Adem Yze

Adem Yze
Yze with Hawthorn in April 2017
Personal information
Nickname(s)	Pencil
Date of birth	(1977-09-21) 21 September 1977 (age 47)
Place of birth	Shepparton
Original team(s)	Shepparton United
Debut	Round 13, 1995, Melbourne vs. Richmond, at Melbourne Cricket Ground
Height	187 cm (6 ft 2 in)[1]
Weight	87 kg (192 lb)[1]
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1995–2008	Melbourne	271 (234)[2]
Coaching career3
Years	Club	Games (W–L–D)
2022	Melbourne	01 (1–0–0)
2024–	Richmond	23 (2–21–0)
Total		24 (3–21–0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2008. 3 Coaching statistics correct as of 2024.
Career highlights
Harold Ball Memorial Trophy: 1995 AFL Rising Star nominee: 1996 Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal: 2001 All-Australian team: 2002 Centenary Medal: 2001
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Adem Yze (/ˈuːzeɪ/ OO-zay; born 21 September 1977)^[2] is an Australian rules football coach and former player. He played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), and is senior coach of the Richmond Football Club.^[3]

Yze, of Albanian descent and a Muslim, was educated at Shepparton High School in Shepparton, Victoria.^[4] He has made the fourth-highest number of appearances in the history of the Melbourne Football Club.^[5]

Taken at #16 in the 1994 National AFL Draft, and debuting in 1995 with Melbourne, he was a near-permanent fixture with the club throughout his career. He remained remarkably consistent in this time, moving from half-back to the midfield and towards the end of his playing career moving between half-forward and half-back. Yze led the league for kicks in 2001, 2002 and 2004, while coming third behind Scott Camporeale and Nathan Buckley in 2000.^[6]

In 2007, Yze struggled with his form during the pre-season. After a disappointing performance against St Kilda in Round 1, his streak of 226 consecutive AFL appearances was put to an end, with Melbourne deciding to drop him for the Round 2 game against Hawthorn.^[7] Yze was then selected for Melbourne's Round 4 match against Fremantle and picked up a career-high 38-possessions^[2] and kicked one goal, being named as one of the best on ground for the day. Despite seeing very little first-team action in 2008—the last year of his contract at Melbourne—Yze declared his intention to continue playing football, even if that meant he entered the draft or played at VFL level. At 30, Yze felt he could play on for another two or three years.^[8]

Due to Melbourne's youth policy introduced at the end of the 2008 season, Adem was delisted after only six senior appearances for the year, in which he kicked five goals. Yze expressed his desire to play on at another AFL club in 2009, declaring he would apply for the pre-season draft, yet he conceded he had "stuff all" chances of being picked up by another club.^[9]

Yze played for Melbourne from 1995 until 2008 for a total of 271 games and kicked a total of 234 goals.^[6]

However, Yze declared he would play on regardless in 2009, even if it was at a suburban club, such as East Burwood, where his brother Damian played. Yze played with the Box Hill Hawks and joined the Shepparton Swans a year later.^[10]

In 2013 and 2014, he played with second division clubs Glen Orden and West Footscray in the Western Region Football League.

Yze was known for his straight kicks and ability to kick goals from seemingly impossible angles. He kicked five goals in a game on five occasions.^[11] He is also noted for being one of few Muslims to play Australian rules professionally, although he does not actively practise his faith.^[12]

In January 2012, Yze joined Hawthorn as a part-time assistant coach under senior coach Alastair Clarkson .^[13]

On 14 November 2014, Yze replaced Luke Beveridge as Hawthorn's backline coach under senior coach Alastair Clarkson, after previously working with the Hawks as a specialist goal-kicking and development coach for the past three seasons. Yze was credited for playing a key role in harnessing the Hawthorn players' elite kicking skills as they developed into the AFL's deadliest team in front of goal over the past two seasons, with the team's accuracy increasing from 48 per cent to 57.1 per cent during his tenure as goalkicking coach.^[14]

After six seasons as a Hawthorn assistant coach, Yze was appointed assistant coach at Melbourne under senior coach Simon Goodwin for the 2021 season.^[15] The Demons would have an outstanding 2021 season in which they finished on top of the ladder and were a dominant team throughout the regular season and the finals series which was capped off with a commanding victory over the Western Bulldogs to win the 2021 premiership. Yze was a key architect in creating their league best defence that was a key factor in their historic premiership win. In the 2022 season Melbourne would continue their dominant ways extending the winning streak to 17 games, until the second half of the year in which momentum was halted and they struggled with consistency. Yze continued his role as midfield coach overseeing arguably the best midfield in the competition while their team defence still remained elite and one of the top in the competition. Near the end of the season Yze was heavily linked to the vacant GWS and Essendon senior coaching roles,^[16] however the roles were eventually awarded to then Richmond assistant coach Adam Kingsley and Brad Scott respectively.^[17] Yze left the Melbourne Football Club at the end of the 2023 season.^[18]

Yze was appointed senior coach of the Richmond Football Club on 21 September 2023.^[19][20] Yze replaced caretaker senior coach Andrew McQualter, who replaced Damien Hardwick after Hardwick stepped down in the middle of the 2023 season.^{[21][22][23][24]}

In Yze's first season as Richmond senior coach, the club won only two matches for the year, finishing with the wooden spoon for the first time since 2007 as they underwent a significant rebuild of its playing list.^[25]

^[26]

Legend

G	Goals	K	Kicks	D	Disposals	T	Tackles
B	Behinds	H	Handballs	M	Marks

	Led the league after finals only
	Led the league after season and finals

Season	Team	No.	Games	Totals							Averages (per game)							Votes
				G	B	K	H	D	M	T	G	B	K	H	D	M	T
1995	Melbourne	44	9	3	4	55	23	78	17	8	0.3	0.4	6.1	2.6	8.7	1.9	0.9	0
1996	Melbourne	13	19	9	8	136	40	176	48	16	0.5	0.4	7.2	2.1	9.3	2.5	0.8	0
1997	Melbourne	13	19	9	16	203	34	237	62	21	0.5	0.8	10.7	1.8	12.5	3.3	1.1	0
1998	Melbourne	13	25	7	5	394	95	489	110	37	0.3	0.2	15.8	3.8	19.6	4.4	1.5	0
1999	Melbourne	13	22	10	5	269	79	348	54	26	0.5	0.2	12.2	3.6	15.8	2.5	1.2	0
2000	Melbourne	13	25	37	23	411	123	534	104	42	1.5	0.9	16.4	4.9	21.4	4.2	1.7	14
2001	Melbourne	13	22	24	26	417	72	489	105	37	1.1	1.2	19.0	3.3	22.2	4.8	1.7	8
2002	Melbourne	13	24	19	13	441	105	546	106	67	0.8	0.5	18.4	4.4	22.8	4.4	2.8	17
2003	Melbourne	13	22	17	8	340	113	453	74	43	0.8	0.4	15.5	5.1	20.6	3.4	2.0	5
2004	Melbourne	13	23	19	21	410	104	514	99	54	0.8	0.9	17.8	4.5	22.3	4.3	2.3	14
2005	Melbourne	13	23	41	34	270	52	322	99	34	1.8	1.5	11.7	2.3	14.0	4.3	1.5	7
2006	Melbourne	13	24	30	16	356	120	476	128	44	1.3	0.7	14.8	5.0	19.8	5.3	1.8	5
2007	Melbourne	13	8	4	6	111	54	165	36	16	0.5	0.8	13.9	6.8	20.6	4.5	2.0	0
2008	Melbourne	13	6	5	9	86	26	112	35	5	0.8	1.5	14.3	4.3	18.7	5.8	0.8	1
Career			271	234	194	3899	1040	4939	1077	450	0.9	0.7	14.4	3.8	18.2	4.0	1.7	71

^[27]

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
2022*	Melbourne	1	1	0	0	100.0%	1	18
2024	Richmond	4	1	3	0	25.0%	0	0
Career totals		5	2	3	0	40.0%

* Caretaker coach

• Individual
  • Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal: 2001
  • All-Australian: 2002
  • Australian Representative Honours in International Rules Football: 2000, 2002
  • AFL Rising Star Nominee: 1996 (Round 11)
  • Centenary Medal: 2001

• Adem Yze's profile on the official website of the Melbourne Football Club
• Adem Yze's playing statistics from AFL Tables