In his first year for the Bulldogs, Royal won the Charles Sutton Medal, the Club's Best and Fairest award and went on to have an extremely distinguished career. Royal represented his state on seven occasions and was an All-Australian representative. His career came to an abrupt end on 199 games and 299 goals due to a ruptured Achilles tendon against Essendon late in the 1993 season.[1][2]
Royal went on to enjoy a long career in coaching at AFL level, as a highly regarded assistant coach at several clubs, including Melbourne, St Kilda,[3]Richmond and the Western Bulldogs – the last two with Terry Wallace as senior coach.[4]
^Piesse, Ken (1993). The Complete Guide to Australian Football. Sydney, Australia: Pan Macmillan. p. 273. ISBN0330357123.
^Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2002). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (4th ed.). Melbourne, Victoria: Crown Content. p. 568. ISBN1-74095-001-1.
South Australia 26.16 (172) defeated Victoria 17.14 (116), at Football Park, 16 May 1983, crowd: 44,521
Western Australia 16.22 (118) d Victoria 16.19 (115), at Subiaco Oval, 12 July 1983, crowd: 44,213
South Australia 18.17 (125) defeated Victoria 17.13 (115), at Football Park, 13 May 1986, crowd: 43,143
Western Australia 21.11 (137) d Victoria 20.14 (134), at Subiaco Oval, 8 July 1986, crowd: 39,863
Victoria 17.14 (116) defeated Tasmania 14.20 (104), at North Hobart Oval, 28 May 1991
Queensland 23.14 (152) defeated Victoria 15.8 (108), at The Gabba, 16 July 1991