Malcolm Jack Blight AM (16 February 1950 -) is a former champion Australian rules football player and coach, and current television commentator. During the 1970s and 1980s Blight played for the Woodville Football Club in the South Australian National Football League and the North Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League. He coached the North Melbourne, Geelong, Adelaide (with whom he won two Premierships) and St. Kilda. Blight was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996.

[edit] Football career

[edit] Woodville Football Club, SANFL

Malcolm Blight began his career in 1968 at the Woodville Football Club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). He won the Best and Fairest award with Woodville in 1972 and the Magarey Medal the same year as the league's "fairest and most brilliant".

After his stint in the VFL, Blight finished his playing career in the SANFL, as playing coach of Woodville Football Club from 1983 to 1985. He was club best and fairest in 1983 and in his last season of playing football (1985) topped the league goalkicking list with 126 goals.^[1]

He was the first player to win both the Magarey Medal and Brownlow Medals, the only player to top both the SANFL and VFL goalkicking lists, and the only player to captain both Victorian and South Australian representative sides.

[edit] North Melbourne Football Club, VFL

Blight was recruited by the Kangaroos and, although he was reluctant to join at first, he went on to play 178 games for the club between 1974 and 1982.^[2] He was a member of the Kangaroos' premiership sides in 1975 and 1977, and in 1978 won both the Brownlow Medal and the Syd Barker Medal for being the best and fairest player in the VFL and for North Melbourne respectively.

Blight was consistently one of the most brilliant players in the VFL during the 1970s. Besides taking spectacular marks, he was also a prolific goalkicker, renown for his ability to kick the torpedo punt and high flying marks. In 1982, Blight won the Coleman Medal for leading the VFL in goalkicking, and led the Kangaroos' goalkicking four times during his career.

[edit] 80m goal after the siren

In a moment that has since passed into Australian Rules folklore in 1976 Blight kicked a famous goal after the siren against Carlton. After kicking two goals in time-on in the last quarter, Blight marked an estimated 80 metres from the goals. North Melbourne were still trailing by one point - only a goal would win the game. Many assumed Blight's effort would be futile and spectators were already entering the playing arena. However Blight unleashed one of the biggest-ever torpedo punts winning an improbable victory for North Melbourne. This moment was the focus of a recent television commercial, Toyota's Memorable Moments, which featured Blight.

[edit] Infamous Moments

On one occasion, against Richmond Blight infamously ran past an open goal to mistakenly kick a behind, not realizing he had made a mistake.^[3]

Another infamous moment was against Hawthorn, when he kicked a behind to draw North to within 1 point of the Hawks at the siren, but was then offered another kick for an infringement, whereby a goal would win the match. Blight kicked the ball out on the full, giving Hawthorn the win. Although the difficult conditions of Arden street oval, (muddy and wet), he failed to notice the man on the mark moved from left to right, hence Blight's error was his lining up the shot: as he was not looking at the at the goal, but focussed on where the man on the mark was.Thus the combination of wet, muddy conditions and his miscalculation, resulted in missing the goals and points altogether.

Blight was indirectly involved in another infamous football incident during the 1980 Escort Cup' Night Grand Final against Collingwood, held at VFL Park, Waverley. Blight kicked the ball to Kerry Good as the siren sounded. However, the umpire did not hear the siren and awarded the mark to Goode who kicked the winning goal to win in controversial circumstances.

[edit] Coaching and after coaching

Blight later became a successful senior Australian rules football coach, leading teams for at least part of 16 seasons.^[4] Blight became known for employing unorthodox coaching methods to motivate his players.^[5]

[edit] North Melbourne Football Club, VFL

Playing coach in 1981, sacked as coach after 6 consecutive losses.^[6] The following week he rebounded with a club-record 11 goal haul against Footscray, at the Western Oval. Once again, Blight's inaccurate kicking for goal may have prevented him from kicking a club record of a possible 16 to 17 goals. Blight's total as Captain-coach was 16 games (6 wins, 10 losses) and the last of the Captain Coachs in the VFL.

[edit] Woodville Football Club, SANFL

Playing coach 1983 to 1985, continued as non-playing coach to 1987. His tenure as coach concided with the clubs most successful season (1986) in the entire history of the Woodville Football Club, when they reached the Preliminary Final.^[7]

[edit] Geelong Football Club, AFL

Senior coach from 1989 to 1994, highlighted by Grand Final appearances in 1989, 1992, 1994. Total of 145 games, 89 wins, 56 losses. One of the strangest incidents as a coach of Geelong was his extroverted decision to stand on a metal box to watch the game against the West Coast Eagles in Perth. His excitement of "seeing the game at ground level", was an attempt to get back to basics and some nostalgia.

[edit] Adelaide Crows, AFL

Blight's arrival at the Crows at the end of the 1996 season was marked with dramatic effect, with the delisting of four ageing club stalwarts Tony McGuinness, Chris McDermott, Andrew Jarman, and Greg Anderson.^[8] This attracted great criticism at the time, but Blight was vindicated by winning the AFL premiership in 1997, and again in 1998. He retired as coach at the end of the 1999 season after an unsuccessful year finishing 13th . His total record as adelaide coach was 74 games, 41 wins, 33 losses with 2 premierships (1997,1998)

[edit] St Kilda Football Club, AFL

After being signed for $1 million AUD as senior coach for 2001^[9], Blight was sacked after Round 15 (3 wins, 12 losses).^[10] His famous humiliation of the players by making them stay on the ground (Telstra Dome) highlighted the worsening relation between the coach, players and club supporters. Some years later CEO Butterss questioned Blights commitment to the club during his tenure. Blight responded memorably from his position as media commentator, saying^{[citation needed]}:

"I couldn't give a rat's tossbag whether he thought I could coach or whether anyone thinks I can coach or can play. I'm happy with what I did. So an Adelaide or a Geelong, two very young teams, came from nowhere to play in grand finals? Come on, that's a wank!"

[edit] Gold Coast Football Club, AFL

Malcolm recently joined the upcoming 17th AFL team the Gold Coast Football Club, as a board member.

[edit] Media

Blight is currently an expert commentator on Channel Ten's television coverage after previously being a commentator with Channel Seven in 1995 and 1996. In 2006 Blight appeared in a Toyota Legendary moment ad recreating his pearler after the siren against Carlton.

[edit] Honours

• Life membership at the Woodville Football Club (1987)
• Inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame (1996)
• Adelaide Football Club's best-and-fairest award named after him - the Malcolm Blight Medal
• Inducted into North Melbourne's Hall of Fame (2003).
• Named on the half-forward flank of North Melbourne's Team of the Century
• Life Governor of the Woodville-West Torrens Football Club along with other South Australian greats Lindsay Head, Bob Hank, Andrew Payze, Fred Bills and Andrew Rogers.
• Named as North Melbourne's best player of the 1970s at The North Story (2005)

[edit] See also

• After the siren kicks in Australian rules football
• Malcolm Blight's profile on kangaroos.com.au

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Malcolm Blight's profile on kangaroos.com.au
• AFL: Hall of Fame
• SANFL Hall of Fame
• Malcolm Blight's AFL coaching record