Gary Ayres  Gary James Ayres (born 28 September 1960) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club. He is currently the senior coach for the Port Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Beginning his football career with Hawthorn in 1978, he had an illustrious career spanning from 1978–1993, playing 269 games and booting 70 goals. He was part of a total of 5 premiership teams – 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, and 1991. He won the Norm Smith Medal twice, adjudged best on ground in 1986 and 1988 and is one of only three players in the history of the AFL to do so. Ayres captained Victoria against Tasmania in the 1989 State of Origin contest. He captained the Hawks in his final two years from 1992–1993. Gary played most of his football in defence, particular the back pocket position. He was nicknamed "Conan" by fans in reference to his powerful upper-body physique. He used his body to good effect in body on body contested situations. Ayres' height and weight was 187 cm / 100 kg. Allan Jeans described Ayres as "a good driver in heavy traffic"  ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1978 ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 1979 ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1980 ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 1981 ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1982 ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1984 ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 1985 ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1987 ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1990 ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1992 ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1993 ! colspan=3| Career ! 269 ! 70 ! 58 ! 2944 ! 1623 ! 4567 ! 987 ! 268 ! 0.3 ! 0.2 ! 10.9 ! 6.0 ! 17.0 ! 3.7 ! 1.8  After retiring, Ayres turned to coaching; starting as an assistant coach to Malcolm Blight at Geelong. After Blight's resignation in 1994 (following Geelong's Grand Final defeat to the Eagles), Ayres was appointed senior coach for the 1995 AFL season.