Paul Roos: We had to give them the belief

Premiership-winning coach and AFL Hall of Fame member Paul Roos joins Shane Crawford and Nick Quinn on a grand final special of the Inside 50 podcast. Roos played 356 games for the Fitzroy Lions and Sydney Swans football clubs across a stellar career that included 14 State of Origin matches, a Leigh Matthews medal in 1986, and a grand final appearance in 1996. But despite that success, it was in coaching where Roos really made his mark. After taking over as the head coach of the Sydney Swans in 2002, Roos made history when in 2005 he led Sydney to its first ever AFL premiership. In the Swans’ bid to repeat, the Brett Kirk-captained team fought valiantly before losing one of the greatest grand finals ever played to the West Coast Eagles, who they had defeated the year before. After stepping down from Sydney post in 2010, Roos spent four years out of the coach’s box before agreeing to take over an embattled Melbourne Demons team in 2014. Roos was instrumental in setting up the handover with Simon Goodwin, who has coached Melbourne into this weekend’s AFL grand final against the Western Bulldogs, which will be held at Perth’s Optus Stadium.