Jose Romero                                                                                        

                   Number      36

                      Height     176

                     Weight      71

           Date of Birth     1st August 1971

          Years played     1995 to 2001

        Senior Games     122

                        Goals     71

                Disposals     2352 

                Recruited     First choice in Feb 1995 draft, 12th overall. From North Melbourne.

Honours     Equal Best and Fairest with Chris Grant in 1996, 33 votes. Played in all finals. Victorian State team representative. Featured on 45 cent Australian postage stamp 2000, special issue.

Rover, tagger. Born in Chile. Left North after being left out of 1994 1st preliminary final. Member of 'The Wog Squad' with Tony Liberatore and Paul Dimattina. Lots of speed, great ball winner good hand-baller. Not afraid to get into the rough stuff.  When released from tagging duties he gained many possessions and gave great drive. He was a decent kick and kicked a few goals from outside 50.

Started off at us as a HF whose job was just to kick us goals. In 95 his form was not well regarded. A bit of an opportunist forward without many scores on the board. Often scored after the opposition had given up.

But a big change-around occurred in 1996 he became another person entirely. Whoever shook him up did so in a very good manner. He really started to be a proper midfielder with elements of a tagger! He was fast mean and hungry. Just the sort of player every team wants.

The 1996 game against StKilda at Optus was the sign of a even better future. Not only did it establish his style, which he would follow for the rest of his career. He stopped that chronic St Kida champion Robert Harvey totally, plus scored a goal to make Harvey accountable on him, showed a brand new build into the midfield that would have fun from '97 onwards, making the fans enjoy it all the more, while making opposition loathe us!

He suffered an eye issue and wanted to wear goggles on the field. The AFL was reasonable with safety equipment after coming back from injury, except for the Wog Squad (example 2 Libba!). Never did Koutafides or several others at that time have to struggle for approval for such gear.

He suffered a shoulder injury in '97 and his crying suggested he was committed to our cause. Earned respect of the fans.

Was suspected of having long fingernails and causing scratches thereby sending the opposition off the ground with the blood rule. He was fined A$5000 for his angry public outburst over his scratching suspension. Romero slammed the Brisbane Lions and their doctor Dr Paul McConnell on Channel Nine's Footy Show, in which he claimed he had been set up by the Lions as a payback for evidence against Craig McRae in last year's finals. The penalty notice to Romero was Ian Collins' (the hated one) final act as AFL football operations manager. He had to issue an official apology to Brisbane doctor Paul McConnell over comments he made on television. He had been fined by the AFL and threatened with legal action by McConnell. He withdrew the statements that he made on the Footy Show concerning the Lions' medical officer. He said the opinions he expressed were not based on any proven facts.

Became the clubs official runner in 2002 and assisted with coaching duties. In one of the biggest brawls in history in 2003 against St Kilda in which fines totalled a record $67,500, Jose now a runner, came out unscathed. A favourite of many fans. Became a director of the Western Bulldogs Football Club. Romero spoke about passion and how, when you play for the Dogs, you do it hard, you do it tough and you don't give up.

His football dedication, his service as a runner, and then board director give supporters a great deal of satisfaction. All players who leave the club should take a leaf out of Romero's book. This is how we like it, this earns respect, this is the Bulldogs' Jose Romero way.

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