Phillip Walsh

Phillip Walsh (15 March 1960 – 3 July 2015) was an Australian rules footballer and coach. Walsh played for Collingwood, Richmond and the Brisbane Bears in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1983 and 1990. Upon ending his playing career, Walsh held assistant coaching roles at Geelong, West Coast and Port Adelaide before being appointed as the senior coach of the Adelaide Football Club for a three-season contract beginning in 2015. On 3 July 2015, Walsh was found dead at the age of 55 in his Somerton Park home with multiple stab wounds. His son Cy was charged with his murder, and he was later found not guilty due to mental incompetence. Playing career Walsh played mostly as a wingman and made his VFL debut in the 1983 season with Collingwood. The following year he crossed to Richmond, where he spent three seasons with the club, playing in 40 games. He finished his career with the Brisbane Bears and won their inaugural best and fairest award in 1987. Coaching career After his playing career, Walsh became the fitness co-ordinator and senior team runner at the Geelong Football Club from 1996 to 1999, before moving to the Port Adelaide Football Club as an assistant coach in 1999. He was an assistant coach under Mark Williams in Port's 2004 premiership team. In the same year, he was awarded the AFL Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year award. He coached the team in the absence of Williams (whose father Fos had died) for one game in Round 22, 2001.