Denis Pagan

Denis Pagan
Personal information
Full name	Denis Pagan
Date of birth	(1947-09-24) 24 September 1947
Original team(s)	Carlton U19
Height	183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	85 kg (187 lb)
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1967–1974	North Melbourne	120 (5)
1975–1976	South Melbourne	023 (0)
Total		143 (5)
Representative team honours
Years	Team	Games (Goals)
1971	Victoria
Coaching career3
Years	Club	Games (W–L–D)
1993–2002	North Melbourne	240 (150–90–0)
2003–2007	Carlton	104 (25–77–2)
Total		344 (175–167–2)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1976. 3 Coaching statistics correct as of 2007.
Career highlights
AFL Premiership coach: 1996, 1999 All-Australian Team coach: 1999 North Melbourne Team of the Century: coach
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Denis Pagan (born 24 September 1947) is a former Australian rules football coach and player in the VFL/AFL.

Playing career

Pagan played 120 games for the North Melbourne Football Club between 1967 and 1974, kicking 5 goals, mainly due to his permanent spot as a hard-nosed defender in the back pocket. He represented Victoria in interstate matches in 1971.

After the Grand Final loss to Richmond in 1974, Pagan was pushed out by Barassi. Although Pagan's dwindling form and the club's reassessment of its squad in the aftermath of 1974 loss, Pagan then moved back to his original roots (excepting Carlton, where Barassi expelled him in 1966) to South Melbourne for two seasons, 1975–1976, playing 23 games and kicking 0 goals. However, these events did not deter Pagan from his dedication to the North Melbourne football club, despite Barassi's authoritative coaching style.

In 1978, Pagan played for Port Melbourne in the Victorian Football Association.

Coaching career

Early coaching career

Pagan's coaching career began when he took the role of captain-coach of the Yarraville Football Club in the VFA second division in 1979. He piloted the team to the 1980 minor premiership and Grand Final, but the club lost the Grand Final against Brunswick. Pagan then returned to North Melbourne, and had great success as its Under-19s coach over the following decade. Pagan led the team to nine consecutive Under-19s Grand Finals from 1983–1991, resulting in five premierships: in 1984, 1987, 1988, 1990 and 1991. After the AFL's Under-19s competition was disbanded at the end of 1991, Pagan was signed by the Essendon Football Club, where he led its reserves team to the Victorian State Football League premiership in 1992.

North Melbourne Football Club

Pagan returned again to North Melbourne in 1993, and was appointed senior coach. He had an immediate impact at the Kangaroos, taking the side to premierships in 1996 and 1999.

He was known for pioneering a successful tactic which was termed "Pagan's Paddock", based around his key forwards Wayne Carey and John Longmire. The coaching strategy involved moving all forwards out of the 50-metre arc and midfielders bombing the ball into empty space. The key forwards would run with the flight of the ball to take a mark or running goal.

By the end of his term at North Melbourne, he had established an impeccable reputation as a senior AFL coach and the longest serving coach in the club's history. His worst season at North Melbourne was 2001, when the club missed the finals for the only time during his 10-year term at the club.

Pagan quit the North Melbourne Football Club at the end of the 2002 season, despite the team far-exceeding all expectations in finishing 7th – which was never expected after Wayne Carey left the club at the beginning of the year after his much-publicised affair – to sign a lucrative deal with the Carlton Football Club.

Carlton Football Club

At the end of 2002, Pagan was appointed coach of the Carlton Football Club, replacing Wayne Brittain, under whom Carlton had won the wooden spoon in 2002; Brittain had a year remaining on his contract, and was paid out by the club. Pagan's attempt to rebuild the side was not helped by the fact the club had been hit with salary cap breaches which prevented the club from rebuilding its playing list in the short term. In 2003, Carlton endured another unsuccessful season, finishing fifteenth. Employing a recycled player policy in an attempt to rebuild the team for the 2004 season, Pagan led Carlton to eleventh on the ladder, which was Carlton's highest placing under Pagan, and carried this into a pre-season premiership in the 2005 Wizard Cup. However, this proved to be a false dawn, and Pagan led Carlton to consecutive wooden spoons in 2005 and 2006. There were talks that he may have been sacked at this point; however, it was decided to extend his contract until the end of the 2008 season.

Carlton did not improve much in 2007, finishing fifteenth. Between Rounds 12 and 16, Carlton suffered five consecutive heavy defeats, the last of which was a 117-point defeat at the hands of the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba. It would prove to be the nail in the coffin for Pagan and his job, and he was sacked on 23 July 2007. He was not bitter at the club's decision, and wanted to go on record that he would never have quit as the coach of the Carlton Football Club. Pagan was replaced by assistant coach Brett Ratten as caretaker coach for the reminder of the 2007 season, who was eventually appointed full-time coach of Carlton. Pagan had a year to go on his contract which was paid out in full by the club. Pagan later stated in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper that coaching Carlton was "a very difficult assignment", also taking into consideration the fact that the club had lost valuable draft picks in the wake of the salary cap breaches.

Post coaching career

In 2008, Pagan became a board member for North Melbourne however after the 2008 season he left the position, and he has since had no involvement in football. He currently works as a real estate agent alongside his son Ryan.

Statistics

Playing statistics

Season	Team	No.	Games	Totals							Averages (per game)
				G	B	K	H	D	M	T	G	B	K	H	D	M	T
1967	North Melbourne	45	7	2	5	55	1	56	11	—	0.3	0.7	7.9	0.1	8.0	1.6	—
1968	North Melbourne	26	16	3	4	243	8	251	53	—	0.2	0.3	15.2	0.5	15.7	3.3	—
1969	North Melbourne	17	19	0	0	295	10	305	69	—	0.0	0.0	15.5	0.5	16.1	3.6	—
1970	North Melbourne	17	17	0	0	274	20	294	63	—	0.0	0.0	16.1	1.2	17.3	3.7	—
1971	North Melbourne	17	16	0	0	278	20	298	65	—	0.0	0.0	17.4	1.3	18.6	4.1	—
1972	North Melbourne	17	18	0	0	280	13	293	66	—	0.0	0.0	15.6	0.7	16.3	3.7	—
1973	North Melbourne	17	12	0	0	146	13	159	22	—	0.0	0.0	12.2	1.1	13.3	1.8	—
1974	North Melbourne	17	15	0	0	171	19	190	17	—	0.0	0.0	11.4	1.3	12.7	1.1	—
1975	South Melbourne	6	7	0	0	77	7	84	10	—	0.0	0.0	12.8	1.2	14.0	1.7	—
1976	South Melbourne	6	16	0	0	165	24	189	27	—	0.0	0.0	10.3	1.5	11.8	1.7	—
Career			143	5	9	1984	135	2119	403	—	0.0	0.1	14.0	1.0	14.9	2.8	—

Coaching statistics

Legend
W	Wins	L	Losses	D	Draws	W%	Winning percentage	LP	Ladder position	LT	League teams

Season	Team	Games	W	L	D	W %	LP	LT
1993	North Melbourne	21	13	8	0	61.9%	3	15
1994	North Melbourne	24	14	10	0	58.3%	3	15
1995	North Melbourne	25	16	9	0	64.0%	6	16
1996	North Melbourne	25	19	6	0	76.0%	2	16
1997	North Melbourne	25	14	11	0	56.0%	7	16
1998	North Melbourne	25	18	7	0	72.0%	1	16
1999	Kangaroos	25	20	5	0	80.0%	2	16
2000	Kangaroos	25	15	10	0	60.0%	4	16
2001	Kangaroos	22	9	13	0	40.9%	13	16
2002	Kangaroos	23	12	11	0	52.2%	7	16
2003	Carlton	22	4	18	0	18.2%	15	16
2004	Carlton	22	10	12	0	45.5%	11	16
2005	Carlton	22	4	17	1	20.5%	16	16
2006	Carlton	22	3	18	1	15.9%	16	16
2007	Carlton	16	4	12	0	25.0%	15	16
Career totals		344	175	167	2	51.2%