Mark James Mickan (born 30 January 1961) 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

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Football Club, nicknamed the Bears, was a professional Australian rules football club based in Queensland on the Gold Coast (relocated to Brisbane in 1993). The club participated in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/ ...

and

Adelaide Football Club The Adelaide Crows (officially the Adelaide Football Club) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1990. The Crows has fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since ...

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). Mickan began his senior career with

South Australian National Football League 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 ...

(SANFL) club in 1981 and finished back at West Adelaide in 1994.

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 ...

selection in 1988 marked the pinnacle of his playing career. He has a sister,

Patricia Mickan Patricia "Pat" Mickan (born 12 March 1957) is an Australian former basketball player. Biography Mickan played 150 games for the national team between 1979 and 1989, competing at two Olympic Games; 1984 and 1988.Woodville-West Torrens in 1998 and 1999, Glenelg for five and half years from 2006 to June 2011, and West Adelaide from 2014 to 2017. In 2015, Mickan led West Adelaide to the club's first premiership since 1983 when they defeated Woodville-West Torrens by 30 points in the 2015 SANFL Grand Final. It was also Mickan's first premiership as a senior coach. Mickan was diagnosed with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

in late 2016.

Playing career

Recruited from the Renmark Rovers in West Adelaide's country zone (

Riverland Football League The Riverland Football League is an Australian rules football league located in South Australia's Riverland region. The league has two divisions - the first division is for the main towns of the Riverland and the second division, called the Riv ...

), the talented 6'5" (196 cm) tall ruckman started his SANFL league career in 1981 and quickly established himself alongside Dexter Kennedy as the club's leading ruckman until Kennedy left to join

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

at the end of 1982. After a stellar 1983 season as The Bloods number one ruckman, Mickan was cruelly robbed of the chance to play in West Adelaide's Grand Final win (the club's first in 22 years) over Sturt due to a torn posterior

ligament A ligament is the fibrous connective tissue that connects bones to other bones. It is also known as ''articular ligament'', ''articular larua'', ''fibrous ligament'', or ''true ligament''. Other ligaments in the body include the: * Peritoneal li ...

suffered in Round 20 of the 22 round regular season against Woodville at

Football Park Football Park, known commercially as AAMI Stadium, was an Australian rules football stadium located in West Lakes, South Australia, West Lakes, a western suburb of Adelaide, the state capital of South Australia, Australia. It was built in 197 ...

in the early game of a double header. His place in the side was taken by 6'7" (200 cm) tall Dirk de Jong, who had actually retired from league football earlier in the year but was persuaded to come back after Mickan's injury by coach

Neil Kerley Donald Neil Kerley (20 February 1934 – 29 June 2022) was an Australian rules footballer and coach. He is best known for taking three clubs to four South Australian National Football League (SANFL) premierships over three decades as both a p ...

. Strong seasons in 1983, 1985 and 1986 resulted in his winning club Best & Fairest awards, while in 1986 West coach John Cahill named him the team captain for the season. Following the 1986 SANFL season in which West Adelaide finished in seventh place, Mickan left to join the new Brisbane Bears playing 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) in

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 ...

. Mickan's qualities as a leader and player were instantly recognised with his new club where he was appointed the inaugural captain by coach

Peter Knights Peter Knights (born 30 March 1952) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach who represented in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Widely regarded as one of Australian football's finest centre half-backs, despite suffering numerous in ...

. This is especially noteworthy given the team included

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 ...

club captain Mark "Chocco" Williams, who was appointed as Mickan's vice-captain, as well as the 1985 Brownlow Medallist

Brad Hardie Bradley John Hardie (born 10 October 1962) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented , , and in the Australian Football League (AFL) as well as in the West Australian Football League (WAFL). Stocky built with bright red hair, Ha ...

. While the newly formed side suffered many crises during its early years Mickan's skills were recognised and he was named in the

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 ...

following the 1988 Bicentennial Carnival played in

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 ...

. Mickan returned to

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 ...

to play for the newly formed

(AFL) team the

Adelaide Crows The Adelaide Crows (officially the Adelaide Football Club) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1990. The Crows has fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) sinc ...

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 ...

, winning Adelaide's inaugural Club Champion award despite missing the first three rounds of the season due to Crows coach

Graham Cornes Graham Studley Cornes OAM (born 31 March 1948 in Melbourne, Victoria) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach, as well as a media personality. From 1995 until early 2013, Cornes co-hosted a weekday drivetime sports program that he ...

early preference for 6'8" (204 cm) ruckman

Romano Negri Romano Negri (born 30 September 1964) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Negri played initially for North Hobart in Tasmania and won a Wel ...

. While not selected for the Crows opening three games, Mickan played the required three SANFL games with West Adelaide to qualify for SANFL finals football. Mickan became West Adelaide's number one ruckman, and played a prominent role in helping the Kevin Morris coached Bloods to the SANFL Grand Final where they lost to

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. History Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colo ...

in a spiteful match which featured several all-in brawls. With younger ruckmen such as

Shaun Rehn Shaun Jason Rehn (born 17 August 1971) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Adelaide Football Club and the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Early career Rehn grew up on a f ...

(West Adelaide) and

David Pittman David Pittman (born 23 February 1969) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Adelaide Crows in the Australian Football League (AFL). Originally from South Australian National Football League (SANFL) club Norwood, Pittma ...

( Norwood) quickly hitting their straps for the Crows and his form dropping, Mickan gradually fell out of favour with The Crows and coach Cornes to the point that he only played two games for the club in 1993, and played the majority of the year with West Adelaide. His form for The Bloods saw Mickan win his fourth club Best & Fairest award under the coaching of his original coach from back in 1981,

. Following the 1994 SANFL season Mark Mickan retired from league football having played 139 SANFL games with West Adelaide, 48 VFL/AFL games with Brisbane and 37 AFL games with Adelaide between 1981 and 1994. Mickan also represented

on five occasions through his career

Coaching career

After retiring as a player Mickan continued to pursue his football interests as a coach. In 1998–99 seasons he coached Woodville-West Torrens in the SANFL, achieving 6th and 3rd-place finishes. Assistant coaching roles at

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 ...

the Crows and in the 2000s followed. In 2006 Mickan was appointed coach of Glenelg on a three-year contract. Glenelg finished sixth in his first year as coach and in 2007 Mickan led the Bays to their first finals appearance since 1999. In the finals they beat Sturt in the Elimination Final before going down to Woodville-West Torrens in the First Semi Final by six points and finished Fourth overall. In 2008 Mickan was named SANFL coach of the year for Glenelg's rise to the top of the premiership ladder after the minor round. After a series of disappointing finals' performances in 2009 and 2010 and a belief by the Glenelg board that he could not take the club any further, Mickan was sacked from the Glenelg coaching position on 20 June 2011. In late 2011 it was announced by West Adelaide that the four time Best & Fairest winner had been appointed the Football Manager at the club from 2012. He left the position before the start of 2013, but was appointed Bloods head coach for the 2014 SANFL season, replacing Andrew Collins who had chosen to return home to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

after 6 years and one Grand Final appearance (2012) with the club. Although West Adelaide slumped to a 6–12 record in

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 ...

to finish in 9th place (2nd last) after finishing 2nd in 2012 and 3rd in 2013, they bounced back in

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 ...

to finish the minor round with an 11–7 record and 3rd place on the SANFL ladder. Mickan then led The Bloods to their second Grand Final appearance in four years and their first premiership since 1983 when Westies defeated Woodville-West Torrens in the 2015 SANFL Grand Final at the

Adelaide Oval Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the city centre and North Adelaide. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby ...

on 27 September. His contract with West Adelaide was not renewed at the end of the 2017 SANFL season. In season 2018 Mickan coached the Under 11 juniors at the Henley Sharks Football Club. Mark Mickan was one of 113 inaugural inductees into the

South Australian Football Hall of Fame The South Australian Football Hall of Fame enshrines those who have made a most significant contribution to the game of Australian Football. The Hall of Fame was established in 2002 when 114 outstanding individuals became inaugural inductees. S ...

in 2002 and is also a member of the West Adelaide Football Club Hall of Fame. Mickan holds degrees in both Teaching and Psychology, currently teaching at St Michael's College, Adelaide.

References

External links

SA Football Hall of Fame

AFL official stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mickan, Mark Adelaide Football Club players All-Australians (1953–1988) Australian rules footballers from South Australia Brisbane Bears players Glenelg Football Club coaches Woodville-West Torrens Football Club coaches Malcolm Blight Medal winners South Australian State of Origin players West Adelaide Football Club players West Adelaide Football Club coaches South Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees 1961 births Living people