Henry "Sonny" Elms (c. 1861 – 14 September 1928) was an

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 ...

coach with

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at t ...

in the

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 ...

(VFL). He had previously played 215 games for the club in the VFA between 1882 and 1895, being part of their premiership teams in 1885 and 1888–1890. Elms was the first player in Victorian elite football to play 200 games, which he achieved in round 20 of 1893, while his career total of 215 games remained a South Melbourne club record until it was broken by teammate Bill Windley in Round 5 of the 1902 VFL season. He was also South Melbourne captain between 1885, when the club won their second premiership, and 1894. Elms led South Melbourne to four premierships (including a hat-trick in 1888-1890), which as of 2022 remains the Victorian elite football record for most premierships as club captain: this has been equalled in the VFL/AFL by

Syd Coventry Sydney Andrew Coventry (13 June 1899 – 10 November 1976) was an Australian rules footballer. Family He married Gladys Eileen Trevaskis (1901–1977) on 8 October 1921. West Coast of Tasmania Originally from Diamond Creek, Victoria, Diamond ...

(in 1930),

Dick Reynolds Richard Sylvannus Reynolds (20 June 1915 – 2 September 2002) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Reynolds is one of four footballers to have won three Brownl ...

(in 1950), and

Michael Tuck Michael Tuck (born 24 June 1953) is a seven-time premiership-winning player, Australian rules footballer with the Hawthorn Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) / Australian Football League (AFL). His 426 career games was a VFL/ ...

(in 1991). He was made coach in 1918, sharing the duties with former player and longtime teammate

Herb Howson Herbert Howson (11 August 1872 – 8 May 1948) was an Australian rules footballer who played with South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Football A wingman, Howson played with South Melbourne for four seasons in the Victorian ...

. After the club defeated Collingwood by five points in the Grand Final, they became the first (and so far only) pair to coach a premiership team; they remained coaches for the 1919 season, and finished with a coaching record of 27 wins from 33 games.

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Coaching stats
from AFL Tables Sydney Swans coaches Sydney Swans premiership coaches Place of birth missing Year of birth missing Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) 1928 deaths VFL/AFL premiership coaches {{AFL-bio-1860s-stub