John Worsfold

John Worsfold (born September 25, 1968), known affectionately as Woosha, is the current Coach and former Premiership captain of the West Coast Eagles, a team which plays in the Australian Football League (AFL) competition.

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Playing career

Worsfold played 209 games with the West Coast Eagles from 1987 to 1998. Initially playing a midfielder role, Worsfold won the club's best and fairest award in 1988 when the Eagles first played in the finals. In 1991 Worsfold was appointed captain, and moved to a defensive role across the half back flank, where he formed part of a famous rock solid half back line with Glen Jakovich and Guy McKenna. Worsfold was captain of the club during the 1992 and 1994 premiership seasons, becoming the club's first premiership captain. Worsfold remained captain until he retired at the end of the 1998 season, where he was controversially dropped for the club's second week finals match, a game that would have been the final game of his career. Ironically, this was a virtual repeat of what happened to his predecessor as captain, Steve Malaxos, who was dropped for the 1990 Preliminary Final and never played again. He was succeeded as captain by fellow defender and vice captain McKenna.

Worsfold was named on a half back flank in the West Coast team of the decade in 1996, and again in the club's twentieth anniversary side, "Team 20" in 2006. In both teams, Jakovich and McKenna make up the rest of the half back line. He was also selected in the All Australian team in 1988 and 1990.

Coaching career

His coaching career started in 2000 at Carlton Football Club as an assistant to David Parkin and then to Wayne Brittain in 2001, before applying for the senior coaching roles at both West Coast and Fremantle at the end of the 2001 season. Eventually he was appointed to the role at West Coast, the club he had formerly played for, where he achieved some level of immediate success, taking the club back to the finals in his first season. After a string of early finals exits from 2002 to 2004, Worsfold finally took the club back to the Grand Final in 2005, where Eagles were narrowly defeated by four points by the Sydney Swans.

In 2006 the club finished on top of the ladder after the home and away series, and followed it up with a win in the Grand Final, again against the Swans, this time the margin being a solitary point. In doing so Worsfold became only the fourth person in the history of the AFL/VFL to both captain and later coach the same club to an AFL premiership, and the first at the West Coast Eagles.

Man-on-man vs Zoning back

In an era where most coaches have implemented "the flood" defence by having their players zone back, Worsfold has maintained a man-on-man style of game. While this has led him to much success in the home and away season, finishing 2nd and 1st after the home and away rounds in 2005 and 2006 respectively, the strategy, or rather the inflexibility from this strategy has also led to criticism at times. Firstly, teams such as the Western Bulldogs and Fremantle have been perceived to exploit West Coast's macro-positioning. However, the most notable example of this criticism has come after the qualifying final against Sydney in 2006 (see news article).

Other

In addition to his distinguished AFL career he also completed a Bachelor of Pharmacy in 1989 at the Curtin University of Technology, located in Perth, Western Australia.^[1]

References

1. ^ "Famous Curtin Graduates". Retrieved March 13, 2006.