Australian Football

AustralianFootball.com Celebrating the history of the great Australian game

 

Key Facts

Full name
John Blair

Known as
John Blair

Born
17 March 1955 (age 69)

Age at first & last AFL game
First game: 20y 82d
Last game: 25y 75d

Height and weight
Height: 188 cm
Weight: 85 kg

Senior clubs
Sandgate; Sherwood; South Melbourne; Fitzroy; St. Kilda; Morningside

Jumper numbers
South Melbourne: 24
Fitzroy: 24
St. Kilda: 27

Recruited from
South Melbourne (1978); Fitzroy (1980)

Family links
Jarryd Blair (Nephew)

John Blair

Advanced stats
Club
League
Career span
Games
Goals
Avg
Win %
AKI
AHB
AMK
BV
Sandgate—————————
Sherwood—————————
Windsor Zillmere—————————
South MelbourneV/AFL1975-197827311.1544%6.521.782.741
FitzroyV/AFL1978420.5025%4.000.501.500
St. KildaV/AFL1980200.0050%11.008.002.500
MorningsideQAFL1981-1985————————
V/AFL1975-1978, 198033331.0042%6.482.002.581
QAFL1981-1985————————
Total1975-1978, 1980-198533331.00—————

AFL: 8,755th player to appear, 5,354th most games played, 2,824th most goals kickedSouth Melbourne: 1,033rd player to appear, 507th most games played, 243rd most goals kickedFitzroy: 953rd player to appear, 870th most games played, 648th most goals kickedSt. Kilda: 1,237th player to appear, 1,411th most games played, 1,573rd most goals kicked

A genuine utility player at AFL level, John Blair played a total of 33 senior games with South Melbourne, Fitzroy and St Kilda between 1975 and 1980 before accepting a position as Morningside captain-coach in the QAFL in 1981, going on to become a wonderful servant of the game in the Sunshine State for more than a quarter of a century as a player and coach. 

A fiercely-competitive centre half back in his early days in Queensland, he became one of the competition's most dominant figures, winning the 1982 Grogan Medal, playing 19 times for Queensland through the golden era of the early 1980’s and being involved in no less than nine grand finals. He took Morningside to the last game of the season in 1982, 1983, and 1984, losing to three different opponents. He played at Sandgate, Windsor-Zillmere and Sherwood before tasting elusive premiership success with Zillmere in 1988 in his second grand final outing with the Eagles. Blair won the Ray Hughson Medal as the AFLQ leading goal-kicker with Morningside in 1985 and Zillmere in 1988. 

Since retiring as a player, Blair has taken on numerous coaching roles, with the Queensland U18 and U21 side, and in senior ranks back at Morningside, leading the Panthers to back-to-back flags in 2003 and 2004 and two more losing grand final efforts in 2005 and 2008. 

Author - Murray Bird and Peter Blucher

Sources

Full Points Footy Publications

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.