He was a good footballer and one of Geelong's best in the 1995 grand final.

Despite the disappointment of losing that game, he would have been looking forward to the rest of his career after establishing himself as a quality senior footballer.

Unhappily for him, the next year he suffered a serious knee injury and that reduced his effectiveness as a player.

Whatever he achieved as a player, he has more than surpassed that in his role as player development co-ordinator at the club.

Brownie recently resigned as player development co-ordinator and finished yesterday.

He is going to spend time at home with his children while his wife Angie goes back to work.

All the best with that Brownie.

I am sure the boys will have all come up to you to say thanks in their various ways.

All of us are grateful for the great job you did finding accommodation for us, looking after our studies and all that terrific welfare stuff that mightn't get a lot of recognition but is very important to the morale of a football club.

There's no doubt a lot of our blokes will be better off in their post-playing days because of the training Brownie arranged for them.

Brownie was also a force in getting the club involved in the community, particularly as patron of the CREATE scheme.

This partnership between the club and CREATE helps local teenagers find jobs.

Brownie has also been working with the players and the marketing department to redevelop the Care For Kids program.

But there's a lot more to Brownie.

He's been a terrific clubman. At the testimonials to Barry Stoneham and Garry Hocking, it was Brownie who got up on stage with Tom Harley to perform the musical tributes.

He's always terrific fun. When not on the serious job of looking after the players' welfare there was time for a wise-crack.

He also liked to collect sayings. If you said to Brownie: ``What do you know?'' He'd smile back at you and say: ``You can't slam a revolving door!''

Or another one: ``It takes a lot of chickens to pull a plough''.

If one of his jokes didn't get a laugh he'd say: ``Well that went down like a wrought-iron kite''.

Footy is a pretty serious business, but people like Paul Brown make it fun too. He'll be missed around our club.