Paul Williams (born 3 April 1973) 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 for the

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The club w ...

and the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...

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). He is also a former assistant coach in the AFL, which most notably included a brief period as caretaker coach of the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

towards the end of the 2011 season.

Playing career

Collingwood Football Club

Williams began his

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 ...

career with

, joining them from Tasmanian club North Hobart. Playing in a number of positions ranging from half back to half forward, the tough-tackling Williams was a regular in the mostly unsuccessful Collingwood side of the late 1990s, racking up 189 games and kicking 223 goals (his best being 6 against Carlton in 1996).

Sydney Swans

However, at the end of the 2000 season, he was traded to

for two draft picks. There, he immediately made an impact, winning two consecutive Bob Skilton Medals in 2001 and 2002, as well as being selected in the

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 ...

team of 2003. In 2005, Williams played in the Swans' premiership side. In doing so, he established an AFL record for most matches played by a player before being in a premiership side, with the Grand Final having been his 294th game. Shane Crawford surpassed this record in 2008. On 13 May 2006 against Richmond at

Etihad Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the 6th-largest ...

, Williams became the 45th player to play 300 VFL/AFL games. The Swans won this match by 118 points, setting a record for the biggest winning margin in a match featuring a player playing his 300th VFL/AFL game.

Retirement

On 21 June 2006, Williams announced he would be retiring at the end of the 2006 premiership season, which was his 16th at AFL level (and 6th with Sydney). Reasons cited for his retirement were the fact that his family was based in

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 ...

, and that more opportunities for selection to younger players such as

Tim Schmidt Tim Schmidt (born 14 March 1986) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League. Originally from South Australian National Football League club West Adelaide Football Club, West Adelai ...

and

Paul Bevan Paul Bevan (born 27 September 1984) is an Australian rules football player with the Sydney Swans of the Australian Football League (AFL). Having grown up in Sydney, playing for Western Suburbs Magpies AFC in the Sydney AFL and the NSW/ AC ...

was important for the club. On 11 July 2006, senior coach of Sydney Swans Paul Roos reported at a press conference that Williams was a chance to be rested for the forthcoming game against West Coast. Hours later, Williams announced his retirement, effective immediately due to surgery required on a broken collarbone, not seeing out his initial promise to retire at the end of the season.

Coaching career

Melbourne Football Club

In 2007, Williams took up an assistant coaching role at 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, ...

, serving there for two years.

Western Bulldogs

In 2009, he moved into an assistant coaching role at the

, and served there for three years. While at the Bulldogs, Williams served three matches as caretaker senior coach after

Rodney Eade Rodney Eade (born 4 April 1958) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach in the Australian Football League. He is a former coach of the Sydney Swans, the Western Bulldogs and the Gold Coast Football Club. He has, to date, coached 37 ...

left the club before the end of the 2011 season. Williams' first match as caretaker senior coach of Bulldogs resulted in a 60-point win over bottom-of-the-ladder . During this period, he coached his 2005 Sydney premiership teammate

Barry Hall Barry Hall (born 8 February 1977) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club, Sydney Swans and Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is considered to be one of the be ...

, who retired at season's end. Williams was however not retained as the Bulldogs senior coach at the conclusion of the 2011 season, with

Brendan McCartney Brendan McCartney (born 23 October 1960) is the former senior coach of the Western Bulldogs football club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He coached 66 games in 3 seasons before he resigned from the job. He has served as the development ...

being appointed as the senior coach of the Western Bulldogs Football Club.

Carlton Football Club

Williams shifted to a midfield assistant coaching role at 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 Mel ...

in 2012 on a two-year contract, but was sacked after one unsuccessful season.

Post-coaching career

Williams now sits on the

AFL Tribunal The AFL Tribunal is the disciplinary tribunal of the Australian Football League (AFL), an Australian rules football competition. The Tribunal regulates the conduct of players, umpires, and other officials associated with the AFL and its clubs. ...

jury, adjudicating on high-profile cases that arise during the regular season.

Statistics

Playing statistics

: , - style="background-color: #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;", , 37 , , 19 , , 19 , , 21 , , 207 , , 104 , , 311 , , 51 , , 47 , , 1.0 , , 1.1 , , 10.9 , , 5.5 , , 16.4 , , 2.7 , , 2.5 , - ! 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;", , 10 , , 13 , , 11 , , 10 , , 129 , , 63 , , 192 , , 50 , , 22 , , 0.8 , , 0.8 , , 9.9 , , 4.8 , , 14.8 , , 3.8 , , 1.7 , - style="background-color: #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;", , 10 , , 20 , , 16 , , 16 , , 198 , , 121 , , 319 , , 61 , , 54 , , 0.8 , , 0.8 , , 9.9 , , 6.1 , , 16.0 , , 3.1 , , 2.7 , - ! 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;", , 10 , , 18 , , 31 , , 21 , , 169 , , 85 , , 254 , , 56 , , 47 , , 1.7 , , 1.2 , , 9.4 , , 4.7 , , 14.1 , , 3.1 , , 2.6 , - style="background-color: #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;", , 10 , , 22 , , 30 , , 22 , , 306 , , 107 , , 413 , , 88 , , 56 , , 1.4 , , 1.0 , , 13.9 , , 4.9 , , 18.8 , , 4.0 , , 2.5 , - ! 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;", , 10 , , 21 , , 38 , , 25 , , 295 , , 105 , , 400 , , 87 , , 32 , , 1.8 , , 1.2 , , 14.0 , , 5.0 , , 19.0 , , 4.1 , , 1.5 , - style="background-color: #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;", , 10 , , 22 , , 28 , , 23 , , 332 , , 163 , , 495 , , 99 , , 46 , , 1.3 , , 1.0 , , 15.1 , , 7.4 , , 22.5 , , 4.5 , , 2.1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 10 , , 16 , , 9 , , 11 , , 219 , , 95 , , 314 , , 61 , , 38 , , 0.6 , , 0.7 , , 13.7 , , 5.9 , , 19.6 , , 3.8 , , 2.4 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 10 , , 17 , , 14 , , 9 , , 206 , , 98 , , 304 , , 46 , , 17 , , 0.8 , , 0.5 , , 12.1 , , 5.8 , , 17.9 , , 2.7 , , 1.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 10 , , 21 , , 27 , , 17 , , 253 , , 118 , , 371 , , 88 , , 70 , , 1.3 , , 0.8 , , 12.0 , , 5.6 , , 17.7 , , 4.2 , , 3.3 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 10 , , 23 , , 25 , , 28 , , 282 , , 143 , , 425 , , 92 , , 62 , , 1.1 , , 1.2 , , 12.3 , , 6.2 , , 18.5 , , 4.0 , , 2.7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 10 , , 19 , , 21 , , 18 , , 273 , , 146 , , 419 , , 52 , , 68 , , 1.1 , , 0.9 , , 14.4 , , 7.7 , , 22.1 , , 2.7 , , 3.6 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 10 , , 23 , , 20 , , 9 , , 263 , , 154 , , 417 , , 66 , , 72 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 11.4 , , 6.7 , , 18.1 , , 2.9 , , 3.1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 10 , , 21 , , 9 , , 8 , , 229 , , 156 , , 385 , , 59 , , 44 , , 0.4 , , 0.4 , , 10.9 , , 7.4 , , 18.3 , , 2.8 , , 2.1 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 10 , , 19 , , 5 , , 4 , , 194 , , 121 , , 315 , , 51 , , 44 , , 0.3 , , 0.2 , , 10.2 , , 6.4 , , 16.6 , , 2.7 , , 2.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 10 , , 12 , , 4 , , 4 , , 108 , , 67 , , 175 , , 52 , , 24 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 9.0 , , 5.6 , , 14.6 , , 4.3 , , 2.0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 306 ! 307 ! 246 ! 3663 ! 1846 ! 5509 ! 1059 ! 743 ! 1.0 ! 0.8 ! 12.0 ! 6.0 ! 18.0 ! 3.5 ! 2.4

Coaching statistics

:Paul Williams' coaching profile at AFL Tables
/ref> , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center; font-weight:normal" ,

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 3 , , 2 , , 1 , , 0 , , 66.7% , , 10 , , 18 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=2, Career totals ! 3 ! 2 ! 1 ! 0 ! 66.7% ! colspan=2,

Honours and achievements

Team *

AFL Premiership This page is a complete chronological listing of VFL/AFL premiers. The Australian Football League (AFL), known as the Victorian Football League (VFL) until 1990, is the elite national competition in men's Australian rules football. The inaugur ...

(

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Individual * Bob Skilton Medal (Sydney Swans/South Melbourne F.C. Best & Fairest): 2001, 2002 *

*Harry Collier Trophy (Collingwood FC Best First Year Player Award): 1991 *Wrecker Award (Collingwood FC Leading Desire Indicator): 1991 *

Larke Medal The AFL Under-19 Championships (for sponsorship reasons, the NAB AFL Under-19 Championships) is an annual Australian national underage representative championship in Australian rules football tournament. It is seen as one of the main pathways ...

: 1990 * Tasmanian Team of the Century - Interchange

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Paul 1973 births Living people All-Australians (AFL) Collingwood Football Club players Sydney Swans players Sydney Swans Premiership players Bob Skilton Medal winners Tasmanian State of Origin players North Hobart Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Tasmania Western Bulldogs coaches Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame inductees Allies State of Origin players One-time VFL/AFL Premiership players