John Bennett

John Bennett (born 5 October 1960) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with St Kilda and Footscray in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

VFL career Bennett, a left-footed forward from East Brighton, first broke into the St Kilda team in the 1980 VFL season. He made two appearances that year, in rounds six and ten, then injured his ankle and missed the rest of the season. In 1981 he played 12 league games, with his best performance coming against South Melbourne at Waverley Park, where he had 23 disposals and kicked six goals. He topped Sandringham's goal-kicking in 1987 and 1988.

Southern Football League Bennett was coach of East Brighton throughout the 1990s, with premierships in 1991 (South East Suburban Football League) and 1993 (Southern Football League Division 1). In the season of the 1991 premiership, Bennett kicked 116 goals. His last season as coach was in 2010.

Over the course of his career, Bennett has coached over 300 games for seven grand finals with four premierships.

In 2015 was inducted into the Southern Football Netball League Hall of Fame and was described as classy, strong, skillful and a great leader.

In 2017 John took on the Presidency of Heatherton Football Club to hopefully build The Tonners in to a successful club.

Personal life Bennett is a regular contributor to the local radio show on 88.3FM on Sunday mornings. John is also a regular attendee at StKilda Past players & Officials reunions and events.

His son, Josh Bennett, played for a number of clubs, including for Sandringham and Frankston in the VFL, Heatherton in the SFNL and AFL Canberra club Ainslie.