Stan Alves
Neil Stanley "Stan" Alves, OAM (born 22 May 1946) is a former Australian rules football player and coach. Playing career. Alves played 226 games for the Melbourne Football Club in the 1960s and 1970s, captaining them from 1973–1976 and finishing runner-up for the Brownlow Medal in 1975, before joining North Melbourne in 1977. Legend has it that he chose to play for North Melbourne rather than Collingwood based on a coin toss. It proved to be a wise decision as North Melbourne met Collingwood in the 1977 Grand Final and, after initially playing a 76-all draw , won the replay 151–124. Alves played 40 games for North Melbourne before retiring. Coaching career. St Kilda Football Club senior coach (1994-1998). Alves became senior coach of St Kilda in 1994, when he replaced Ken Sheldon. In the 1994 season, St Kilda under Alves finished 13th on the ladder out of 15 teams in a disappointing season. The following 1995 season, St Kilda once again under Alves had another disappointing season as they finished 14th out of 16 teams. St Kilda won the 1996 pre-season competition. In the 1996 season, St Kilda under Alves had another disappointing season , after a promising pre-season competition to find itself finished 10th after round 22. St Kilda won just 10 games for the season. Alves however went on to coach St Kilda in the 1997 season to finish as runners up and first grand final in 26 years in 1997, where St Kilda lost to Adelaide by thirty-four points in the 1997 Grand Final. This earned Alves the AFL Coach of the Year award. In the 1998 season, St Kilda under Alves had a great start winning 11 of its first 14 games, but unfortunately an end of season drop  of form saw St Kilda drop down the ladder. St Kilda again qualified for the Finals Series finishing sixth. In the 1998 Finals Series, St Kilda were eliminated by Melbourne In the semi final. At the end of the 1998 season, Alves was sacked as St Kilda Football Club senior coach. Alves was then replaced by Tim Watson as St Kilda Football Club senior coach. Awards. On 24 October 2000, Alves was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australian football. On 26 January 2008, Alves was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for "service to Australian Rules  football as a player, coach and commentator, and to the community as a supporter of charitable organisations". Statistics. Playing statistics. ! | 1965 ! | 1966 ! | 1967 ! | 1968 ! | 1969 ! | 1970 ! | 1971 ! | 1972 ! | 1973 ! | 1974 ! | 1975 ! | 1976 ! | 1977 ! | 1978 ! | 1979 !| Career ! 266 ! 174 ! 220 ! 3940 ! 1075 ! 5015 ! 1265 ! 0.7 ! 0.8 ! 14.9 ! 4.1 ! 18.9 ! 4.8 Coaching statistics. ! | 1994 ! | 1995 ! | 1996 ! | 1997 ! | 1998 !| Career totals ! 115 ! 55 ! 59 ! 1 ! 48.3% !|