRae was draf ...

was appointed the senior coach of the Collingwood Football Club. Bolton then departed Hawthorn to join McRae at Collingwood. Bolton serves as Director of Coaching and as an assistant coach in the midfield position under senior coach McRae at Collingwood Football Club.

Coaching statistics

:''Statistics are correct to the end of the 2019 season'' , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , scope="row" ,

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 ...

^ , , , 5 , , 5 , , 0 , , 0 , , 100.0% , , , , 18 , - , scope="row" ,

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 of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, , , 22 , , 7 , , 15 , , 0 , , 31.8% , , 14 , , 18 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , scope="row" ,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

, , , 22 , , 6 , , 16 , , 0 , , 27.2% , , 16 , , 18 , - , scope="row" ,

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

, , , 22 , , 2 , , 20 , , 0 , , 9.1% , , 18 , , 18 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , scope="row" ,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, , , 11 , , 1 , , 10 , , 0 , , 9.1% , , , , 18 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=2, Career totals ! 82 !! 21 !! 61 !! 0 !! 25.6% ! colspan=2, ^''Bolton was Hawthorn's caretaker coach for five weeks during 2014.''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolton, Brendon 1979 births Australian rules footballers from Tasmania Carlton Football Club coaches Hawthorn Football Club coaches Box Hill Football Club coaches Clarence Football Club coaches North Hobart Football Club coaches Clarence Football Club players North Hobart Football Club players North Launceston Football Club players Tasmanian Devils Football Club players Living people Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame inductees