In 1973 a tall, athletic footballer called Madden played with Essendon Under 19s in the VFL.
Create a free account to read this article
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Young Paul looked promising, but due to injury and his involvement in a rock band, he declined senior captain-coach Des Tuddenham's invitation to keep playing. So "Tuddy" asked Paul's younger brother Simon to try out with the Bombers.
"You're 15, love your footy, Bomber-mad and someone asks you that... of course you're going to say yes," Madden said.
In 1974, aged 16, he played his first senior game. Retiring in 1992 after 378 games (then a club record) and 575 goals, he's one of the club's most decorated players.
One of the game's best ruckmen, he was a dual premiership player, Norm Smith medallist, four times best and fairest, Essendon captain for two seasons, Victorian captain across three years, three times all-Australian, and ruckman in Essendon's Team of the Century.
"The '84 and '85 premierships were a big highlight," he said.
"Two years earlier I'd been replaced as captain, then dropped to seconds. I sat on the bench in the reserves game thinking I'm in my mid-20s, played 150 games, my form's dropped - what do I do about it?"
He told himself he'd win the best and fairest next year. That was 1982. He won it in '83 and '84.
His career highlights weren't all on-field.
"There are lots of great people around footy clubs. (Triple premiership player from 1946 to 1954) Jack Jones greatly influenced me. He was recruited after serving in WWII in New Guinea.
"He was fit and healthy into his 90s. The sacrifices of men like him meant we could play and enjoy footy."
Outside of football, Madden worked as a teacher, at one stage sharing a classroom with his teacher wife Mary.
"I enjoyed teaching but it's a hard job and underpaid," he said.
"Being a footballer helped - teaching and footy was a good mix."
But he wanted to try something else and took a job in IT sales.
"The company grew from CSI, a family-owned and run company, to Commander Australia, a national, publicly listed company."
He also tried media, then someone suggested business coaching. "So, 15 years ago I started my own business."
Today, through Simon Madden Consulting, he delivers programs for leadership development, team-building, strategy development and sales training.
At 65, he appreciates the value of continuing to learn and improve in all facets of life.
"Wisdom comes with age - I don't know if I'm smarter than I was 30 years ago, but I'm fractionally wiser. You need to keep challenging what you're thinking about. Life's not long, so what are you going to do with it?"
