Ryan "Hoops" Houlihan (born 21 January 1982) is an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League. He is of Irish descent.

Houlihan made his debut for the Carlton Football Club in 2000 after being selected in the AFL Draft at #73 in 1999. Houlihan quickly had an impact for Carlton as a classy, skilful, running forward, with an uncanny ability to kick goals and was nominated for the AFL Rising Star award in 2000. He is part of a family that has produced many AFL footballers, including brothers Damien, Josh and Adam.

Houlihan is a highly skilled player who has been extremely versatile and able to play a variety of positions. After initially playing as a forward, in 2003 he became a solid contributor off the half-back line for Carlton, where his skill and run were used to set up forward thrusts. In 2006 he was moved to the midfield and became one of Carlton's leading possession getters, with a season high of 35, as well as playing as a run with player on some of the best players in the AFL. He remains a key contributor to Carlton, able to perform a variety of roles for the team in all parts of the ground and one of its leading possession getters. He has been in the top 6 at the club for average disposals and kicks every year since 2003 and finished in the top 10 in the Club's Best and Fairest counts on three occasions- eighth in 2003, seventh in 2004 and fourth in 2007. In 2007, at just 25 years of age, he already achieved his 150th game, becoming the third youngest Carlton player to reach that milestone, having been a regular member of Carlton teams throughout his career, rarely missing games due to injury. He had however been battling a hip problem for 4 years, which worsened after playing the first 3 games of 2008 and required surgery. A long recovery and rehab kept him out until the final 2 matches, but he made a spectacular return, kicking 3 goals in his first game back. He played 20 games in 2009, at both ends of the ground, as Carlton returned to the Finals for the first time in 8 years, although it only lasted one game. He was one of Carlton's best in that Final and had a solid year, finishing 11th in the club's Best and Fairest, just one vote from the top 10. He has now completed 10 years as an AFL player at Carlton and has become the club's most experienced and longest surviving player. He was a member of Carlton's Pre-Season Premiership teams in 2005 and 2007.

[edit] External links

• Ryan Houlihan profile on the Official AFL Website of the Carlton Football Club
• Ryan Houlihan's statistics from AFL Tables
• Ryan Houlihan Profile in Blueseum

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