Alan Joyce (footballer)

Last updated

Alan Joyce
Personal information
Full name Alan Joyce
Date of birth (1942-10-21) 21 October 1942 (age 81)
Height 185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight 86 kg (190 lb)
Position(s) Ruckman
Playing career1
YearsClubGames (Goals)
1961–1965 Hawthorn 49 (13)
Coaching career
YearsClubGames (W–L–D)
1971–72, 1977–78 East Fremantle 89 (46–43–0)
1980–81 Perth 42 (10–32–0)
1988, 1991–93 Hawthorn 93 (67–26–0)
1994–1996 Footscray 57 (25–33–2)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2011.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Alan Joyce (born 21 October 1942) is a former Australian rules footballer who after playing 49 games for Hawthorn became a premiership winning coach for the club. Originally from Glen Iris, Joyce played in the ruck for Hawthorn, and ultimately gained life membership in 1996.

In 1966 Joyce was appointed captain-coach of Preston, leading them to the 1968 and 1969 premierships in the VFA. He played 92 games and kicked 228 goals. [1]

Joining East Fremantle as coach in 1971 and 1972, Joyce rebuilt a side that had suffered between 1967 and 1970 through its leanest era since formation to a premiership in 1974. [2] He then coached Newtown and the NSW state team in 1974, and then returned to Old Easts in 1977 after the club had had two disappointing seasons. In his first season back, Joyce took East Fremantle to a Grand Final where they were unfortunately thrashed, but the blue and whites struggled in 1978 and despite being full of admiration for his players’ efforts Joyce resigned at the end of that season. [3] He moved to Perth in 1980. His stint at Perth was a severe failure, as the Demons, a WAFL powerhouse from 1947 to 1978, won only ten games out of forty-two in Joyce's two years as coach and finished bottom of the ladder in 1981 for the first time since 1935, in the process setting a record for the highest average points "Against" in WA(N)FL history. [4]

In 1988 when incumbent coach Allan Jeans became ill due to a brain tumour, Joyce replaced Jeans for the season. Hawthorn completely dominated the season from May onwards and finished on top of the ladder by four and a half games before disposing of Carlton in the Semi-Final and demolishing Melbourne by a then-record margin of 96 points in the Grand Final. Allan Jeans would return to coach in 1989, before retiring after Hawthorn's defeat by Melbourne in the 1990 Elimination Final.

Alan Joyce returned for the 1991 season to coach Hawthorn to another premiership, this time over the West Coast Eagles, who during the home and away season had lost only three games, plus an additional loss to Hawthorn in the first week of the finals.

In 1992 Hawthorn was eliminated by West Coast in week 1 of the finals. Similarly in 1993, Hawthorn was beaten by the Adelaide Crows in week 1 of the 1993 finals series. Joyce was soon sacked [5] and replaced by Hawthorn club legend Peter Knights.

After two rounds of the 1994 season, Footscray sacked then-coach Terry Wheeler following a heavy loss to Geelong. Joyce replaced Wheeler and coached Footscray into 5th spot at the completion of the home and away round. Footscray would lose the Qualifying Final to Geelong due to an after-the-siren goal by Billy Brownless. Footscray would meet Melbourne during week two, but owing to injuries and an in-form Melbourne for whom Garry Lyon became the first player since Ron Todd to kick ten goals in a final, the Bulldogs were beaten comprehensively.

In 1995, Joyce coached Footscray to seventh position at the completion of the home and away season. Footscray once again met the Geelong at night at the MCG. This time however, the Bulldogs were convincingly beaten and eliminated from the finals. Footscray tumbled severely in 1996 and after many heavy losses and few wins, Joyce was sacked and replaced by his assistant, Terry Wallace. Wallace would retain this position until after round 21 of the 2002 season.

Joyce has not since coached an AFL club, although he sent a video of himself to major news stations stating his interest in the available Fremantle coaching role due to Gerard Neesham's departure in 1998.

After football Joyce spent several years operating a business at Cable Beach near Broome, Western Australia. [6]

Recently he has been a volunteer at the MCG.

Joyce's son Cameron is the current coach of the Gold Coast Suns' AFLW team.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Bulldogs</span> Australian rules football club

The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in West Footscray, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melbourne Football Club</span> Australian rules 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, and plays its home games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Coast Eagles</span> Australian rules football club

The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and first competed in 1987 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football League. The club plays its home games at Optus Stadium and has its headquarters at Lathlain Park. The West Australian Football Commission wholly owns the West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Football Club, the AFL's other Western Australian team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry Wallace</span> Australian rules footballer, born 1958

Terry Wallace is a former professional Australian rules football player and coach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fremantle Football Club</span> Australian rules football club

The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represent the port city of Fremantle, a stronghold of Australian rules football in Western Australia. The Dockers were the second team from the state to be admitted to the competition, following the West Coast Eagles in 1987. Both Fremantle and the West Coast Eagles are owned by the West Australian Football Commission (WAFC), with a board of directors operating Fremantle on the commission's behalf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Perth Football Club</span> Australian rules football club

The West Perth Football Club, nicknamed the Falcons, is an Australian rules football club located in Joondalup, Western Australia. West Perth competes in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW) and is the oldest existing Australian rules football club in Western Australia. Originally located at Leederville Oval, the team was relocated in 1994 to Arena Joondalup, a sports complex in the northern suburbs of Perth. The team's club song is "It's a Grand Old Flag" and its traditional rivals are East Perth.

Gary James Ayres is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is currently the senior coach for the Montrose Football Club in the Eastern Football Netball League (EFNL). Ayres' playing career is honored by the existence of the Gary Ayres Award, an annual award given to the player judged best-afield by the AFL Coaches Association throughout each AFL finals series.

Rivalries in the Australian Football League exist between many teams, most of which typically draw large crowds and interest regardless of both teams' positions on the ladder. The AFL encourages the building of such rivalries, as a method of increasing publicity for the league, to the point of designating one round each year as "Rivalry Round" when many of these match-ups are held on the one weekend. Whilst some rivalries, such as between teams from adjacent areas, are still strong, the designation of an entire round of fixtures as a Rivalry Round is often criticised due to some arbitrary match-ups, or ignoring stronger and more recent rivalries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ross Lyon</span> Australian rules footballer and coach

Ross Lyon is a former Australian rules football player and the current senior coach of the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously coached St Kilda from 2007 to 2011 and the Fremantle Football Club from 2012 to 2019. He played for Fitzroy and the Brisbane Bears from 1985 to 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alastair Clarkson</span> Australian rules footballer and coach

Alastair Thomas Clarkson is an Australian rules football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and was previously head coach of the Hawthorn Football Club from 2005 to 2021, where he won four premierships.

The 1995 AFL season was the 99th 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luke Beveridge</span> Australian rules footballer and coach

Luke Beveridge is an Australian rules football coach and former player who played for Melbourne, Footscray and St Kilda in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the 1990s. He is senior coach of the Western Bulldogs.

Terry Wheeler is a former Australian rules footballer who played for and coached Footscray in the Australian Football League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hawthorn Football Club</span> Australian rules 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 Hawthorn, making it the youngest Victorian-based team in the AFL.

The Collingwood Football Club is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League.

The Australian Football League's 2008 Finals Series determined the top eight final positions of the 2008 AFL season. It began on the weekend of 5 September 2008 and ended with the 112th AFL Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 27 September 2008. The Hawthorn Football Club were crowned the 2008 AFL Premiers, beating the Geelong Football Club by 26 points in front of a crowd of 100,012.

The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest league in the country.

The AFL Australian Football League is the top professional Australian rules football league in the world. The league consists of eighteen teams: nine based in the city of Melbourne, one from regional Victoria, and eight based in other Australian states. The reason for this unbalanced geographic distribution lies in the history of the league, which was based solely within Victoria from the time it was established in 1897, until the time the league expanded through the addition of clubs from interstate to the existing teams starting in the 1980s; until this expansion, the league was known as the VFL (Victorian Football League).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the West Coast Eagles</span>

The West Coast Eagles is an Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia, currently playing in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in 1986, and played its first season in the competition in 1987. Having lost the 1991 grand final to Hawthorn, the club won premierships in 1992 and 1994, becoming one of the most successful teams of the 1990s. West Coast won its third premiership in 2006, but declined afterwards, finishing last in 2010, before undergoing a rapid resurgence the following season to finish fourth in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 AFL finals series</span> Playoffs of the Australian Football League

The 2016 Australian Football League finals series was the 120th annual edition of the VFL/AFL final series, the Australian rules football tournament staged to determine the winner of the 2016 AFL Premiership Season. The series ran over four weekends in September and October 2016, culminating with the 2016 AFL Grand Final, between the Sydney Swans and the Western Bulldogs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 1 October 2016. The Western Bulldogs defeated the Sydney Swans by 22 points to end the Western Bulldogs 62-year premiership drought, becoming the first team in AFL history to win the premiership from seventh place.

References

  1. ↑ "AFL 2011 Round 23 Hawthorn V Western Bulldogs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 April 2014.
  2. ↑ "Old Easts in 1971". Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 2013-09-02.
  3. ↑ Christian, Geoff; ‘Joyce Quits East F‘Tle’; The West Australian , 21 August 1978, pp. 62, 64
  4. ↑ "WAFL Footy Facts: Highest Average Points Against". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  5. ↑ "Reference at www.heraldsun.com.au".
  6. ↑ "Brown and golden memories".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.