Malcolm Blight

Malcolm Blight
Statue of Malcolm Blight at Adelaide Oval
Personal information
Full name Malcolm Jack Blight
Nickname(s) Blighty
Date of birth (1950-02-16) 16 February 1950 (age 74)
Place of birth Adelaide, South Australia
Original team(s) Woodville (SANFL)
Height 182 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 89 kg (196 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1968–73, 1983–85 Woodville 152 (342)[1]
1974–1982 North Melbourne 178 (444)[2]
Total 330 (786)
Representative team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
South Australia 7 (11)
Victoria 7 (14)
Coaching career3
Years Club Games (W–L–D)
1981 North Melbourne 16 (6–10–0)
1983–1987 Woodville 114 (41-73-0)
1989–1994 Geelong 145 (89–56–0)
1997–1999 Adelaide 74 (41–33–0)
2001 St Kilda 15 (3–12–0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1986.
3 Coaching statistics correct as of 2001.
Career highlights

Club

Representative

Coaching

Honours

Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Malcolm Jack Blight AM (born 16 February 1950) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for and coached the North Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and Woodville Football Club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). He also coached the Geelong Football Club, Adelaide Football Club and St Kilda Football Club.

Blight is, to date, the only player to have kicked 100 goals in a season in both the VFL and the SANFL. He is also one of three players to have won the Brownlow Medal and the Magarey Medal. He was an inaugural inductee Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996 and was elevated to Legend status in 2017.[3] In addition, he has captained the state representative sides of both Victoria and South Australia.

In spite of his "failure" as a playing coach of North Melbourne, Blight cemented his reputation as one of the greatest coaches during his stints with Geelong and Adelaide, before finishing up in an acrimonious circumstances at St Kilda. In 2012, Blight was appointed director of coaching at the Gold Coast Football Club.

The surname "Blight" is of Cornish origin.[4]

  1. ^ These totals refer to premiership matches (home-and-away and finals matches) only.
  2. ^ "Malcolm Blight (Player Bio)". Australian Football. 1 January 2017.
  3. ^ "Australian Football Hall of Fame: Malcolm Blight becomes a legend while Simon Goodwin, Barry Hall honoured". ABC News. 19 June 2017.
  4. ^ "Cornish Family Names". Archived from the original on 20 August 2010. Retrieved 7 November 2010.