Paul Cooper (born 6 April 1968) 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 who played with
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 ...
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 1990s.
Cooper played his football in defence, where he was a consistent ball winner. He had a strong debut season in
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 ...
and got his first taste of September action, with 19 disposals in an elimination final loss 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 ...
at the
MCG
The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hem ...
. The following year he could only manage seven games, all in the second half of the season and missed out on Hawthorn's finals campaign which saw them win their ninth premiership.
From 1993 to 1995, Cooper was a regular fixture in the Hawthorn team, with the aging stars of the 1980s retiring from the game and freeing up spaces in the side. He had his best season in 1993 when he put together 396 disposals, at just under 20 a game.
Statistics
, - style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
, scope="row" ,
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 ...
, , , , 32
, 15 , , 1 , , 1 , , 189 , , 58 , , 247 , , 48 , , 13 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 12.6 , , 3.9 , , 16.5 , , 3.2 , , 0.9 , , 0
, -
, scope="row" ,
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'Ă©tat attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...
, , , , 26
, 7 , , 0 , , 1 , , 64 , , 20 , , 84 , , 21 , , 7 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 9.1 , , 2.9 , , 12.0 , , 3.0 , , 1.0 , , 0
, - style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
, scope="row" ,
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 ...
, , , , 26
, 6 , , 2 , , 2 , , 62 , , 17 , , 79 , , 19 , , 9 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 10.3 , , 2.8 , , 13.2 , , 3.2 , , 1.5 , , 1
, -
, scope="row" ,
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 ...
, , , , 26
, 20 , , 3 , , 2 , , 296 , , 100 , , 396 , , 88 , , 31 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 14.8 , , 5.0 , , 19.8 , , 4.4 , , 1.5 , , 0
, - style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
, scope="row" ,
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 ...
, , , , 26
, 16 , , 2 , , 4 , , 154 , , 64 , , 218 , , 51 , , 24 , , 0.1 , , 0.2 , , 9.6 , , 4.0 , , 13.6 , , 3.2 , , 1.5 , , 0
, -
, scope="row" ,
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 ...
, , , , 26
, 15 , , 1 , , 0 , , 181 , , 64 , , 245 , , 57 , , 24 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 12.1 , , 4.3 , , 16.3 , , 3.8 , , 1.6 , , 0
, - style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
, scope="row" ,
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 ...
, , , , 26
, 2 , , 0 , , 0 , , 17 , , 11 , , 28 , , 4 , , 3 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 8.5 , , 5.5 , , 14.0 , , 2.0 , , 1.5 , , 0
, - class="sortbottom"
! colspan=3, Career
! 81 !! 9 !! 10 !! 963 !! 334 !! 1297 !! 288 !! 111 !! 0.1 !! 0.1 !! 11.9 !! 4.1 !! 16.0 !! 3.6 !! 1.4 !! 1
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Paul
1968 births
Hawthorn Football Club players
Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state)
Living people