Rodney Eade

Rodney Eade (born 4 April 1958) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach in the Australian Football League. He is a former coach of the Sydney Swans, the Western Bulldogs and the Gold Coast Football Club. He has, to date, coached 377 games of AFL football, placing him first on the all-time AFL/VFL list of most games coached without a premiership.

Playing career Hawthorn Recruited from Glenorchy, while still a schoolboy, young Rodney Eade made his VFL debut for the Hawthorn Football Club as an 18-year-old. Playing with a lot of dash and blistering speed, Eade capped off his debut season by playing in the 1976 premiership team. He went on to play in the Hawks' 1978, 1983, and 1986 premierships sides. In all, the winger played 229 games and kicked 46 goals for Hawthorn between 1976 and 1987.

Brisbane Bears His time at the Hawks finished when he moved to the Brisbane Bears in 1988. Suffering injuries later on as he got older, Eade managed to play 30 games and kicked three goals until his retirement in 1990. He later coached the North Melbourne reserves, and led it to the premiership in 1995. These successes at reserves level gave Eade a strong case for a senior coaching job in 1996. In the 1998 season, Sydney improved to third on the ladder and defeated St Kilda in the qualifying finals, before losing to eventual premiers Adelaide in the semi-finals. In the 1999 season, Sydney finished in eighth spot on the ladder, and were eliminated in the qualifying finals after losing to Essendon by 69 points. In his first season as Bulldogs senior coach, he took an under-achieving Bulldogs side to ninth spot on the ladder, barely missing out on finals after they had finished with less than five wins in the previous two years. In the 2006 season, he took the Bulldogs to the finals for the first time since 2000, when they were coached by Terry Wallace. In the finals, the Bulldogs defeated Collingwood in the elimination finals but lost to eventual premiers West Coast in the semi-finals. Following a sudden downturn during the 2007 season in which the team finished thirteenth, Eade's job was in jeopardy; the club ultimately chose not to fire him, but limited his expansive duties. The following day, Eade stepped down as senior coach of the Bulldogs. He was replaced by assistant coach Paul Williams as caretaker senior coach for the remainder of the 2011 season. In September 2013, Eade changed positions when he was appointed to the position of director of football at Collingwood Football Club.

Gold Coast Suns On 30 October 2014, Eade was appointed the Gold Coast Suns second senior coach, replacing Guy McKenna.

Post-coaching career On 18 January 2024, it was announced Eade returned to Hawthorn Football Club, the club he formerly played for, in the club's administration department as Capital Campaign Executive, helping elevate fundraising efforts for the Kennedy Community Centre.

Media career Eade spent 2003 and 2004 as a media writer and commentator.

Cricketing career Eade was a talented junior cricketer, making his senior cricketing debut for Glenorchy Cricket Club aged 14. On his debut Eade scored 31*, sharing a match saving partnership with future Australian Test cricketer Roger Woolley.

Statistics

Playing statistics

Led the league after season and finals

259 49 55 3367 1124 4491 844 63 0.2 0.2 13.0 4.3 17.3 3.3 1.4 23

Coaching statistics

377 185 187 5 49.07%

^Eade resigned twice mid-season; in 2002, Sydney were fourteenth when he resigned and in 2011, the Western Bulldogs were twelfth when he resigned.