As one of the longest serving football clubs in A-League history, Perth Glory has had its fair share of notable captains over the years.
Let us take a time machine back to the club’s establishment in 1996 to see where the Glory captain’s captains have ended up over the years.
Gareth Naven
Naven served as captain from the club’s inaugural season in 1996 all the way through to 2002, marking him as the longest serving captain the side has seen.
Since his departure, like most football stars, Naven dabbled in coaching. He first started off coaching the Perth youth team in 2008 before being promoted to the senior team in 2013 as assistant coach to fellow Glory teammate Alistair Edwards.
He was then axed from the side the following year after a review of his coaching structure and went on to be appointed head coach of Perth SC.
Most recently Naven has spent his days coaching NPL squads at Melbourne Victory and as of February 2021 has returned to Perth as the newly appointed development coach for Football West.
Shaun Murphy
Murphy captained the side to its 2004 NSL championship, in his one and only season for Glory.
The season was the end of the now 50-year-old’s career following several stints across the UK various teams including Notts County and Sheffield United.
He also memorably scored the match winning goal for Australia in the 2001 third-place play-off match against Brazil in the 2001 Confederations Cup.
Jamie Harnwell
Joining Glory in 1998, Harnwell did not captain the side until 2005 where he continued to lead the squad until 2007.
The following year the striker went to Liechtenstein’s FC Vaduz on loan to finish off their season in the Swiss Challenge League.
He then returned to WA for another season with Glory where he went on to become the most capped player in club history with 256 appearances, overtaking Bobby Despotovski.
Following his retirement from professional football, Harnwell went on to coach numerous women’s sides including Adelaide United and currently the Sorrento FC NPL side in Perth’s north.
Simon Colosimo
Another captain with a single season tint, Colosimo served his time from 2007-2008.
Since leaving Glory, Colosimo continued his time in the A-League with both Sydney FC and Melbourne Heart.
Finishing with the A-League in 2013, the centre-back made a brief appearance in India for Dempo before returning home to play football for several semi-professional/community clubs across Victoria.
This year, Colosimo finds himself in Europe as the deputy general secretary for FIFpro, the world player’s union based in the Netherlands.
Jamie Coyne
Captain of Perth Glory 2008-2009. Similar to Colosimo, Coyne finished up with Glory and went on to the Sky Blues before heading to Indonesia and then returning to finish up his professional football career with Melbourne Heart from 2013-2014.
He too turned to business following his departure from the pitch, acting as director for Circa Business consulting in Perth for three years.
From there, he went on to his current role at My Global Team, an employment outsourcing business that specialises in virtual assistants and marketing support among other staffing solutions.
Jacob Burns
Another long-serving captain to Glory, Burns captained Glory for six years from 2009-2014.
After his time on the field, Burns stayed at Glory as a coach, director and technical director for the youth team before moving on to become the football director. A role in which he served for almost seven years, up until late last year where he left the club to explore other opportunities.
Michael Thwaite
Michael Thwaite is an Australian footballer who captained the side from 2014-2015.
After leaving Glory the Brisbane native spent some time in China before returning to play for the Western Sydney Wanderers until 2018.
He then went home to Queensland where he continued to play for Gold Coast United until his recently announced retirement from professional football in March this year.
During his time there, Thwaite started his own mentoring company That’s Football which helps athletes transition in and out of professional sports. He also continues to work his passion of helping the special needs community through the United’s Accessible Football program.
Richard Garcia
Hmmm I wonder what he has been up to? Not much to say here as we all know Garcia announced his retirement from professional football following his stint with Glory in 2017.
The following year, he took on the role as head coach of the club’s youth team and assistant coach of the senior team before transitioning to head coach for the current A-League season.
Rostyn Griffiths
Griffiths, the final name on our list before reaching current Glory players.
Since leaving Glory in 2017 the midfielder joined the Ubekistan Super League side Pakhtakor Tashkent for the 2018 season before returning to play for Melbourne City where he continues to play currently.
Feature Image Credit: Vision Inspired Photography
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