Banfield was recruited from North Ringwood made his way into the Essendon team having played under-19s football at the club. He participated in the Essendon reserves 1983 premiership and after being unable to establish himself in the seniors, won a PIE Best & Fairest in 1986. When he did make it into the VFL side, 11 times in total, Essendon won all their games. Brisbane picked up Banfield for their first ever VFL season in 1987 and he took part in their inaugural appearance in Round 1 starting in the back pocket. He only missed two games that year collecting a career-best 197 kicks, 93 handballs and kicking 9 goals. After three seasons in Brisbane where he played a total of 45 games, Banfield played league football in his third state, South Australia, by joining West Adelaide. Banfield played 95 games with the club over four years and won their Best & Fairest award in 1991. In 1991 Banfield's form was a contributing factor in West's late-season form change which saw them win 9 of their last 11 minor round games to surge into the finals. This form continued into the finals but was halted in the Grand Final against North Adelaide. Banfield continued to play for West Adelaide under the coaching of Neil Kerley in 1992 and 1993, but his team failed to recapture their late 1991 form and missed the finals in both years, finishing 6th and 8th respectively. Following the 1993 SANFL season, Peter Banfield retired from league football having played a total of 56 VFL games for Essendon and Brisbane from 1984–89 and 95 SANFL games for West Adelaide from 1990–93.
Coaching career
As a coach, Banfield steered ACT club Ainslie to three successive premierships from 1994 to 1996. This earned him the job of St Kilda's assistant coach, firstly to Stan Alves and then to Tim Watson. He crossed to Melbournein 2001 for a two-year stint as Neale Daniher's assistant. The 2003 and 2004 season were spent as coach of the Bendigo Bombers and he then was put in charge of the Casey Scorpions before resigning in 2007. In 2008 Banfeild took up the role as Head Coach at Old Scotch Football Club in the VAFA until 2011. In 2012, Peter Banfeild was announced as the Senior Coach of Blackburn Football Club, Blackburn finish 2nd in 2011 looking very promising in season 2012 until it became public that they had lost 38 players from their list making survival in Division 1 key for Banfeild in 2012. 2013 Banfeild took them the finals in which they bowed out in an Elimination final at the hands of Balwyn FC. Banfield continued coaching Blackburn until the end of 2015. Banfeild now is Senior Coach at the North Ringwood Football Club, The club where he played his junior football.
