Career
Recruited from Oak Park, German made his debut for North Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL) – later renamed to the Australian Football League (AFL) – in round 19 of the 1984 season against Hawthorn at Arden Street Oval. He became a regular member of the senior team in 1985, playing primarily as a rover and midfielder.
In 1991, German played for the Victoria "B" team in two interstate representative matches against Tasmania and Queensland. He retired from the AFL at the conclusion of the 1994 season after 201 goals in 185 games.
German's first coaching role was in 1995 in the Tasmanian Statewide League, where he was the inaugural captain-coach of the Burnie Dockers (the Burnie Hawks and Burnie Tigers had merged at the end of the 1993 season, but had still competed as the Burnie Hawks in 1994). The Dockers reached the grand final in 1996 and 1997, but were defeated by Clarence on both occasions.
German returned to Victoria to coach Hawthorn's reserves team in 1998 and 1999. Hawthorn finished second-last on the ladder in both seasons, with the AFL reserves competition disbanded and merged into the Victorian Football League (VFL) – formerly known as the Victorian Football Association (VFA) – at the end of the 1999 season. He was an assistant coach at the West Coast Eagles in 2000 and 2001.
In 2002, German served as the head coach of Peel Thunder in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and played nine senior matches; the club finished tenth on the ladder with seven wins from eighteen matches. He moved to Subiaco the following year, coaching the club to a minor premiership before being defeated by West Perth in the 2003 grand final. Subiaco defeated Claremont by 48 points in the 2004 grand final to claim its first senior premiership since 1988. The club reached the preliminary final in 2005 before making a second grand final under German in 2006, defeating South Fremantle by 83 points. He coached Western Australia in a representative match against South Australia in 2006.
German returned to the AFL system in 2007 as an assistant coach at the Fremantle Football Club, before choosing not seek an extension of his contract at the end of the 2008 season in order to return to family in Melbourne. In 2009, German was appointed senior coach of the Casey Scorpions in the VFL for the club's first season under a new reserves affiliation with the Melbourne Football Club. He was named VFL Coach of the Year after the Scorpions finished sixth on the ladder and reached the finals series. German held "informal talks" with North Melbourne about becoming its AFL coach, but the club ultimately appointed Brad Scott to fill the position.
Ahead of the 2010 season, the Western Bulldogs recruited German to serve as a development coach and the senior coach of Williamstown, its then-affiliate in the VFL. Williamstown finished as minor premiers in 2010, earning qualification for the inaugural Foxtel Cup tournament in 2011, which it won. Williamstown also reached the 2011 VFL grand final but were defeated by Port Melbourne, who achieved a perfect season.
The Western Bulldogs ended its reserves affiliation with Williamstown at the end of the 2013 season and German moved to the Coburg Football Club, who had itself ended its alignment with Richmond. He was Coburg's senior coach for four years, during which the club never finished higher than twelfth on the ladder, although four players from the club were drafted to the AFL during this period.
After taking a break from coaching in 2018, German moved to the Ovens & Murray Football Netball League (OMFNL) for the 2019 season to serve as the senior coach of the Albury Tigers under a three-year contract. His tenure only lasted four matches (including three wins) before a "mutual decision" was made for him to depart the club, with The Border Mail reporting that a fallout with senior players was behind his departure.
German moved to Queensland in late 2019 to become the football manager of the North Cairns Tigers in the AFL Cairns competition. After one year, he returned to the OMFNL to coach Corowa-Rutherglen, which finished seventh in 2021 and eighth in 2022.
In September 2022, German returned to the WAFL as the senior coach of the Perth Football Club on a three-year deal. The club finished second-last on the ladder under German in both 2023 and 2024. He announced his resignation with one year remaining on his contract on 13 August 2024, with assistant coach Mark Stone replacing him for the remaining two matches of the season.
German returned to Victoria in 2025 and became the general manager of the Northern Bullants in the VFL. The club won only two matches during the year and had its licence revoked at the end of the season, with the VFL citing "on-field competitiveness and off-field financial liability" as factors in the decision. German left the Bullants on 21 October 2025 as a direct result of the licence termination, with the club entering voluntary liquidation two months later.
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