Paul Couch (19 July 1964 – 5 March 2016) 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 ...

er who played for

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

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 ...

Football career

Prior to playing with Geelong, Couch initially tried out with

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 ...

but was rejected for being too slow. He was recruited from the

Warrnambool Football Club The Warrnambool Football Netball Club, nicknamed the ''Blues'', is an Australian rules football and netball club based in the city of the same name. Warrnambool teams compete in the Hampden Football Netball League, where the football squad has ...

and, though never blessed with pace and with a very "one-sided" left-foot kick, he had the ability to make position and place his team to advantage throughout twelve (often knee injury–ridden) years. As a traditional " centreman", Couch was the pivot for the leading teams of 1989–1995. While lacking outright pace, he had a strong work ethic, along with a good football brain and disposal skills, and was well-regarded as a centreman. Couch played 259 games and kicked 203 goals for Geelong from 1985 to 1997 and won the

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the " best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by ...

in 1989. Couch was known for his broad toothy smile. He formed a strong partnership in the midfield with good friend Mark Bairstow. Together, they both serviced tenured forwards Gary Ablett and

Billy Brownless Anthony William Brownless (born 28 January 1967) is a former Australian rules footballer and radio and television media personality who represented in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the 1980s and 1990s. Early life Brownless was ...

with pinpoint passes. Couch represented Victoria five times, was named

All-Australian 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 ...

two times (1991, 1995) and won three club

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

awards (1986, 1989, 1995), as well as being named in Geelong's Team of the Century.

Family

Couch's son

Tom Couch Thomas Couch (born 17 June 1988) is a tennis trainer and former professional Australian rules football player. Couch played three games in two seasons for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) but was delisted at t ...

played three games for the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...

before being delisted in 2013. He is currently signed to Collingwood's VFL. Couch's nephew, Nick Couch, plays for the

North Ballarat Football Club North Ballarat Football & Netball Club, nicknamed ''The Roosters'', is an Australian rules football and netball club based at Mars Stadium in Ballarat. The club currently fields senior, reserve and Under 19 sides in the Ballarat Football Leagu ...

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). His father, Bill Couch, played in the

Hampden Football League The Hampden Football Netball League is an Australian rules football and netball league based in South-Western Victoria, with clubs located in towns along or near the Princes Highway from Camperdown to Portland. The league is a major country ...

for the

, winning the club's best and fairest twice and playing in four premierships. Couch's two brothers, Bill and Peter, also played for Warrnambool.

Death

Couch died on 5 March 2016; he was cycling with friends near

Apollo Bay, Victoria Apollo Bay is a coastal town in southwestern Victoria, Australia. It is situated on the eastern side of Cape Otway, along the edge of the Barham River and on the Great Ocean Road, in the Colac Otway Shire. The town had a population of 1,790 at ...

, when he came off his bike. It was reported he had a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

Playing statistics

:Paul Couch's player profile at AFL Tables
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1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 17 , , 15 , , 23 , , 202 , , 107 , , 309 , , 60 , , , , 0.9 , , 1.4 , , 11.9 , , 6.3 , , 18.2 , , 3.5 , , , - ! 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;", , 7 , , 18 , , 12 , , 10 , , 247 , , 143 , , 390 , , 80 , , , , 0.7 , , 0.6 , , 13.7 , , 7.9 , , 21.7 , , 4.4 , , , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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;", , 7 , , 19 , , 14 , , 14 , , 292 , , 118 , , 410 , , 78 , , 32 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 15.4 , , 6.2 , , 21.6 , , 4.1 , , 1.7 , - ! 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;", , 7 , , 17 , , 15 , , 13 , , 262 , , 174 , , 436 , , 67 , , 27 , , 0.9 , , 0.8 , , 15.4 , , 10.2 , , 25.6 , , 3.9 , , 1.6 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 26 , , 23 , , 19 , , 415 , , 285 , , bgcolor="DD6E81", 700 , , 82 , , 56 , , 0.9 , , 0.7 , , 16.0 , , 11.0 , , 26.9 , , 3.2 , , 2.2 , - ! 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;", , 7 , , 20 , , 13 , , 16 , , 286 , , 222 , , 508 , , 63 , , 35 , , 0.7 , , 0.8 , , 14.3 , , 11.1 , , 25.4 , , 3.2 , , 1.8 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! 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;", , 7 , , 24 , , 21 , , 17 , , 374 , , 262 , , 636 , , 73 , , 44 , , 0.9 , , 0.7 , , 15.6 , , 10.9 , , 26.5 , , 3.0 , , 1.8 , - ! 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;", , 7 , , 23 , , 26 , , 14 , , 293 , , 201 , , 494 , , 82 , , 43 , , 1.1 , , 0.6 , , 12.7 , , 8.7 , , 21.5 , , 3.6 , , 1.9 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! 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;", , 7 , , 20 , , 14 , , 10 , , 260 , , 179 , , 439 , , 38 , , 32 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 13.0 , , 9.0 , , 22.0 , , 1.9 , , 1.6 , - ! 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;", , 7 , , 24 , , 29 , , 23 , , 327 , , 229 , , 556 , , 64 , , 53 , , 1.2 , , 1.0 , , 13.6 , , 9.5 , , 23.2 , , 2.7 , , 2.2 , -style="background:#eaeaea;" ! 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;", , 7 , , 25 , , 13 , , 12 , , 401 , , 221 , , 622 , , 57 , , 48 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 16.0 , , 8.8 , , 24.9 , , 2.3 , , 1.9 , - ! 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;", , 7 , , 21 , , 5 , , 10 , , 330 , , 134 , , 464 , , 72 , , 35 , , 0.2 , , 0.5 , , 15.7 , , 6.4 , , 22.1 , , 3.4 , , 1.7 , -style="background:#eaeaea;" ! 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;", , 7 , , 5 , , 3 , , 0 , , 49 , , 29 , , 78 , , 8 , , 6 , , 0.6 , , 0.0 , , 9.8 , , 5.8 , , 15.6 , , 1.6 , , 1.2 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 259 ! 203 ! 181 ! 3738 ! 2304 ! 6042 ! 824 ! 411 ! 0.8 ! 0.7 ! 14.4 ! 8.9 ! 23.3 ! 3.2 ! 1.8

Honours and achievements

*Team **

McClelland Trophy The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football trophy which has been awarded each year since 1951 by the Australian Football League (known prior to 1990 as the Victorian Football League) to the best-performing club in the home-and-away sea ...

(

): 1992 *Individual **

: 1989 **

Carji Greeves Medal The Carji Greeves Medal is a name given in recent decades to an Australian rules football award given to the player(s) adjudged best and fairest for the Geelong Football Club for the season. The voting system has changed a number of times. ...

: 1986, 1989, 1995 **

: 1991, 1995 ** Geelong F.C. Team of the Century - Interchange

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Couch, Paul 1964 births All-Australians (AFL) Brownlow Medal winners Carji Greeves Medal winners Geelong Football Club players Warrnambool Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Victorian State of Origin players 2016 deaths Australia international rules football team players People from Warrnambool