Mark Melville Williams (born 21 August 1958) is a former Australian rules football player and coach. As a player, Williams represented West Adelaide and Port Adelaide in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), as well as Collingwood and Brisbane Bears in the Australian Football League (AFL), from the 1970s to the 1990s.
One of several successful father-son combinations in Australian rules football, Williams became a successful coach after finishing his playing career, leading Port Adelaide to their first AFL premiership in 2004.
South Australian National Football League (SANFL)
The son of South Australian football legend Fos Williams, Williams playing career began with West Adelaide in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), where his father was serving as coach. He represented West Adelaide on 64 occasions for 37 goals.
Williams then moved to the Port Adelaide Football Club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), becoming one of the stars of the league, where he was part of the 1979 and 1980 Premiership sides.
Victorian Football League (VFL) / Australian Football League (AFL)
Collingwood Football Club (1981–1986)
After the 1980 season, Williams was recruited by Collingwood, making his Victorian Football League (VFL) debut in the 1981 season. Williams justified the hype over his recruitment by winning state selection for Victoria as well as the Copeland Trophy. He was named at centre for Collingwood in the 1981 Grand Final against Carlton. Collingwood lost, but Williams was recognised as being among the Magpies' better players on the day. When John Cahill took over as senior coach of Collingwood Football Club after a tumultuous season in 1982, he appointed Williams as captain, having previously worked with him at Port Adelaide. In 1984, Williams led Collingwood's goalkicking, kicking 53 goals for the season. However, he was unavailable for the Preliminary Final due to injury, and Collingwood went down to eventual premiers Essendon by 133 points. Williams remained captain of Collingwood until he left at the end of 1986 after a contract dispute.
Williams joined the Brisbane Bears, a new club who joined the Victorian Football League (VFL) league in 1987. He was appointed vice-captain to Mark Mickan at the new club. Williams played three and a half seasons from 1987 until 1990 to a total of 66 games for the Bears, before retiring from the Bears midway through the 1990 AFL season.
Williams returned to Port Adelaide, and finished the 1990 season there, before playing a further two seasons. In his two stints at Port Adelaide, Williams played 115 games, kicking 104 goals, and won four premierships. He retired from playing at the end of 1992, with a total of 380 league games to his name. Williams was also part of the 1990 and 1992 Premiership sides.
Glenelg Football Club (1993–1994)
Williams coached SANFL club Glenelg in 1993 and 1994.
Essendon Football Club (1995–1996)
Williams joined AFL club Essendon as an assistant coach under senior coach Kevin Sheedy for the 1995 season and 1996 season.
Port Adelaide Football Club (1997–2010)
In 1997, Williams joined Port Adelaide as an assistant coach in its inaugural season in the AFL, and in 1999, won the head coaching role as senior coach of Port Adelaide, replacing John Cahill.
Port Adelaide, under Williams in his first year as senior coach in the 1999 season, finished seventh on the ladder and making the finals, but were eliminated by the eventual premiers Kangaroos. In the 2000 season, Port Adelaide's on-field performance under Williams dropped en route to a fourteenth-place finish on the ladder with seven wins and fourteen losses. In the 2001 season, Williams guided Port to finish third on the ladder but were eliminated by Hawthorn in the semi-final. After this, Port Adelaide then won the minor premiership three seasons in a row under Williams' reign, firstly in 2002, Port under Williams were eliminated by the eventual premiers Brisbane Lions in the preliminary final, secondly in 2003, Port under Williams lost to eventual runners-up Collingwood in the preliminary final, and lastly in 2004, after failing to reach the Grand Final in either 2002 or 2003, the club under Williams went on to win its first AFL premiership in the 2004 AFL Grand Final against the Brisbane Lions by 40 points.
In 2005, Port Adelaide finished eighth with eleven wins, one draw and ten losses and therefore just made the finals. Port eliminated North Melbourne in the first elimination final in 2005, but were eliminated by Adelaide Crows in the 2005 semi final by 80 points. In 2006, Port missed the finals, when their on-field performance dropped, to finish twelfth with eight wins and fourteen losses. In 2007, Williams once again coached Port Adelaide to the grand final, but suffered the worst ever grand final defeat, losing to Geelong by 119 points.