Paul O'Brien
Melbourne and Essendon
AFL career
25 games2 goals
- Debut
- R20 1980 v RCH16 Aug 1980
- Most recent
- R12 1988 v FIT18 June 1988
Stats
Bio
A promising junior recruited from St Peters, Paul O'Brien initially made his mark at Melbourne by winning the club's Under-19s Best and Fairest in 1980. He broke into the senior lineup as a defender with genuine pace—representing the Demons in the 1982 Grand Final Sprint—but his progress was cruelly halted by a major knee reconstruction following Round 2, 1983. Despite battling back to feature in Melbourne's 1984 Reserves premiership side, O'Brien could not regain his senior spot and moved to North Melbourne in 1986, where he failed to crack the ones. He eventually managed a brief senior revival at Essendon in 1988, booting two goals in his club debut against Geelong, before finishing his career as a persevering utility whose brother, Dallas, famously won the 1983 Stawell Gift.
Profile
- Full name
- Paul J. O'Brien
- Born
- 16 Apr 1961 (age 65y 188d)
- Height
- 177 cm
- Weight
- 75 kg
Teams
Bio
1 revisionA promising junior recruited from St Peters, Paul O'Brien initially made his mark at Melbourne by winning the club's Under-19s Best and Fairest in 1980. He broke into the senior lineup as a defender with genuine pace—representing the Demons in the 1982 Grand Final Sprint—but his progress was cruelly halted by a major knee reconstruction following Round 2, 1983. Despite battling back to feature in Melbourne's 1984 Reserves premiership side, O'Brien could not regain his senior spot and moved to North Melbourne in 1986, where he failed to crack the ones. He eventually managed a brief senior revival at Essendon in 1988, booting two goals in his club debut against Geelong, before finishing his career as a persevering utility whose brother, Dallas, famously won the 1983 Stawell Gift.