Paul Chapman (Australian footballer)

For the Welsh footballer who played for Plymouth Argyle, see Paul Chapman (footballer, born 1951).

Paul Chapman
Chapman in October 2011.
Personal information
Full name	Paul Chapman
Date of birth	(1981-11-05) 5 November 1981
Original team(s)	Calder Cannons (TAC Cup)
Draft	#31, 1999 AFL Draft, Geelong
Height / weight	179 cm / 87 kg
Position(s)	Forward / Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Essendon
Number	3
Career highlights
3× AFL Premiership (2007, 2009, 2011) 2× All-Australian team (2009, 2010) 2× AFL Pre-Season Premiership (2006, 2009) Norm Smith Medal 2009 Carji Greeves Medal 2006
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Paul Chapman (born 5 November 1981) is a professional Australian rules footballer, currently playing for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League.

Early life

Chapman played with North Coburg Saints Football Club which merged with Fawkner Park to become Northern Saints Football Club in the EDFL, he also played with the Calder Cannons in the TAC Cup.

AFL career

Geelong (2000–2013)

Chapman was selected by Geelong Football Club with pick 31 in the 1999 AFL Draft. He played 4 games, making his debut in Round 12, 2000 against Collingwood, and kicked his first goal in the Elimination Final against Hawthorn, he finished 3rd in the Carji Greeves Medal.

His 2006 season started well, winning the AFL Pre-Season Premiership defeating Adelaide by 8 points, he played his 100th game in Round 5 against the Sydney Swans, losing by 22 points. At the end of the year Chapman won the Carji Greeves Medal polling 462 votes, ahead of Jimmy Bartel and Gary Ablett, Jr. and he polled 14 votes in the Brownlow Medal.

He played his 100th game in Round 12, 2007 against the Brisbane Lions, winning by 50 points. Geelong finished first at the end of the season winning the McClelland Trophy, and went on to record one of the biggest qualifying final margins of all time, winning by 107 points. Chapman capped off his season by kicking 4 goals in the 2007 AFL Grand Final helping his team claim a record 119-point victory over Port Adelaide. Chapman was runner up in the Norm Smith Medal count.

Chapman played his 150th game in Round 18, 2008 against the Western Bulldogs and kicked his 200th career goal in Round 21 against North Melbourne. Chapman played 19 games for the season and kicked 33 goals, a quarter of the way through Chapman played for the Victorian state team in the AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match, the Victoria team won by 17 points. Geelong won the McClelland Trophy for the second year in a row, Chapman had 22 possessions and 1 goal, in the 2008 AFL Grand Final loss to Hawthorn by 26 points.

At the start of the 2009 season, Geelong won the AFL Pre-Season Premiership defeating Collingwood by 76 points. Chapman played 20 games for the season and kicked 31 goals for the year. Chapman polled 12 votes in the Brownlow Medal, and made the All-Australian team. Geelong finished 2nd on the ladder, and defeated the St Kilda Football Club by 12 points in the 2009 AFL Grand Final, Chapman kicked the winning goal, and was also the winner of the Norm Smith Medal.

Chapman played all 23 games of the 2011 season including 3 finals, he played his 200th game in Round 2 against Fremantle. Geelong finished 2nd on the ladder for the 3rd year in a row, they defeated Hawthorn in the Qualifying Final by 31 points, after a one week break they went on to defeat West Coast Eagles in the Preliminary Final, they won by 48 points. For the fourth time in five years they made the Grand Final, where they defeated Collingwood by 38 points.

In 2013, Chapman only played eight games due to a hamstring injury, he kicked 12 goals for the season. Returning from injury as a sub in Round 22, he made an impact off the bench. Geelong finished 2nd on the ladder and played his 250th game in the Qualifying Final against Fremantle where they lost by 15 points, the next week Geelong defeated Port Adelaide by 16 points, the next week, they lost to Hawthorn by 5 points, Chapman missed this game due to suspension. Chapman was delisted by Geelong on 2 October 2013, after strongly suggesting he wanted to play on, but Geelong's final thoughts were that he couldn't compete at top level football anymore due to age.

Essendon (2014–2015)

On 18 October 2013, Chapman joined Essendon after being traded for pick 84.

Chapman had a fantastic start to his bombers career, he kicked four goals in the clubs opening round win against North Melbourne. He had continued success throughout the season, proving to be a vital goal sneak with 22 goals in 20 games. His knowledge and experience proved to be vital to the younger members of the club, and was influential in helping Essendon making the finals. After a great first season, he signed a one year contract extension to play on in 2015.

On 25 August 2015, Chapman announced that he would retire after the club's Round 22 home match against Richmond.

Statistics

Statistics are correct to the end of the 2014 season

Season	Team	No.	Games	Totals							Averages (per game)
				G	B	K	H	D	M	T	G	B	K	H	D	M	T
2000	Geelong	35	4	1	0	14	7	21	4	8	0.3	0.0	3.5	1.8	5.3	1.0	2.0
2001	Geelong	35	9	4	4	56	22	78	18	23	0.4	0.4	6.2	2.4	8.7	2.0	2.6
2002	Geelong	35	16	16	5	178	79	257	46	52	1.0	0.3	11.1	4.9	16.1	2.9	3.3
2003	Geelong	35	22	22	15	239	103	342	85	58	1.0	0.7	10.9	4.7	15.5	3.9	2.6
2004	Geelong	35	25	38	19	240	113	353	96	80	1.5	0.8	9.6	4.5	14.1	3.8	3.2
2005	Geelong	35	19	29	17	222	97	319	76	49	1.5	0.9	11.7	5.1	16.8	4.0	2.6
2006	Geelong	35	22	31	19	331	153	484	134	89	1.4	0.9	15.0	7.0	22.0	6.1	4.0
2007	Geelong	35	19	30	15	289	127	416	112	75	1.6	0.8	15.2	6.7	21.9	5.9	3.9
2008	Geelong	35	19	33	13	253	131	384	102	54	1.7	0.7	13.3	6.9	20.2	5.4	2.8
2009	Geelong	35	20	37	17	342	194	536	130	53	1.9	0.9	17.1	9.7	26.8	6.5	2.7
2010	Geelong	35	24	23	16	412	264	676	133	99	1.0	0.7	17.2	11.0	28.2	5.5	4.1
2011	Geelong	35	23	24	14	312	228	540	122	104	1.0	0.6	13.6	9.9	23.5	5.3	4.5
2012	Geelong	35	21	36	15	292	136	428	107	94	1.7	0.7	13.9	6.5	20.4	5.1	4.5
2013	Geelong	35	8	12	7	91	71	162	27	34	1.5	0.9	11.4	8.9	20.3	3.4	4.3
2014	Essendon	3	20	22	16	250	148	398	112	83	1.1	0.8	12.5	7.4	19.9	5.6	4.2
Career			271	358	192	3521	1873	5394	1304	955	1.3	0.7	13.0	6.9	19.9	4.8	3.5

External links

• Paul Chapman's profile on the official website of the Essendon Football Club
• Paul Chapman's playing statistics from AFL Tables