John Blakey


John Blakey is a former Australian rules footballer who played 359 games in the Australian Football League.

Football career

Playing

Recruited from East Doncaster, Victoria, Blakey debuted for the Fitzroy Football Club in 1985, and went on to be used in a variety of midfield positions. He went on to play 135 games with the Fitzroy Lions until 1992. He switched to the North Melbourne Football Club in 1993 and went on to be a stalwart for the club. He played in the 1996 and 1999 premiership sides and went on to play 224 games for 72 goals until he retired in 2002 at 36 years of age. His total of 359 games places him 12th on the list of most games in VFL/AFL football.
He represented Victoria in State of Origin in 1998.

Coaching and support

Following his retirement Blakey became the assistant coach at the Brisbane Lions, and coached the team in the absence of Leigh Matthews for one game in Round 18, 2005. He is now Coaching Director/Head of Development for the Sydney Swans.

Statistics

Playing statistics

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1985
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1986
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1987
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1988
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1989
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1990
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1991
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1992
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1993
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1994
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1995
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1996
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1997
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1998
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1999
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2000
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2001
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2002
! colspan=3| Career
! 359
! 110
! 119
! 3424
! 2143
! 5567
! 1268
! 395
! 0.3
! 0.3
! 9.5
! 6.0
! 15.5
! 3.5
! 1.2

Coaching statistics

! scope="row" style="text-align:center; font-weight:normal" | 2005*
! colspan=2| Career totals
! 1
! 0
! 1
! 0
! 0.0%
! colspan=2|

Personal life

Blakey's son, Nick, was drafted by the Sydney Swans in the 2018 AFL draft.