Paul Chapman (born 5 November 1981) 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

Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition, and are the 2022 ...

and

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCracken family in their A ...

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).

Early playing career

Chapman played with North Coburg Saints Football Club which merged with Fawkner Park to become

Northern Saints Football Club The Essendon District Football League (EDFL) is a professional Australian rules football league competition based in Essendon, Victoria, consisting of teams based in the north-west suburbs of Melbourne. Founded in 1930, the men's competition c ...

in the EDFL, he played with the

Calder Cannons The Calder Cannons is an Australian rules football club from Melbourne, Australia. The club competes in the NAB League, the Victorian Statewide Under-18s competition, and fields squads in the Under-15s, Under-16s and Under-18s. The club was forme ...

in the under 18 TAC Cup competition.

AFL career

Early career: 2000–2003

Chapman was selected by

with pick 31 in the 1999 AFL Draft. He played 4 games, making his debut in round 12,

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 ...

against , and kicked his first goal in the Elimination Final against , he finished 3rd in the

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. ...

. Chapman continued his improvement in the 2001 season where he would play 9 games for the season and kick two goals in Geelong's round 9 clash with Richmond. Chapman's 2002 season was his breakout season he would go on to play 16 games for the season 15 of those games were the last 15 of the season. In round 9 Chapman would collect 26 disposals and also kick three goals this was Chapman's first ever 20+ possession game. At the end of the 2002 season Chapman was named Geelong's most improved player he would also finish 8th in Geelong's best and fairest award. Chapman was also a member of Geelong's VFL premiership team.

Building the Geelong premiership team: 2003–2006

In 2003 Chapman officially joined the Geelong senior team playing all 22 games of the season. Chapman played his best game for the season in round 7 against the West Coast Eagles where he kicked 4 goals, Chapman also kicked a last minute game-winning goal against Richmond in Round 15. Chapman would play his 50th career game in round 21 against the Brisbane Lions. At the end of the 2003 season Chapman would be named best team and constructive player, he would also finish 8th in Geelong's Best and Fairest. 2004 would be Chapman's first AFL finals experience with Geelong making it all the way to the Preliminary Final only to be defeated by 9 points against the Brisbane lions, Chapman would play all 22 games of the season including all 3 finals. Chapman had double figure possessions in every game except one, he also kicked 38 goals for the season with multiple goals in 12 games. Chapman would finish the season 9th in Geelongs Best and Fairest award. Chapman would only play 19 games in the 2005 season after he suffered an injury in round 19, Chapman would go on to miss the remaining 3 games and the finals series. Even though he was injured late in the season Chapman still booted 29 goals for the season kicking a goal in every game except one, Chapman would go on to finish 6th in Geelong's Best and Fairest award. His

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 ...

season started well, winning the AFL Pre-Season Premiership defeating by 8 points, he played his 100th game in round 5 against , losing by 22 points. At the end of the year Chapman won the

polling 462 votes, ahead of

Jimmy Bartel James Ross Bartel (born 4 December 1983) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A utility, tall and weighing , Bartel contributed as a midfielder, forward, an ...

and Gary Ablett, Jr. and he polled 14 votes in 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 ...

Norm Smith Medal, All Australian team and multiple premierships: 2007–2011

Chapman picked up double figure possessions in every game he played he also booted 30 goals for the season, in round 12 he would boot his 100th career goal against the Brisbane Lions. Geelong finished first at the end of the season winning the

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 ...

. In Geelongs first qualifying final Chapman would kick 5 goals leading Geelong to a record-breaking 106-point victory. Chapman capped off his season by kicking 4 goals and taking an all-time great mark on the members flank in the 2007 AFL Grand Final helping his team claim a record 119-point victory over . Chapman was runner up in the

Norm Smith Medal The Norm Smith Medal is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best on ground in the Grand Final of the Australian Football League (AFL). Prior to 1990 the competition was known as the Victorian Football ...

count. Chapman played his 150th game in round 16,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

against the and kicked his 200th career goal in round 21 against . Chapman played 19 games for the season and kicked 33 goals, a quarter of the way through Chapman played for the Victorian state team in the

AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match The AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match was a one-off all-star game between two representative sides organised by the Australian Football League to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Australian rules football. The match was intended to celebrate the ...

, the Victoria team won by 17 points. Geelong won the

for the second year in a row, Chapman had 22 possessions and 1 goal, in the

2008 AFL Grand Final The 2008 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football match contested between the Geelong Football Club and the Hawthorn Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 27 September 2008. It was the 112th annual grand fi ...

loss to Hawthorn by 26 points. At the start of the

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

season, Geelong won the AFL Pre-Season Premiership defeating Collingwood by 76 points. Chapman played 20 games for the season and kicked 31 goals for the year, Chapman also had a career high 41 disposals in round 6 and a career high 6 goals in round 18. Chapman went on to poll 12 votes in the

, and made 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 ...

for the first time. Geelong finished 2nd on the ladder and Chapman had a dominant finals series kicking 5 goals in the Preliminary final and 3 goals in the grand final. Geelong defeated by 12 points in the

2009 AFL Grand Final The 2009 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the St Kilda Football Club and the Geelong Football Club at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 26 September 2009. It was the 113th annual grand final of the Aust ...

, Chapman kicked the winning goal, and was also the winner of the

. Chapman would make the

for the second year in a row in 2010 where he played 21 games for the season booting 23 goals. Chapman also had 7 games with 30+ disposals. Geelong would finish 2nd on the ladder and go all the way to the Preliminary Final but were eliminated by Collingwood after losing by 41 points. Chapman would have 21 disposals and 1 goal in the game. Chapman played 23 games of the

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 ...

season including 3 finals, he played his 200th game in Round 2 against . Geelong finished 2nd on the ladder for the 3rd year in a row, they defeated Hawthorn in the Qualifying Final by 31 points, after a one-week break they went on to defeat in the Preliminary Final, they won by 48 points. For the fourth time in five years they made the Grand Final, where Chapman capped off his season with his third Premiership defeating Collingwood by 38 points.

Final years at Geelong: 2012–2013

Chapman played 20 games in the 2012 season kicking 36 goals. Geelong would finish 6th on the AFL ladder only to be eliminated in the first week losing to Fremantle by 16 points. Chapman wasn't very effective in this game only collecting 11 disposals. In

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, Chapman only played eight games due to a hamstring injury, he kicked 12 goals for the season. Returning from injury as a sub in Round 22, he made an impact off the bench. Geelong finished 2nd on the ladder and he played his 250th game in the Qualifying Final against Fremantle where they lost by 15 points, the next week Geelong defeated Port Adelaide by 16 points in the Semi Finals advancing to the Preliminary Finals, only to lose to Hawthorn by 5 points. Chapman missed the game due to suspension. Chapman was delisted by Geelong on 2 October 2013, after strongly suggesting he wanted to play on, but Geelong's final thoughts were that he couldn't compete at top-level football anymore due to age.

Move to Essendon: 2014–2015

On 18 October 2013, Chapman joined after being traded for pick 84. The Geelong champion couldn't have started his career at the Bombers any better, kicking four goals to lead Essendon to a round 1 win over North Melbourne. He continued to have a presence around goals for the Bombers, booting 22 goals from 20 games. He finished the season well after a quieter patch. Chapman would play in Essendon's first week elimination final against North Melbourne he booted 2 goals and collected 22 disposals despite Essendon losing by 12 points and being eliminated from the finals. The 33-year-old signed a one-year contract extension to play on in 2015. Chapman's 2015 season was plagued with injuries as he would only play 8 games. On 25 August 2015, Chapman announced that he would retire after the club's round 22 home match against . After the round 22 game Chapman was carried off the field by his teammates to a standing ovation by the crowd.

Statistics

:Paul Chapman's player profile at AFL Tables
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, style="text-align:center;", , 35 , , 4 , , 1 , , 0 , , 14 , , 7 , , 21 , , 4 , , 8 , , 0.3 , , 0.0 , , 3.5 , , 1.8 , , 5.3 , , 1.0 , , 2.0 , - ! 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;", , 35 , , 9 , , 4 , , 4 , , 56 , , 22 , , 78 , , 18 , , 23 , , 0.4 , , 0.4 , , 6.2 , , 2.4 , , 8.7 , , 2.0 , , 2.6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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;", , 35 , , 16 , , 16 , , 5 , , 178 , , 79 , , 257 , , 46 , , 52 , , 1.0 , , 0.3 , , 11.1 , , 4.9 , , 16.1 , , 2.9 , , 3.3 , - ! 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;", , 35 , , 22 , , 22 , , 15 , , 239 , , 103 , , 342 , , 85 , , 58 , , 1.0 , , 0.7 , , 10.9 , , 4.7 , , 15.5 , , 3.9 , , 2.6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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;", , 35 , , 25 , , 38 , , 19 , , 240 , , 113 , , 353 , , 96 , , 80 , , 1.5 , , 0.8 , , 9.6 , , 4.5 , , 14.1 , , 3.8 , , 3.2 , - ! 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;", , 35 , , 19 , , 29 , , 17 , , 222 , , 97 , , 319 , , 76 , , 49 , , 1.5 , , 0.9 , , 11.7 , , 5.1 , , 16.8 , , 4.0 , , 2.6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 35 , , 22 , , 31 , , 19 , , 331 , , 153 , , 484 , , 134 , , 89 , , 1.4 , , 0.9 , , 15.0 , , 7.0 , , 22.0 , , 6.1 , , 4.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 35 , , 19 , , 30 , , 15 , , 289 , , 127 , , 416 , , 112 , , 75 , , 1.6 , , 0.8 , , 15.2 , , 6.7 , , 21.9 , , 5.9 , , 3.9 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 35 , , 19 , , 33 , , 13 , , 253 , , 131 , , 384 , , 102 , , 54 , , 1.7 , , 0.7 , , 13.3 , , 6.9 , , 20.2 , , 5.4 , , 2.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 35 , , 20 , , 37 , , 17 , , 342 , , 194 , , 536 , , 130 , , 53 , , 1.9 , , 0.9 , , 17.1 , , 9.7 , , 26.8 , , 6.5 , , 2.7 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 35 , , 24 , , 23 , , 16 , , 412 , , 264 , , 676 , , 133 , , 99 , , 1.0 , , 0.7 , , 17.2 , , 11.0 , , 28.2 , , 5.5 , , 4.1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 35 , , 23 , , 24 , , 14 , , 312 , , 228 , , 540 , , 122 , , 104 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , 13.6 , , 9.9 , , 23.5 , , 5.3 , , 4.5 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 35 , , 21 , , 36 , , 15 , , 292 , , 136 , , 428 , , 107 , , 94 , , 1.7 , , 0.7 , , 13.9 , , 6.5 , , 20.4 , , 5.1 , , 4.5 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 35 , , 8 , , 12 , , 7 , , 91 , , 71 , , 162 , , 27 , , 34 , , 1.5 , , 0.9 , , 11.4 , , 8.9 , , 20.3 , , 3.4 , , 4.3 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 3 , , 20 , , 22 , , 16 , , 250 , , 148 , , 398 , , 112 , , 83 , , 1.1 , , 0.8 , , 12.5 , , 7.4 , , 19.9 , , 5.6 , , 4.2 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 3 , , 9 , , 8 , , 4 , , 74 , , 51 , , 125 , , 23 , , 31 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 8.2 , , 5.7 , , 13.9 , , 2.6 , , 3.4 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 280 ! 366 ! 196 ! 3595 ! 1924 ! 5519 ! 1327 ! 986 ! 1.3 ! 0.7 ! 12.8 ! 6.9 ! 19.7 ! 4.7 ! 3.5

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, Paul 1981 births Living people Geelong Football Club players Geelong Football Club Premiership players Essendon Football Club players Carji Greeves Medal winners Norm Smith Medal winners All-Australians (AFL) Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Calder Cannons players Three-time VFL/AFL Premiership players