Graham Moss

Graham Moss (born 14 May 1950) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach, who was highly successful in both the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and the Victorian Football League (VFL). He was a Brownlow Medal-winning ruckman and played 343 senior games in the WAFL and VFL.

Moss debuted for Claremont Football Club in the WAFL in 1969. In 1970, he made his debut for the Western Australian state team.

Essendon attempted to lure him to Melbourne several times, and finally succeeded before the 1973 season. Moss played 89 games for Essendon, winning the club best and fairest three times, in 1974–76. He also represented Victoria 15 times. In 1976, he captained Essendon and won the Brownlow, but also suffered a serious knee injury. Moss has the second-highest average of Brownlow Medal votes (0.95 per game) of any player ever polled for the award.

He was appointed captain-coach by Claremont in 1977, and commented that his return from Essendon to Claremont was made easy by the fact the VFL and WAFL were of a similar standard at the time. That same year he won the Simpson Medal, while playing for Western Australia in the first ever State of Origin game, against Victoria. Moss led Claremont to a premiership, their first in 17 years, in 1981. He ceased playing in 1984 and retired as coach in 1986.

The Graham Moss Medal has been awarded to the best on ground in WAFL State of Origin matches from 1995.

In 1996, Moss was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. In 2004, he was inducted into the West Australian Football Hall of Fame and elevated to the status of "Legend" in 2006.

Moss's professional career includes inaugural chief executive officer of the West Australian Sports Centre Trust from 1986 to 2008. The Trust, now VenuesWest, owns and manages major sport, entertainment and recreation venues on behalf of the Government of Western Australia. He was also the CEO of Tourism WA between 2008 to 2011, and is now a project management consultant for Auzcorp Pty Ltd, who are a property developer and services provider to the Pilbara Region of WA. Moss still lives in Perth, Western Australia.

Famous quotes containing the words graham and/or moss:

    Billy, in one of his nice new sashes,
    Fell in the fire and was burnt to ashes;
    —Harry Graham (1874–1936)

    We talked between the Rooms—
    Until the Moss had reached our lips—
    And covered up—our names—
    Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)