Robert Copeland (born 26 May 1981) is a former

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 ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

for the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...

and former captain of the Aspley hornets in the NEAFL. He is a dual premiership winner (2001, 2003) and was delisted in 2008.

Overview

Copeland was recruited through the 2001 Rookie Draft (QLD Zone) from the

Northern Eagles The Northern Eagles were a rugby league team, that competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) between 2000 and 2002. The club was formed during the rationalisation process of the NRL by the merger of the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the Nort ...

and was elevated to the Senior list on 10 May that year after

Michael Voss Michael Voss (born 7 July 1975) is a former professional Australian rules football player with the Brisbane Bears/Lions and current senior coach of the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Voss was a triple premiersh ...

was placed on the long-term injury list. He made his debut for the

in Round 9, 2001 against

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. Copeland was regularly employed in a tagging role. Copeland's tagging job on Collingwood Captain,

Nathan Buckley Nathan Charles Buckley (born 26 July 1972) is a former professional Australian rules football coach, player and commentator. He is listed by journalist Mike Sheahan as one of the top 50 players of all time. Buckley won the inaugural Rising St ...

in the 2003

AFL Grand Final The AFL Grand Final is an Australian rules football match to determine the premiers for the Australian Football League (AFL) season. From its inception until 1989, it was known as the VFL Grand Final, as the league at that time was the Victori ...

was considered a decisive influence in the Brisbane Lions win. Copeland played 143 games for the Lions, usually as an automatic selection. However in September 2008 Copeland was delisted due to recurrent injuries and inconsistent performance. After being overlooked in the 2008 draft Copeland was chosen to be the inaugural captain for new first division

QAFL The Queensland Australian Football League (QAFL) is an Australian rules football competition organised by the AFL Queensland, contested by clubs from South East Queensland. Previously known as the Queensland Football League (QFL), Queensland ...

club Aspley Hornets.

Statistics

:Robert Copeland's player profile at AFL Tables
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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;", , 30 , , 17 , , 7 , , 4 , , 93 , , 27 , , 120 , , 37 , , 26 , , 0.4 , , 0.2 , , 5.5 , , 1.6 , , 7.1 , , 2.2 , , 1.5 , - ! 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;", , 30 , , 17 , , 3 , , 3 , , 74 , , 36 , , 110 , , 25 , , 32 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 4.4 , , 2.1 , , 6.5 , , 1.5 , , 1.9 , - style="background-color: #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;", , 30 , , 18 , , 3 , , 2 , , 143 , , 61 , , 204 , , 63 , , 49 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 7.9 , , 3.4 , , 11.3 , , 3.5 , , 2.7 , - ! 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;", , 30 , , 25 , , 2 , , 3 , , 179 , , 93 , , 272 , , 80 , , 66 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 7.2 , , 3.7 , , 10.9 , , 3.2 , , 2.6 , - style="background-color: #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;", , 30 , , 15 , , 4 , , 0 , , 88 , , 54 , , 142 , , 31 , , 59 , , 0.3 , , 0.0 , , 5.9 , , 3.6 , , 9.5 , , 2.1 , , 3.9 , - ! 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;", , 30 , , 17 , , 1 , , 0 , , 134 , , 85 , , 219 , , 65 , , 38 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 7.9 , , 5.0 , , 12.9 , , 3.8 , , 2.2 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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;", , 30 , , 21 , , 15 , , 10 , , 140 , , 94 , , 234 , , 70 , , 49 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 6.7 , , 4.5 , , 11.1 , , 3.3 , , 2.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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; ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 30 , , 13 , , 4 , , 3 , , 68 , , 57 , , 125 , , 34 , , 39 , , 0.3 , , 0.2 , , 5.2 , , 4.4 , , 9.6 , , 2.6 , , 3.0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 143 ! 39 ! 25 ! 919 ! 507 ! 1426 ! 405 ! 358 ! 0.3 ! 0.2 ! 6.4 ! 3.5 ! 10.0 ! 2.8 ! 2.5

Achievements

Rising Star Nomination 2001 *

Best First Year Player 2001 *

Premiership Player 2001 *

Premiership Player 2003

References

External links

Robert Copeland at the Brisbane Lions website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Copeland, Robert Living people Australian rules footballers from Queensland Brisbane Lions players Brisbane Lions Premiership players Aspley Football Club players Zillmere Eagles Australian Football Club players 1981 births Southern Districts Football Club players Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership players