22/10/2026
Congratulations to Joel Cooper, who will play his 100th game for the club when he skippers the 4ths against South Barwon this Saturday. Having spent time at a few different clubs during his career, Coops played junior cricket at Modewarre (including an Under 17 grand final appearance against East Belmont in 2003/04) and played senior cricket at both Grovedale and North Geelong. He crossed to the Lion’s Den in 2017, alongside mates Liam Breedveld and Mick Davis. Coops has gone on to enjoy a very successful career as a member of the club’s hard-wicket squad, while also becoming a meaningful off-field contributor and committee member. Now into his ninth season at the club, he has played 2 games in the 3rds, 30 in the 4ths, 66 in the 5ths and 1 in the 7ths.
While generally occupying a position in the tail, Coops always gives his all with bat in hand. He always seeks to put a price on his wicket and do whatever he can to maximise the team total, whether that means hanging around to support a more established partner, or on occasion even launching an assault of his own. He has batted 59 times throughout his career, remaining not out on 20 of those occasions (34% of total innings.) He has scored 420 runs at an average of 10.77, including 5 runs at no average in the 3rds, 222 @ 15.86 in the 4ths, 181 @ 7.54 in the 5ths and 12 @ 12.00 in the 7ths. Until quite recently, Coops’ career best score was just 25 not out, but he flipped that on its head last February, when he peeled off his one and only score of 30+, with a sensational 60 not out against the St. Joey’s 4ths.
Coops’ bowling has well and truly been his greatest strength over his career, and he has proven to be one of the most reliable and consistent hard-wicket bowlers across the club’s modern era. While he has never been one to generate all that much pace, his ability to swing the ball and regularly zero in on a good line and length make him difficult to score from and never has him far away from forcing a batsman into an error. He has sent down 649.2 career overs, capturing 113 wickets at an average of 18.99. He has taken 6 wickets @ 6.17 in the 3rds, 25 @ 31.44 in the 4ths, 81 @ 16.14 in the 5ths and 1 @ 16.00 in the 7ths. Coops has bagged 11 three-wicket hauls and two five-wicket hauls, with his career best figures being the 6/23 which he took against the St. Joey’s 3rds in February 2018. Coops took out the 5ths bowling average in 2022/23, and won the 4ths bowling average last season.
Coops has taken 33 catches, been dismissed for a duck 9 times (one per 6.6 innings) and has whacked 7 sixes. He is a two-time premiership player, having won 5ths flags against South Barwon (2020/21) and Highton (2021/22.) He was also a 4ths runner-up against Newtown in 2022/23. From an individual honours perspective, Coops was joint-winner of the 4ths MVP last season, while he won the Kevin “Legs” Caulfield Spirit of Cricket Award in 2022/23.
The 2022/23 season saw Coops step up to a captaincy role for the first time, when he co-captained the 5ths alongside the late Liam Harrington. He continued to skipper the 5ths for a further two seasons, before taking on co-captaincy of the 4ths alongside Liam Breedveld. Coops was reappointed as 4ths skipper this season, marking his fifth consecutive season as a senior captain. A member of the committee for the past four seasons, Coops has done stints on both our Operations and Junior sub-committees. He has been heavily involved in junior coaching ever since his sons Oscar and Hamish embarked upon their own journeys into cricket via the club’s junior program.
A popular and well-respected member of the club, Coops has become ever more present and his contributions ever more highly valued since his arrival at the Lion’s Den. It is easy to forget that he has been around for less than a decade, but he has packed plenty into that timeframe and we have certainly been very lucky to have him.
Congrats Coops on 100!
