John Neville Northey (born 29 June 1943) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

player and coach. He played from 1963 to 1970 with the

Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football team playing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Between its inception in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond in 1885 and 1907, the club competed in the Victo ...

. Northey was a dual premiership player with Richmond, winning flags in 1967 and 1969. He is better known, however, as a coach.

Playing career

Richmond

A Derrinallum recruit, the lightly framed Northey was a fleetfooted runner and earned the "swooper" nickname by his ability to get the ball and pass it on to a teammate. He played 118 games and kicked 192 goals for

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

from 1963 until 1970. He also was a member of Richmond's 1967 and 1969 premiership teams.

Coaching career

Northey left Richmond and moved to Sydney as player/coach at Western Suburbs in the Sydney Football League. He coached NSW against a VFL Reserves team in 1972 and then Redan to five BFL premierships between 1975 and 1980. He was serving as an assistant coach with St Kilda under Mike Patterson.

Sydney Swans senior coach (1985)

He was appointed as senior coach with the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...

for one season in 1985 where he was sacked after a year when he didn't fit into flamboyant owner Geoffrey Edelsten's vision of a higher profile coach. He was replaced by

Tom Hafey Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

Melbourne Football Club senior coach (1986-1992)

He then went to be the senior coach of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

from 1986 to 1992; his most successful year was when he took the Demons to the

1988 VFL Grand Final The 1988 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Hawthorn Football Club and the Melbourne Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 24 September 1988. It was the 92nd annual Grand Fi ...

, eventually losing to Hawthorn. After the 1992 season, he decided to leave the Melbourne Football Club and step down as senior coach after struggling to finish 11th and therefore missing out of the finals. Northey was then replaced by

Neil Balme Neil Allen Balme (born 15 January 1952) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL), as well as for the Subiaco Football Club in the Western Australian National Footba ...

as Melbourne Football Club senior coach.

Richmond Football Club senior coach (1993-1995)

From 1993 to 1995, he went to be the senior coach at his former club, Richmond. His first two seasons at Richmond were unsuccessful but in the 1995 season they finished 3rd putting them into the finals, but were eliminated by eventual runners-up

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

in the preliminary final. However, after the 1995 season, he resigned as Richmond Football Club senior coach. Northey was then replaced by

Robert Walls Robert Walls (born 21 July 1950) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented and in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1960s and 1970s. In a playing career that spanned three decades Robert played a combined 259 gam ...

as Richmond Football Club senior coach.

Brisbane Bears senior coach (1996)

He was then appointed

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Football Club, nicknamed the Bears, was a professional Australian rules football club based in Queensland on the Gold Coast (relocated to Brisbane in 1993). The club participated in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/A ...

senior coach for the 1996 season, when he replaced

. Northey led the Bears to their best ever season in making the preliminary final, before being eliminated by eventual premiers

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at the ...

Brisbane Lions senior coach (1997-1998)

After the 1996 season, the Brisbane Bears merged with the

Fitzroy Lions The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of Fitzroy, the club was a member of the Vi ...

resulting on the formation of the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...

. He was then appointed as the inaugural senior coach of the Brisbane Lions for the 1997 season. Northey led the club into the finals in their inaugural season in 1997, where they finished eighth with ten wins, eleven losses and one draw. The Lions under Northey were then eliminated by eventual runners-up St Kilda in the first week of the qualifying finals. However, after disappointing results in the 1998 season, when the Lions under Northey sat last on the ladder, he was sacked after the Lions suffered a 71-point loss to

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

in Round 11, 1998. He was then replaced by assistant coach

Roger Merrett Roger Merrett (born 19 April 1960) is a former Australian rules footballer who played in two Victorian Football League premiership sides with the Essendon Football Club in the mid-1980s before moving to the fledgling Brisbane Bears, later capt ...

as caretaker senior coach for the rest of the 1998 season.

Overall total coaching record

He coached 315

VFL/AFL The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

games including stints at

Melbourne Demons The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...

, Richmond Tigers and

. He sits second on the record for the most VFL/AFL games coached without a premiership behind

Rodney Eade Rodney Eade (born 4 April 1958) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach in the Australian Football League. He is a former coach of the Sydney Swans, the Western Bulldogs and the Gold Coast Football Club. He has, to date, coached 37 ...

Post AFL career

At the end of his AFL coaching career, Northey returned to Ballarat, where he was the figurehead to the rebuilding of local BFL side Redan, the club had fallen onto hard times and as a past coach of the club he was asked to help. He was awarded the

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, offi ...

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

on 24 October 2000 for his contributions to Australian football. He went on to coach South Fremantle Football Club for the 2002 and 2003 seasons in the WAFL. Northey returned to

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

, he coached the Ballarat Swans from 2005 and to a premiership in 2008. He is the coach of the

Learmonth Football Club The Learmonth Football Netball Club, nicknamed the ''Lakies'', is an Australian rules football and netball club based in the town of Learmonth, Victoria. The club's colours are yellow and blue and play in the Central Highlands Football League. ...

. He also operates his own website at http://www.swoopercoach.com.au that offers his expert advice on coaching, drills and his own blog. His nephew is the conductor

Benjamin Northey Benjamin Northey is an Australian conductor, musician and arranger. He has been Chief Conductor of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in New Zealand, since 2015."My Secret Melbourne: Ben Northey", ''The Age'', 18 July 2015, Spectrum, p. 14
Retrieved 28 July 2015

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Northey, John 1943 births Brisbane Lions coaches Brisbane Bears coaches Melbourne Football Club coaches Sydney Swans coaches Richmond Football Club coaches Richmond Football Club players Richmond Football Club Premiership players Living people South Fremantle Football Club coaches Redan Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership players