Andrew Collins (footballer, born 1965)

Andrew Collins (born 25 April 1965) is an Australian rules football coach and former player who is currently the head of development coach for the Hawthorn Football Club. He played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Victorian/Australian Football League.

Andrew Collins
Personal information
Date of birth (1965-04-25) 25 April 1965 (age 59)
Original team(s) Doncaster Heights
Height 174 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 75 kg (165 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1987–1996 Hawthorn 212 (37)
Representative team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
Victoria
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1996.
Career highlights

Playing

Coaching

Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Collins was a rugged back pocket defender. He began his senior career in the Victorian Football Association with the Sandringham Football Club, where he was a member of the club's 1985 premiership team.[1] He was signed by VFL/AFL club Hawthorn, and played 212 games over ten years with the club, winning three premierships. His durability allowed him to play a club record 189 games in succession. He finished equal fifth in the 1990 Brownlow Medal, the same year he was awarded the Peter Crimmins Medal as Hawthorn's best and fairest player. His last game was the "Merger game" between Hawthorn and Melbourne in 1996 in which he got reported and ultimately suspended thus ending his consecutive run of games.

When Collins retired from league football at the end of 1996, he turned to coaching. He returned to his old club Sandringham in the VFL, and coached there for two years, leading the club to the premiership in 1997. He served as an assistant coach at AFL club St Kilda from 2000 to 2003, then as an assistant coach at Hawthorn in 2004 and 2005. While at Hawthorn, he also coached its VFL-affiliate Box Hill. In 2006 and 2007 he coached VFL club Coburg, taking the team to a losing Grand Final in 2007.[1]

In 2008, Collins moved to South Australia and coached South Australian National Football League club West Adelaide for six years from 2008 to 2013. He led the club to the 2012 SANFL Grand Final where they were defeated by Norwood, and he coached the Bloods to win the 2013 Foxtel Cup over Western Australian Football League (WAFL) side East Fremantle.[1]

In 2014, Collins returned to Victoria and signed to coach VFL club Williamstown in its first season as a stand-alone club not affiliated with an AFL club.[1] He led the club to a premiership in 2015. Collins would lead the club to another Grand Final in 2019 where Williamston would lose by 3 points. The following year, Collins would depart the club to join Box Hill as an assistant coach. Following the 2021 season, Collins would be appointed as the head of development with Hawthorn under new coach Sam Mitchell who he had worked with at Box Hill.

Statistics

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Legend
  G  
Goals
  K  
Kicks
  D  
Disposals 
  T  
Tackles
  B  
Behinds 
  H  
Handballs 
  M  
Marks
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
1987 Hawthorn 40 8 1 3 71 56 127 16 15 0.1 0.4 8.9 7.0 15.9 2.0 1.9 0
1988# Hawthorn 40 21 8 3 180 122 302 45 46 0.4 0.1 8.6 5.8 14.4 2.1 2.2 0
1989# Hawthorn 4 24 4 1 250 138 388 50 63 0.2 0.0 10.4 5.8 16.2 2.1 2.6 9
1990 Hawthorn 4 23 5 1 273 120 393 81 54 0.2 0.0 11.9 5.2 17.1 3.5 2.3 15
1991# Hawthorn 4 25 6 8 227 133 360 54 59 0.2 0.3 9.1 5.3 14.4 2.2 2.4 4
1992 Hawthorn 4 23 6 5 241 128 369 86 48 0.3 0.2 10.5 5.6 16.0 3.7 2.1 3
1993 Hawthorn 5 21 3 4 208 104 312 65 62 0.1 0.2 9.9 5.0 14.9 3.1 3.0 0
1994 Hawthorn 5 23 0 0 182 126 308 60 56 0.0 0.0 7.9 5.5 13.4 2.6 2.4 1
1995 Hawthorn 5 22 1 1 189 98 287 41 49 0.0 0.0 8.6 4.5 13.0 1.9 2.2 1
1996 Hawthorn 5 22 3 1 157 102 259 35 55 0.1 0.0 7.1 4.6 11.8 1.6 2.5 0
Career[2] 212 37 27 1978 1127 3105 533 507 0.2 0.1 9.3 5.3 14.6 2.5 2.4 33

Honours and achievements

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Playing

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Team

Individual

Coaching

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Andrew Collins". Williamstown Football Club. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  2. ^ "Andrew Collins". AFLTables. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
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