Paul Puopolo (born 2 December 1987) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawt ...

in the Australian Football League (AFL). A man small in stature, he is known to jump into packs and take marks against much taller opponents. He is a 3-time premiership player having played in Hawthorn's back-to-back-to-back Grand Final triumphs in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Norwood

Puopolo made his debut for Norwood in 2007 and started out as a small forward/midfielder. Puopolo, who hails from Hope Valley, South Australia quickly built a reputation as the

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 t ...

's best lockdown small defender. He was converted into a defender by former Norwood coach Trevor Hill in 2008. Despite his lack of height, he has always had the strength and speed to counter his rivals. In 2008 he was a SANFL Coca-Cola Star Search Award Nominee. By the time he got drafted by Hawthorn at the end of 2010 he had played 68 senior games and kicked 13 goals for the

Redlegs Redleg is a term used to refer to poor whites that live or at one time lived on Barbados, St. Vincent, Grenada and a few other Caribbean islands. Their forebears were sent from Ireland, Scotland and Continental Europe as indentured servants, forc ...

Hawthorn (2011–2020)

Puopolo made his debut for the

Hawks Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. This subfamily ...

in round 7 of the

2011 AFL season The 2011 AFL season was the 115th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured sev ...

against Port Adelaide. At his debut he was the AFL's tenth shortest player, standing at 173 cm. In his debut game, Puopolo had a reasonable performance, having nine kicks, six handballs and laying two tackles. After making his debut in round 7, Puopolo went on to play Hawthorn's remaining 19 games of the 2011 season, including three finals. His goal late in the round 24 final quarter against Gold Coast sealed the match, along with his tackle soon after which thwarted a forward 50 entry - the win secured Hawthorn a top 4 ladder position for the finals ahead. Puopolo kicked 3 goals in the Semi-Final against Sydney, and 1 goal against Collingwood in the Preliminary Final. He finished his debut season with 20 games and 8 goals, gaining much experience in a brilliant first season. He was awarded Hawthorn's Best First Year Player Award. In the 2012 season, Puopolo played in 21 out of 25 games and kicked 24 goals. He played in Hawthorn's loss to Sydney in the

2012 AFL Grand Final The 2012 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Hawthorn Football Club and the Sydney Swans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 29 September 2012. It was the 117th annual grand final of the Australian Foot ...

. In the 2013 season Puopolo played in 22 out of 25 games and kicked 15 goals. Puopolo achieved his first premiership during that season when Hawthorn defeated Fremantle in the

2013 AFL Grand Final The 2013 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between Hawthorn Football Club and Fremantle Football Club at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 28 September 2013. It was the 118th annual grand final of the Australian Fo ...

. In the 2014 season, Puopolo was the recipient of his second premiership, as Hawthorn triumphed over the Sydney Swans in the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...

. Puopolo had what was widely regarded as a good year in 2015, kicking 29 goals and picking up his third premiership as Hawthorn defeated the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football L ...

in the Grand Final. He played his 100th game during the 2015 season, in round 15 against Fremantle. Puopolo had another good season in 2016, kicking a career high 34 goals. At the end of year he re-signed for an extra year with Hawthorn, ensuring he would remain at the club until at least 2018. In the middle of the 2017 season, Puopolo suffered a groin injury that limited him to 15 games for the year. Despite this, he was considered to have put in good performances in the games he did play, setting a career-high tackling average. Puopolo suffered a hamstring injury early in the 2018 season that kept him out for over a month, but was still regarded as a high-quality pressure forward and was resigned for another year at the end of the season. Puopolo managed to play all 22 games in the 2019 season, wherein his performances were marked by a shift away from goalkicking to defensive pressure, kicking a career low 10 goals but laying 99 tackles, a number generally considered impressive. After struggling for form and falling out of the team, Puopolo announced he would retire from the AFL at the end of 2020.

Statistics

, - style=background:#EAEAEA , 2011 , , , , 28 , 20 , , 8 , , 5 , , 175 , , 172 , , 347 , , 72 , , 68 , , 0.4 , , 0.3 , , 8.8 , , 8.6 , , 17.4 , , 3.6 , , 3.4 , , 0 , - ,

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 gat ...

, , , , 28 , 21 , , 24 , , 14 , , 118 , , 105 , , 223 , , 38 , , 64 , , 1.1 , , 0.7 , , 5.6 , , 5.0 , , 10.6 , , 1.8 , , 3.0 , , 0 , - style=background:#EAEAEA , bgcolor=F0E68C ,

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 fa ...

^# , , , , 28 , 22 , , 15 , , 6 , , 182 , , 194 , , 376 , , 48 , , 96 , , 0.7 , , 0.3 , , 8.3 , , 8.8 , , 17.1 , , 2.2 , , 4.4 , , 0 , - , bgcolor=F0E68C,

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 ...

^# , , , , 28 , 25 , , 22 , , 16 , , 205 , , 191 , , 396 , , 69 , , 109 , , 0.9 , , 0.6 , , 8.2 , , 7.6 , , 15.8 , , 2.8 , , 4.4 , , 0 , - style=background:#EAEAEA , bgcolor=F0E68C, 2015^# , , , , 28 , 23 , , 29 , , 12 , , 151 , , 155 , , 306 , , 47 , , 114 , , 1.3 , , 0.5 , , 6.6 , , 6.7 , , 13.3 , , 2.0 , , 5.0 , , 0 , - ,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, , , , 28 , 22 , , 34 , , 15 , , 154 , , 155 , , 309 , , 48 , , 100 , , 1.6 , , 0.7 , , 7.0 , , 7.1 , , 14.1 , , 2.2 , , 4.6 , , 3 , - style=background:#EAEAEA ,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

, , , , 28 , 15 , , 19 , , 4 , , 97 , , 92 , , 189 , , 27 , , 87 , , 1.3 , , 0.3 , , 6.5 , , 6.1 , , 12.6 , , 1.8 , , 5.8 , , 0 , - ,

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

, , , , 28 , 20 , , 20 , , 6 , , 130 , , 118 , , 248 , , 42 , , 84 , , 1.0 , , 0.3 , , 6.5 , , 5.9 , , 12.4 , , 2.1 , , 4.2 , , 1 , - style=background:#EAEAEA ,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, , , , 28 , 22 , , 10 , , 10 , , 116 , , 148 , , 264 , , 41 , , 99 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 5.3 , , 6.7 , , 12.0 , , 1.9 , , 4.5 , , 0 , - ,

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

, , , , 28 , 6 , , 4 , , 1 , , 27 , , 27 , , 54 , , 7 , , 15 , , 0.7 , , 0.2 , , 4.5 , , 4.5 , , 9.0 , , 1.2 , , 2.5 , , 0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, CareerPaul Puopolo's player profile at AFL Tables
/ref> ! 196 !! 185 !! 89 !! 1355 !! 1357 !! 2712 !! 439 !! 836 !! 0.9 !! 0.5 !! 6.9 !! 6.9 !! 13.8 !! 2.2 !! 4.3 !! 4 Notes

Honours and achievements

Team * 3× AFL premiership player ():

, 2015 * 2× Minor premiership ():

Individual * best clubman: 2020 * best first year player (debut season): 2011 * life member

References

External links

*
Paul Puopolo's draft profile
on the Official AFL Website of the Hawthorn Football Club {{DEFAULTSORT:Puopolo, Paul 1987 births Norwood Football Club players Hawthorn Football Club players Hawthorn Football Club Premiership players Living people Australian rules footballers from South Australia Australian people of Italian descent Box Hill Football Club players Three-time VFL/AFL Premiership players