(77th Eagles player)
Chiefly remembered for kicking six goals on debut, Daniel Metropolis went on to become a dependable backman for West Coast in the latter half of the 1990s.
West Coast career[]
The son of Subiaco premiership player Peter Metropolis, Daniel was West Coast’s first pick in the 1991 draft. Given a debut early in his rookie season, he made an immediate impact by kicking a goal with his first kick. And his second. And his third. And his fourth. All up he kicked 6 goals that day.
That effort won him another three senior games in 1992, but he played just two games in 1993 and none at all in 1994 as yet another victim of the strength of the Eagles squad at the time.
When he returned to the side early in 1995 he had been recast as an adaptable medium defender, capable of stints up forward. This version of Metropolis became a mainstay in the senior team, playing 17 games for the year including the semi-final loss to North Melbourne, where he was among the Eagles’ best with 22 possessions and 8 marks.
1996 was similar, with Metro playing 22 games including another couple of strong finals showings against Carlton and Essendon. Unfortunately his 1997 season was limited to just 3 games because of injury, but he worked his way back in 1998, playing 15 games.
Metropolis had a career-best year in 1999, playing every game, finishing in the top 10 of the Club Champion award for the only time, and coming as close as he ever would to matching his debut effort with a 4-goal outing against Port Adelaide. That was followed by a solid 2000 season where he missed just one game and brought up his 100th game mid-year (unfortunately in a smashing at the hands of Brisbane at the Gabba).
Metro was then traded to Fremantle in a swap for another mid-sized defender in Greg Harding.
Fremantle career[]
In one of the biggest “lose-lose” trades in recent memory, Metropolis would go on to play just six games for Fremantle in two seasons before retiring due to injury, while Harding would manage only nine for West Coast.
Post-AFL career[]
Metropolis played out one more year at Subiaco after retiring from the AFL, playing in the 2003 grand final loss to West Perth before bringing an end to his playing days.
He went on to serve West Coast as a development coach and assistant coach before being one of the people let go in the wake of the disastrous 2010 season, despite the backline (which he was in charge of) being one of the better-performed units.
Stats[]
| AFL | Gm | G | B | K | M | H | D | T | Cl | WAFL | Gm | G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 22 | 8 | 8 | 30 | 3 | Subi | 2 | 0 | ||
| 1993 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 14 | 1 | 13 | 25 | |||
| 1994 | 0 | 19 | 9 | ||||||||||
| 1995 | 17 | 9 | 2 | 116 | 57 | 49 | 165 | 24 | 5 | 0 | |||
| 1996 | 22 | 9 | 5 | 138 | 57 | 62 | 200 | 33 | 2 | 1 | |||
| 1997 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 7 | 11 | 31 | 4 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 1998 | 15 | 1 | 7 | 129 | 58 | 49 | 178 | 26 | 9 | 4 | 2 | ||
| 1999 | 24 | 12 | 7 | 204 | 107 | 104 | 308 | 29 | 5 | 0 | |||
| 2000 | 21 | 5 | 3 | 178 | 75 | 86 | 264 | 27 | 8 | 0 | |||
| Tot | 108 | 46 | 27 | 818 | 374 | 372 | 1190 | 147 | 22 | ||||
| Avg | 0.4 | 7.6 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 11.0 | 1.4 | 0.4 |
References[]
http://afltables.com/afl/stats/players/D/Daniel_Metropolis.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Metropolis