Gary Ayres

Gary James Ayres (born 28 September 1960) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club. He is currently the senior coach for the Port Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). 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.

Gary Ayres
Personal information
Full name Gary James Ayres
Nickname(s) Conan
Date of birth (1960-09-28) 28 September 1960
Original team(s) Warragul
Height 187 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight 95 kg (209 lb)
Position(s) Defender
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1978–1993 Hawthorn 269 (70)
Coaching career
Years Club Games (W–L–D)
1995–1999 Geelong 116 (65–50–1)
2000–2004 Adelaide 107 (55–52–0)
Total 223 (120–102–1)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2004.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Playing career

Beginning his football career with Hawthorn in 1978, he had an illustrious career spanning from 1978–1993, playing 269 games and booting 70 goals.

He was part of a total of 5 premiership teams – 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, and 1991. He won the Norm Smith Medal twice, adjudged best on ground in 1986 and 1988 and is one of only four players in the history of the AFL to do so.

Ayres captained Victoria against Tasmania in the 1989 State of Origin contest.

He captained the Hawks in his final two years from 1992–1993.

Gary played most of his football in defence, particular the back pocket position. He was nicknamed "Conan" by fans in reference to his powerful upper-body physique. He used his body to good effect in body on body contested situations. Ayres' height and weight was 187 cm / 100 kg. Allan Jeans described Ayres as "a good driver in heavy traffic"[1]

Statistics
[2]
Legend
 G  Goals  B  Behinds  K  Kicks  H  Handballs  D  Disposals  M  Marks  T  Tackles
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game)
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
1978 Hawthorn 3323098174N/A1.50.04.54.08.52.0N/A
1979 Hawthorn 710111272269819N/A1.11.27.22.69.81.9N/A
1980 Hawthorn 775444176116N/A0.70.66.32.48.72.3N/A
1981 Hawthorn 7300125173N/A0.00.04.01.75.71.0N/A
1982 Hawthorn 7140012011023050N/A0.00.08.67.916.43.6N/A
1983† Hawthorn 718111899528468N/A0.10.110.55.315.83.8N/A
1984 Hawthorn 721222949639092N/A0.10.114.04.618.64.4N/A
1985 Hawthorn 724132899538489N/A0.00.112.04.016.03.7N/A
1986† Hawthorn 7255127817345178N/A0.20.011.16.918.03.1N/A
1987 Hawthorn 7245423815739595440.20.29.96.516.54.01.8
1988† Hawthorn 72218308133441113320.00.414.06.020.05.11.5
1989† Hawthorn 72453307169476105480.20.112.87.019.84.42.0
1990 Hawthorn 72215824815340169460.70.411.37.018.23.12.1
1991† Hawthorn 722141024517441974500.60.511.17.919.03.42.3
1992 Hawthorn 7141114311425753250.10.110.28.118.43.81.8
1993 Hawthorn 717111489824659230.10.18.75.814.53.51.4
Career 269 70 58 2944 1623 4567 987 268 0.3 0.2 10.9 6.0 17.0 3.7 1.8

Post-playing career

Coaching career

After retiring, Ayres turned to coaching; starting as an assistant coach to Malcolm Blight at Geelong. After Blight's resignation in 1994 (following Geelong's Grand Final defeat to the Eagles), Ayres was appointed senior coach for the 1995 AFL season. In his first year, the Cats lost to Carlton in the Grand Final (their fourth Grand Final defeat in seven seasons) by 61 points. In 1999, at the end of a disappointing season (Geelong finished 11th) and following the Geelong board's refusal to offer him a contract extension beyond the 2000 AFL season, Ayres quit as Geelong coach to take the coaching position at Adelaide where Malcolm Blight had, again, just resigned.

Ayres coached Adelaide from 2000 until 2004. When told he would not continue as coach for the 2005 season, Ayres quit midseason. Though he had been given the opportunity to stay for the rest of season 2004, he told the Adelaide board that if he could not coach the following year, he would leave immediately. He then walked out of the club's office without shaking hands or responding to media enquiries. He left Adelaide with a 55–52 win-loss ratio. He was replaced by Neil Craig, who coached for the remainder of season 2004 and was eventually employed full-time.

In 2006 he returned to coaching as assistant coach at the Essendon Football Club, alongside veteran Kevin Sheedy. When Matthew Knights was appointed as senior coach of Essendon at the end of the 2007 season, Knights vowed to modernise the club's support staff, Ayres subsequently lost his position as assistant coach.[3]

In 2008, Ayres was appointed senior coach of the Port Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League. Ayres has coached at Port Melbourne continuously since then, with his current contract set to expire at the end of 2017, and he is the longest-serving coach in the club's history. Ayres has coached Port Melbourne to two premierships and three minor premierships, which included the club's perfect 2011 season, in which the club won all 21 of its premiership matches.[4]

On 24 October 2000, Ayres was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for contribution to Australian Football.[5]

Media career

In 2005 Ayres spent the year in the media on Fox Footy Channel. Prior to that he also had a stint on Seven's Talking Footy.

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 23 February 2011. Retrieved 14 August 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. Gary Ayres' player profile at AFL Tables
  3. Herald Sun: Knights cleans out assistants Gary Ayres, Dean Wallis
  4. Sam Wharton (21 March 2016). "Gary Ayres Extends Coaching Contract". Port Melbourne Football Club. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  5. "Gary James Ayres". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 6 January 2012.

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