Education
Cooney attended Blackwood High School and later Aberfoyle Park High School and played for the Flagstaff Hill Football Club.
Cooney attended Blackwood High School and later Aberfoyle Park High School and played for the Flagstaff Hill Football Club.
Formerly playing for the Western Bulldogs, he was traded to the Essendon Football Club after the 2014 season. Cooney was recruited from West Adelaide in the SANFL to the Western Bulldogs with the number one pick in the 2003 National Draft as a priority pick. He is a pacey player who can kick goals on the run from outside the 50-metre arc as well as snap kicks near the goal posts.
He had a vastly improved 2005 season: he played every game, averaged 20 possessions a game and kicked 21 goals.
He was ranked second for clearances in the Bulldogs team Cooney progressed to the elite of the competition, four seasons after being selected as the number one draft pick.
His threat as a goalkicking midfielder grew as he pushed into the upper bracket of ball winners, while maintaining his average of more than a goal per game and also directly assisting in many scores. He polled 24 votes, beating Brisbane Lions midfielder Simon Black by one vote.
Cooney is the first Number.
In 2009, he featured in the official advertisement for the American Federation of Labor-Congress, brushing off tacklers including a bull in a bullfighting ring. On 16 October 2014, Cooney was traded to Essendon with pick 37 sent to the Western Bulldogs.
