John Blakey

John Blakey (born 24 July 1966) is a former Australian rules footballer who played 359 games in the Australian Football League.

Football career Playing Recruited from Doncaster East Football Club, 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 (for 38 goals) 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 14th on the list of most games in VFL/AFL football and has played the most games in the VFL/AFL without playing in a draw. He also played in a record seven consecutive preliminary finals for the Kangaroos (along with teammates Wayne Carey, David King, Mick Martyn, Corey McKernan & Craig Sholl) from 1994 to 2000.

He represented Victoria in State of Origin in 1998.

Coaching and support Following his retirement, Blakey became the assistant coach at the Brisbane Lions in 2003 and coached the team when he filled in as caretaker interim senior coach in the absence of regular senior coach Leigh Matthews whose mother had died, for one game in Round 18, 2005 against the Western Bulldogs in which the Lions lost. In 2007, he moved to the Sydney Swans where he served as Coaching Director and Head of Development, remaining there until the end of the 2020 season when he returned to as senior assistant coach.

Statistics Playing statistics

359 110 119 3424 2143 5567 1268 395 0.3 0.3 9.5 6.0 15.5 3.5 1.2

Coaching statistics

1 0 1 0 0.0%

= Caretaker Coach

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