Dean Irving is a former Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

er who played with the West Coast Eagles

West Coast Eagles

The West Coast Eagles are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League. The club is based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and played its first games in the 1987 season. Its current home ground is Subiaco Oval...

 and Melbourne

Melbourne Football Club

The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....

 in the Australian Football League

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

 (AFL) during the 1990s.

Irving, who came to West Coast from South Fremantle

South Fremantle Football Club

The South Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Bulldogs, is an Australian rules football club, based in Fremantle, Western Australia, playing in the West Australian Football League...

, played as a ruckman

Ruckman (Australian rules football position)

In Australian rules football, a ruckman is typically a tall and athletic player who contests at centre bounces and stoppages . The ruckman is one of the most important players on the field...

. He was one of four debutantes for West Coast in the opening round of the 1990 season, with two of them; Dean Kemp and Peter Matera, going on to have highly successful careers.

His best season came in 1991 when he played 25 games, including the 1991 AFL Grand Final

1991 AFL Grand Final

The 1991 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Hawthorn Football Club and West Coast Eagles, held at Waverley Park in Melbourne on 28 September 1991. It was the 95th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League, staged to...

, and gathered 10 Brownlow votes. He could only manage a single appearance in each of 1992 and 1993 and crossed to Melbourne to continue his career. At Melbourne he again struggled to make the seniors and retired in 1997.

He returned to Western Australia and won a Simpson Medal

Simpson Medal

The Simpson Medal, a prize for Australian rules football, has been donated by Dr. Fred Simpson and family since 1945. It is awarded to the best player in a WAFL Grand Final and the best player in an interstate game involving Western Australia....

in 1998 for his performance in an interstate match against South Australia.