John Richard Worsfold (born 25 September 1968) is a former Australian rules football player and current coach best known for his career for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). He made his senior debut for the South Fremantle Football Club in the West Australian Football League (WAFL), and was named an inaugural squad member of West Coast on their formation in 1986. After winning the club's best and fairest award in 1988, Worsfold was appointed the captain of the club in 1991, a position he would hold until his retirement in 1998. During his period at the club, Worsfold played in 209 games, which including the 1992 and 1994 premiership sides. During this time, he also appeared in five State of Origin matches for Western Australia, including captaining his state twice.
In 2000, two years after his retirement from playing, Worsfold joined Carlton as an assistant coach, remaining in this position until the end of the 2001 season, when he was appointed senior coach of West Coast, replacing Ken Judge. Worsfold coached the club in eight finals series, including the 2006 premiership. In 2010, he coached West Coast to its first wooden spoon, but the following season the team finished fourth, with Worsfold receiving the AFLCA Coach of the Year Award for the second time. Overall, he coached West Coast in 274 games, a club record. He resigned at the end of the 2013 season following a poor season in which the Eagles failed to make the finals after having done so in 2011 and 2012. Worsfold was named an inaugural inductee into the West Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2004. The John Worsfold Medal is named in his honour.
After a two-year absence from coaching, Worsfold was appointed senior coach of Essendon on 5 October 2015. After being smashed by GWS at the start of the 2019, he is currently under pressure to keep his job if the Bombers do not improve.
Playing career[]
Woosha was a star junior player at South Fremantle and one of the “Magnificent Seven” (along with McKenna, Lewis, Sumich etc) that helped WA to the 1985 Teal Cup. He won the WAFL’s rookie of the year award in 1986 before being added to the inaugural Eagles list. Originally a midfielder, Worsfold made his VFL debut as an 18 year old early in the 1987 season and played 11 games for the year.
The Eagles’ second season was Worsfold’s breakout year. Still a teenager, Woosha led the team in disposals, marks and tackles and won the Club Champion Award. He followed that up with a solid 1989, playing 20 games and finishing fifth in the best and fairest after being named as Murray Rance’s vice captain at the start of the year.
In 1990 Worsfold was again prominent. Now a permanent fixture on the half-back line, he played 23 games and took the captaincy in controversial circumstances when the incumbent Steve Malaxos was dropped for the semi-final against Melbourne. Amidst the turmoil Woosha led the team to victory, but they bowed out the following week against Essendon.
Appointed the full-time captain for 1991, at just 22 years of age, Worsfold led his charges to a 19-3 record in the home and away season and a maiden grand final appearance. The following year he and the team went one better, and Woosha and Mick Malthouse were handed the premiership cup, creating history as the first non-Victorian club to win the flag.
The 1993 season was fairly uneventful by comparison, although Worsfold did take advantage of spending some rare time further up the ground by picking up 27 touches and 3 goals in a win over Adelaide. In 1994, while his personal form was relatively patchy the inspirational skipper was again on hand to receive the premiership cup.
Woosha’s form tailed away in the last few years of his career, not helped by a serious knee injury that wrote off almost his entire 1996 season. It reached a nadir on the eve of the 1998 finals series when the captain was unceremoniously dropped by Malthouse, in an eerily similar situation to that his predecessor Malaxos had found himself. West Coast lost the match and bowed out of the finals, and Worsfold never played again, announcing his retirement during the off-season. His retirement no doubt came as a massive relief to opposition players across the league.
Coaching career[]
After a brief stint in the media, Worsfold joined Carlton as an assistant coach in 2000 before taking the head coaching job at West Coast in 2002. As coach, he led the side to six consecutive finals appearances, two Grand Finals and the 2006 flag. He announced his retirement at the end of a difficult 2013 season, stepping down after 12 seasons as the club’s head coach, following on from his 12 seasons as a player (8 as captain).
His departure paved the way for West Coast to finally christen its Best and Fairest award the John Worsfold Medal, a worthy honour befitting the man who has been at the centre of all of the club's success.
After sitting out of football for a period, Worsfold took a role at Adelaide as director of coaching during the 2015 season, supporting interim coach Scott Camporeale after the shock death of incumbent Phil Walsh. The role reignited his passion for coaching, and he successfully applied for the vacant head coaching job at Essendon.
Links[]
http://afltables.com/afl/stats/players/J/John_Worsfold.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Worsfold
http://www.wafl.com.au/players/view/5042