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Full name
Jack Moriarty
Known as
Jack Moriarty
Born
30 April 1901
Died
5 September 1980 (aged 79)
Age at first & last AFL game
First game: 21y 6d
Last game: 32y 125d
Height and weight
Height: 178 cm
Weight: 62 kg
Jumper numbers
Essendon: 23
Fitzroy: 6
Recruited from
Essendon (1924)
Family links
Geoff Moriarty (Father)Tom Banks (Uncle)Dan Moriarty (Uncle)
Club | League | Career span | Games | Goals | Avg | Win % | AKI | AHB | AMK | BV |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Essendon | V/AFL | 1922 | 13 | 36 | 2.77 | 69% | — | — | — | 0 |
Fitzroy | V/AFL | 1924-1933 | 157 | 626 | 3.99 | 41% | 12.00 | — | 3.56 | 13 |
V/AFL | 1922, 1924-1933 | 170 | 662 | 3.89 | 43% | 12.00 | — | 3.56 | 13 | |
Total | 1922, 1924-1933 | 170 | 662 | 3.89 | 43% | 12.00 | — | 3.56 | 13 |
Pre 1965 stats are for selected matches only
AFL: 2,698th player to appear, 980th most games played, 28th most goals kickedEssendon: 345th player to appear, 643rd most games played, 221st most goals kickedFitzroy: 306th player to appear, 36th most games played, 1st most goals kicked
After starting his senior career at Essendon Association, for whom he booted 35 goals in 1921, full forward Jack Moriarty made his league debut with Essendon in 1922. Despite standing only 178 cm in height, and initially weighing a mere 59 kg, he proved to be a handy acquisition, kicking 36 goals in just 13 games to top the Dons' list. Somewhat surprisingly, however, he was dropped for the 1922 Preliminary Final in favour of George Stockdale, and in the remainder of his time at Essendon he never managed to recapture his place in the senior side.
The 1924 season saw Moriarty at Fitzroy where, using a combination of pace, guile and superb anticipation skills, he rapidly developed into a goalsneak par excellence. In each of his first three matches with the Maroons he booted seven goals, en route to a new VFL season's record of 82 - 14 more than the previous record which had, somewhat ironically, been established by Moriarty's replacement at Essendon, Greg Stockdale, in 1923.
Moriarty represented the VFL at the Hobart carnival in 1924, and went on to become virtually a permanent fixture in Big V sides for most of the remainder of the decade. He topped Fitzroy's goal kicking list ever year between 1924 and 1933 except for 1929, and was voted the club's best and fairest player in 1927 during an era when an award of this type was not made every season (or, at any rate, there is no record of an award having been made). All told, he booted 662 goals in his 170-game VFL career at an average of almost four per game. In February 2002 he was allocated the coveted full forward position in Fitzroy's official 'Team of the Twentieth Century'.
Author - John Devaney