Roger Merrett (born 19 April 1960) 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 in two

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 ...

premiership sides with the

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 mid-1980s before moving to the fledgling

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Football Club, nicknamed the Bears, was a professional Australian rules football club based in Queensland on the Gold Coast (relocated to Brisbane in 1993). The club participated in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/A ...

, later captaining the new club for seven seasons. He ended his career as the games record holder for the Brisbane Bears, in addition to being the last VFL/AFL player from the 1970s to retire from professional football.

Playing career

Essendon Football Club

Merrett was a strong competitor for the

during his playing career from 1978 to 1987, playing in two flags in 1984 and 1985.

Brisbane Bears

He moved to the

in 1988 as captain. Merrett became a strong and inspirational captain of the Bears, at first alternating in the ruck with

Mark Mickan Mark James Mickan (born 30 January 1961) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Bears and Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Mickan began his senior career with South Austr ...

. After John Hutton's inconsistent form at full-forward reached an end, Merrett's tired legs were moved permanently to the position where he was able to use his height and kicking abilities to spearhead the club as their leading goalkicker for many seasons before

Alastair Lynch Alastair Graeme Lynch (born 19 June 1968) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is best known as a three-time premiership full-forward for the Brisbane Lions. The Tasmanian ...

proved a suitable replacement. Merrett retired from his playing career at the end of the 1996 season. He played on for many years, earning the nickname ''Roger the Dodger'' (with reference to his age) before his eventual retirement.

Coaching career

Brisbane Lions

Merrett held coaching ambitions for much of his career, and on his retirement at the end of the 1996 season, he was immediately recruited by his senior coach

John Northey John Neville Northey (born 29 June 1943) is a former Australian rules football player and coach. He played from 1963 to 1970 with the Richmond Football Club. Northey was a dual premiership player with Richmond, winning flags in 1967 and 1969. ...

to fill an assistant coaching role at 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 ...

(formed on 1 November 1996 from a merger between the

and the

Fitzroy Football Club The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of Fitzroy, the club was a member of the Vi ...

). However, relations between the two men were cool, and half-way through the 1998 season, with the Lions at the bottom of the ladder, Northey was sacked as senior coach and Merrett was appointed caretaker senior coach of Brisbane Lions for the rest of the 1998 season. Merrett then led Brisbane Lions to three wins, one draw and seven losses of the remaining eleven games in the 1998 season to still finish in last place on the ladder, which was the sixteenth position for the

wooden spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to: * Wooden spoon, implement * Wooden spoon (award) A wooden spoon is an award that is given to an individual or team that has come last in a competition. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous e ...

. At the end of the 1998 season, Merrett was however not retained as Brisbane Lions senior coach. The senior coaching position instead went to Australian football legend

Leigh Matthews Leigh Raymond Matthews (born 1 March 1952) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach. He played for Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and coached and the . Squat, short-legged and barrel-chested, Matthews earned the ic ...

. Merrett has not been closely involved in football since, outside of occasional club functions at Brisbane and Essendon.

Life after football

Merrett now lives on the

Gold Coast, Queensland The Gold Coast is a coastal city in the state of Queensland, Australia, approximately south-southeast of the centre of the state capital Brisbane. With a population over 600,000, the Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, the nati ...

, where he operates a post office. He also provides special comments for ABC Radio broadcasts of

home matches. The Brisbane Lions' award for their best-and-fairest player over a season, the Merrett-Murray Medal, is part-named after him. For 2009 AFLQ season, Merrett was part-time assistant coach for AFLQ power house, Southport Sharks. On 18 January 2011, Merrett suffered a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

, thought to be related to a hereditary heart condition. In 2016, he joined the

Bond University Bullsharks Bond University AFL, nicknamed as the ''Bull Sharks'', is a Gold Coast based Australian rules football club operating out of Bond University. The club currently competes in the Queensland Football Association Division Two and the Queensland ...

in a volunteer capacity and to assist his son Ben who took on the reserves coaching job.

References

* 1977 Victorian under 17 - Australian premiers {{DEFAULTSORT:Merrett, Roger 1960 births Living people Brisbane Lions coaches Brisbane Bears players Essendon Football Club players Essendon Football Club Premiership players All-Australians (1953–1988) People from Queensland Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Victorian State of Origin players Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership players