At the 1996 Grand Prix in Melbourne, a mother of 4 just
happened to sit next to Richmond tiger legend Tommy Hafey.
While the Formula one cars roared by, Tommy talked to the mother about
his love of footy and especially the Tigers. The mum was anxious to get some
tips for her 14-year-old son who was struggling with his footy, especially his
pace. “Don’t worry love, he’ll be right”, said Tom. Right indeed Tommy,
the lady in question was Judith Coughlan, over from Perth for the Grand Prix,
and the son in question was our special guest Mark. The Coughlan family think Mark
was born to be a Tiger. It was destiny.
KAMBALDA
Mark Steven Coughlan was born
in Perth on April 20, 1982, the 2nd of 4 children born to Steve and Judith
Coughlan. He has an older brother Alex 24, younger brother Matt 18 and sister
Catherine 15.
Mark spent his first few years
living in Kambalda while his father Steve worked in the mining industry. In
those formative years Mark (center) showed early indications of good hand /eye
co-ordination.
When Mark was four, the
opportunity came through the mining industry to move to Fiji, so the family
re-located.
It
was in Fiji where Mark got his family nickname Moose. The young boy was always
chasing mongooses around and at the same time enjoying the culinary delights of
the bitter skin of the mango. Mango and mongoose somehow became Moose, a
nickname that has remained.
Mark’s
mother Judith tells the story of Mark in Fiji when as a 4 year old, after
watching an international sporting event (possibly the World Cup soccer), he
clenched his little fist at the screen and said to his mum, ”Mum, I don’t
want to be just good, I want to be a champion.”
The
family moved back to Kalgoorlie 3 days before the coup in Fiji in May 1987.
Mark went to North Kalgoorlie
primary school. He was an extremely
competitive and talented T ball player and won the under 8 Goldfields champion
athlete.
He also starred in his soccer team. It would seem that every time Mark got the ball he would take
it the length of the field to try to score a goal. If the side lost he would
take it very badly, crying his little heart out.
As
a child, Mark was extremely hyperactive. When he was 8 in Kalgoorlie, while
neighbourhood friends were on holidays, he took the opportunity to take off with
the neighbour’s motorbike. He
hooned up the back alleyway, hanging on for dear life. There was only one
problem; he didn’t know where the brakes were. He drove straight out onto the
main road and was hit by a car. The ambulance driver kindly drove the little
bloke home afterwards suffering cuts and bruises.
Mark
was always game for anything; he was in a group of 4 kids who were always out on
their BMX’ s looking for challenges. At the top of their street in Kalgoorlie
were some slime dumps, which were Everest like in their slope.
Mark’s
brother Alex would use Mark as the guinea pig, to test a slope for safety. If
Mark hit a bump, stacked the bike and hurt himself, it was considered too risky
for everyone else.
Once
down at the family beach house in Mandurah, Alex dared his younger brother to
cycle- jump over an embankment ‘Evil Knieval’ style onto a gravel car park.
Mark, who has always been game for anything, saddled up, tore down the side of
the house and with a flying leap sailed over the edge. Unfortunately he
went straight over the handlebars and ended up with multiple grazes on his body
and a severely bruised shoulder.
It’s
estimated that the boys went through 8-10 bikes during their time in Kalgoorlie.
Alex reckons that Mark owes a lot to him for his toughness and
willingness to take on new challenges.
Mark’s
sister Catherine tells of the time when she was 3 and Mark 10. Mark told her to
close her eyes and open her mouth. This turned out to be her first snail eating
experience. Yes her faith in her big brother was such that she ate the whole
snail.
When
Mark was about 11 years of age, the family moved to Perth. Mark and brother Alex
attended Wesley College. Mark played baseball for a year and won the highest
batter award in the competition but gave up because he found the game boring.
At
Wesley, Mark represented the school in hurdles and also started to refine his
cricketing skills. He captained the first XI cricket team in both years 7 and
12. He seriously fancied himself as an all rounder, until he had to open the
batting in the first XI with Sean Marsh, son of the great Geoff. Mark would get
his 30s and 40’s while Marsh seemed to get a hundred every time he went out.
This convinced Mark that maybe cricket wasn’t his game.
Mark’s
mate Alex Davies tells the story of one day at cricket training in year 12.
During net practice a batsman hit one ball very high and a number of players
positioned themselves to catch it. Hearing Mark giving the loudest shout, his
teammates stepped back only to see Mark miss-judge it completely, the ball
cannoning into the tender part of his anatomy causing profuse tears and
paralysis for quite a few minutes.
Cricket
was Mark’s first love, although he also loved soccer, but somehow he started
to get interested in Aussie Rules. His first attempts at kicking a football were
rather forgettable. Mark’s uncle
remembers having a kick at the park with Mark when he was about 11. He had no
idea how to kick. He would do the classic soccer right angle kick and his uncle
remembers thinking at the time, “This kid had better stick to his soccer”.
Mark
finally made the transition to Aussie rules and as a young teenager he used to
get his fair share of the ball on the field, but his size was his greatest
problem. He couldn’t get a regular game in the starting first XVIII
until his last year at school. His uncle thought at the time that
Mark’s best footy years would come when he grew.
Sure
enough in Mark’s last year of school he grew 5 inches (11 cm) and started to
hit the weights. When he left school there was no desire to play AFL, but Perth
Football Club invited him to come down and train with them. If it wasn’t for
the persistence of Murray Cooper the Colt’s coach, he might have ended up
playing Amateur footy with his mates.
The
first signs of newfound confidence came in the Colts practice games. After 5
Colts games he played the rest of the season in the league team and ended up
being drafted to the Tigers at the end of the season.
Mark
learned the piano when he was younger, but he excelled on the trombone, which he
learned for 6-7 years. He played in the Wesley school band and Wesley Jazz band
as lead trombone player. His music teacher, Kieran Hurley, said that Mark had a
real talent and that if he practiced he would be even better.
Sadly he has not picked up the trombone since he left school.
Mark has always been a bit of
a party animal, but this has been tempered since being at the Tigers. His mate
Alex Davies tells of a night out in a Perth nightclub, trying to get friendly
with some of the girls on the dance floor. After being rejected by four ladies,
Mark was dancing on the stage with great gusto, trying to impress a fifth lady
with his moves. Unfortunately, he tripped and fell backwards off the stage
destroying his chances in the process.
Once
on holidays with his mates at the beach house, Mark retired to bed early. His
mates after a while thought that they would wake him up, so they all jumped on
him. To their absolute delight, they found Mark sleeping in his mothers green
floral dressing gown.
Mark has picked up the speed of
AFL quicker than he got his license. It took 3 attempts before he finally
convinced the police that he was worthy of a license.
Mark has a great capacity for misplacing and forgetting
things. Once he got on to the plane to Adelaide without his footy boots.
One day when Mark was playing
WAFL for Perth against East Fremantle at East Fremantle oval, there was a public
announcement that a certain car had left its lights on. A sheepish Cogs moved to
the boundary at ¼ time to tell his father to turn the lights off in his car.
At
the end of season 2003, the Richmond Football Club went to NZ for its end of
year trip. By mistake Mark left his passport in Craig Ednie’s car which Craig
had taken bush to Yarrawonga. Despite many calls for its return, the passport
didn’t show. Finally with just a couple of hours to go before departure and to
his great relief, the letter with the passport was found at 4am by local postal
workers and given to a very weary but thankful Mark.
One of Mark’s great loves is
fishing. After returning to the west after season 2003, he and his father went
on a day fishing trip off Hillary’s. The Skipper happened to be a Richmond
fan, but didn’t recognize Mark. The Skipper asked Mark what he did for a crust
and Mark told him he was studying in Melbourne. On being asked if he followed
the footy, Mark replied that he barracked for Richmond. It was Steve, Mark’s
dad who later filled in the details for the skipper about Mark’s career at
Richmond.
CULINARY
DELIGHTS
Sister Catherine says that
there is never a time when Mark is not hungry and that his eyes are bigger than
his stomach. He usually eats 3 lunches and 3 dinners a day but still manages to
pass the pinch test at Tigerland.
Brother Alex says that when the family go out to eat, Mark
orders double main course and then gets so full he leaves most of the second
plate. Mark’s modus operandi is to get food into his mouth one way or another
and eat it as quickly as possible, much to his mother’s horror.
THAT
HAIR
Family are quick to point out
that Mark spends heaps of time in front of the mirror, going through a container
of hair gel a week. Every time he comes back to Perth, he has a different hair
colour; and sometimes they find it difficult to recognize him on the field.
A
TEAMMATE TELLS
Mark’s
Richmond teammate Chris Hyde relates a few tales.
In his first year at the club, Mark turned up at the Coburg ground
when the team were actually playing at Port Melbourne
Mark once left the house without his keys, thinking that Wayne Campbell (his
house mate) would be able to let him back in. Little did he realize that Wayne
had gone away for the weekend. A quick call to the locksmith fixed that
Mark had owned his new car for a week and when Chris asked him about a huge dent
in the back. He simply explained, "Yeah I didn’t see that pole”.
He drove around in his previous car with the number plate stuck on with blue tac
and couldn’t work out why one end kept falling off.
Once mark rushed into his University lecture late and tripped down the stairs
when trying to find a seat. As soon as he sat down his mobile rang and disturbed
everyone further.
He spends way too much time on his hair for a male and we’re sure he’s
sponsored by Body Bronze Tanning Salons
Mark has a reputation for only dating models.
He never brings his own towel to training, and always uses Chris’s before he
has a chance to.
Mark is known as a guy who is academically smart, but sometimes lacks or seems
to lack common sense.
PLAYING
PROFILE AT RICHMOND
Mark
was selected by Richmond with their second round selection (No. 25 overall) in
the 2000 National AFL Draft.
After winning the 2003 Jack Dyer Medal Mark
struggled with constant groin soreness coming into the 2004 season. Diagnosed as
‘pubic instability’, the injury eventually sidelined the 22-year-old after
round five. After rest to treat his injury he was eased back through the VFL and
returned for the final two rounds of the AFL season. A strong summer on the
track and plenty of hard rehabilitation work has seen Mark play all games in
2005 and Richmond fans are ecstatic to see him performing once again as a vital
cog in the midfield.
Player honours
National
AFL Rising Star nominee 2002
3rd best and fairest 2002
Best and fairest 2003
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SUMMARY
Despite of all these stories, Mark’s family believes he has
his head screwed on. He doesn’t believe his own publicity and wants to be at
Tigerland to see the current crop of players create their own history.
“Mark
Steven Coughlan
This Is Your Life.”
Special
thanks to Lindsay, to Jude, Steve, Alex, Matt and Catherine Coughlan, to Chris
Hyde and to Mark’s kind friends who were all more than willing to tell tales.
Biggest
thanks of all to Mark for being such a good sport.