Malcolm Jack Blight AM (born 16 February 1950) 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 ...

er who played for and coached the

North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos, is a professional Australian rules football club. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Kangaroos also ...

in the

Victorian Football League 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 ...

(VFL) and

Woodville Football Club Woodville Football Club was an Australian rules football club that competed in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) from 1964 to 1990, when it merged in 1991 with the West Torrens Football Club to form the Woodville-West Torre ...

in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. O ...

(SANFL). He also coached the

Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition, and are the 20 ...

Adelaide Football Club The Adelaide Crows (officially the Adelaide Football Club) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1990. The Crows has fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since ...

and

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club's name originates ...

. Blight is to date the only player to have kicked 100 goals in a season in both the VFL and the SANFL. He is also one of three players to have won the

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the "best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by t ...

and the

Magarey Medal The Magarey Medal is an Australian rules football honour awarded annually since 1898 to the fairest and most brilliant player in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), as judged by field umpires. The award was created by Will ...

. He was an inaugural inductee

Australian Football Hall of Fame The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the Centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, coac ...

in 1996 and was elevated to Legend status in 2017. In addition, he has captained the state representative sides of both

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

and

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...

. In spite of his "failure" as a playing coach of North Melbourne, Blight would cement his reputation as one of the greatest coaches during his stints with and , before finishing up in an acrimonious circumstances at . The name Blight is of Cornish origin. In 2012, Blight was appointed director of coaching at the Gold Coast Football Club.

Football career

1968–1973: First stint at Woodville

Blight grew up supporting living close to

Alberton Oval Alberton Oval is located in Alberton, a north-western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. The ground is a public park and is exclusively leased to the Port Adelaide Football Club for Australian rules football. History With the nearby Queens ...

with his favourite player at the time being forward Rex Johns. However, when a new local team Woodville began to play in the SANFL from 1964, and Blight was now in their recruiting zone and he would make his debut for the Woodpeckers in 1969. Blight had a break-out year in 1972, kicking 45 goals while playing mainly as a ruck-rover. He won Woodville's

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

award as well as the SANFL's highest individual honor, the

, bringing him to the attention of the VFL.

1974–1982: Success in Victoria with North Melbourne

Blight was recruited by the

and, although he was reluctant to join at first, he went on to play 178 games for the club between 1974 and 1982. He was a member of the Kangaroos' premiership sides in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

and

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

, and in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 ...

won both the

and the

Syd Barker Medal The Syd Barker Medal is awarded to the North Melbourne Football Club player who has been judged the best and fairest of the footy season. The award has been given out continuously since 1937. Before then it was known as the Syd Barker Memorial Tr ...

for being the

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 Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks, trademarks owned by an organisation for the benefit of its members * Marks & Co, the inspiration for the novel ...

, he was also a prolific goalkicker, renowned for his ability to kick the

torpedo punt A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...

. In

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...

, Blight won the

Coleman Medal The Coleman Medal is an Australian rules football award given annually to the Australian Football League (AFL) player who kicks the most goals in the home-and-away season. It is named after Essendon full-forward John Coleman, one of the most ...

for leading the VFL in goalkicking, and led the Kangaroos' goalkicking four times during his career.

Eighty-metre goal after the siren

In a moment that has since passed into Australian rules football folklore, in 1976, Blight kicked a famous goal after the siren against Carlton in Round 10 (5 June). The Blues led by 14 points going into added time in the final quarter, but Blight kicked two goals and then

marked In linguistics and social sciences, markedness is the state of standing out as nontypical or divergent as opposed to regular or common. In a marked–unmarked relation, one term of an opposition is the broader, dominant one. The dominant defau ...

an estimated 80 metres from the goals just seconds before the final siren.

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 ...

were still trailing by one point, needing a behind to draw and a goal to win. Many assumed Blight's effort would be futile and spectators were already exiting the playing arena. However, Blight kicked one of the biggest-ever

s, with the ball going over the goals but between the posts to an improbable victory for the Kangaroos by 11.15 (81) to Carlton's 11.10 (76).
YouTube video
This moment was the focus of a television commercial in the Toyota Legendary Moments series which featured Blight.
YouTube video

Infamous moments

During the

1977 VFL season The 1977 VFL season was the 81st season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 2 April until 1 October, and comprised a 22-ga ...

, which happened to be played during the wettest Melbourne winter in 40 years, hosted at Arden Street. The ground conditions were atrocious, and the match for the most part resembled something more akin to mud wrestling. Hawthorn led by one point when Blight was given a free kick and a set shot for goal. He scored a behind, which would have levelled the scores, but was given a second attempt after the umpire penalized Hawthorn for an infringement. Unfortunately for Blight and North Melbourne, the ball slew off the side of his boot and went out of bounds on the full, giving the Hawks victory. In the drawn Grand Final, he was benched by Barassi after three quarters, but kept his place in the team for the replay and went on to be one of their best players in the win. Blight won the

1978 Brownlow Medal The 1978 Brownlow Medal was the 51st year the award was presented to the player adjudged the fairest and best player during the Victorian Football League (VFL) home and away season. Malcolm Blight of the North Melbourne Football Club won the med ...

, but unfortunately suffered a groin injury in the early minutes of the 1978 VFL Grand Final against Hawthorn. In

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

, while still serving as playing coach, Blight made one of the most bizarre blunders ever seen in a football match. In North Melbourne's Round 14 clash against at the

MCG The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hem ...

, Blight was on the end of a chain of handpasses deep in the forward zone. He seemed certain to score a goal as he ran into the goal square, only to run past the goal posts and kick the ball through the behinds. As he said after the match when he realised his mistake: "I've never done that before. I'm probably going barmy." Richmond won that match by 43 points, and less than a month later, after six consecutive losses, Blight was sacked as playing coach. Freed of the coaching burden, he then kicked 11 goals against . Blight was indirectly involved in another infamous football incident during the 1980 Escort Cup grand final against Collingwood, held at

VFL Park Waverley Park (also and originally called VFL Park) was an Australian rules football stadium in Mulgrave, Victoria, Australia. For most of its history, its purpose was as a neutral venue and used by all Victorian-based Victorian Football Le ...

, 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 Good who kicked the winning goal to win in controversial circumstances.

1983–1985: Return to Woodville

After his stint in the VFL, Blight returned to Woodville, serving as captain-coach from 1983 to 1985 before continuing as non-playing coach in 1986 and 1987. 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.

Other matches

Blight also played 14 interstate/State of Origin football matches (seven for South Australia and seven for Victoria), kicking 25 goals, as well as 11 pre-season/night series matches for Woodville, kicking 17 goals, and 17 pre-season/night series matches for North Melbourne, kicking 37 goals (these are counted as senior by the SANFL but not the VFL/AFL). If these are included, Blight played a total of 372 senior career games and kicked a senior career total of 865 goals.

Coaching and after coaching

Blight later became a successful coach famous for employing unorthodox, and at times controversial, coaching methods as attempts to motivate his players.

Playing coach at North Melbourne

Appointed playing coach in 1981 after

Ron Barassi Ronald Dale Barassi Jr. (born 27 February 1936) is a former Australian rules footballer, coach and media personality. Regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of the game, Barassi was the first player to be inaugurated into ...

departed, Blight was sacked as coach after six consecutive losses. 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 playing coach (

Wayne Schimmelbusch Wayne Schimmelbusch (born 19 January 1953) is a former Australian rules footballer in the (then) Victorian Football League (VFL). Schimmelbusch played in 306 games, including 29 finals games, for the North Melbourne Football Club, which was t ...

was captain) was 16 games (6 wins, 10 losses) and the last of the playing coaches in the VFL.

Back at Woodville

Playing coach 1983 to 1985, continued as non-playing coach to 1987. His tenure as coach coincided with the club's most successful season (1986) in the entire history of the Woodville Football Club, when they reached the Preliminary Final. During the season the Warriors (who had changed from being known as the Woodpeckers to the Warriors in 1983) had defeated their hated "big brother" Port Adelaide once during the minor round at Woodville Oval (drawing the oval's ground record attendance of 11,026 to their Round 18 clash), and also in the First Semi-final at

Football Park Football Park, known commercially as AAMI Stadium, was an Australian rules football stadium located in West Lakes, a western suburb of Adelaide, the state capital of South Australia, Australia. It was built in 1973 by the South Australian Na ...

, before going down to eventual premiers Glenelg in the Preliminary Final.

Geelong Football Club senior coach (1989-1994): High-Voltage Football, September Disappointment

Blight was appointed successor to John Devine at as senior coach for the

1989 VFL season The 1989 VFL season was the 93rd season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition and administrative body in Victoria and, by reason of it featuring clubs from New South Wales, Queens ...

. In Blight's first year at Geelong, he guided them to the 1989 Grand Final but fell short to

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

by six points. In the 1990 season, Geelong under Blight finished tenth on the ladder with eight wins and fourteen losses, missing out of the finals. In the

1991 season File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, 1991 Russian presidential election, elected as Russia's first President of Russia, president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated ...

, Blight guided Geelong to finish third on the ladder, but were eliminated in the Preliminary Final by

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football L ...

. Blight guided Geelong again to the Grand Final in 1992 but fell short again to

by twenty-eight points. In the

1993 season File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The White House (Moscow), Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Cze ...

, Blight guided Geelong to finish seventh on the ladder with twelve wins and eight losses, just missing out of the finals. The Cats players warmed to his all-out attack philosophy, to such an extent that they broke the record for aggregate points in a home-and-away season (2916), which would again be broken in 1992 when they became the first (and so far only) team to score an aggregate of 3000 points in a home-and-away season. In the semi-final against , aware that the Demons intended to put a hard tag on their classy midfielders Paul Couch and

Mark Bairstow Mark William Bairstow (born 24 July 1963) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and for the South Fremantle Football Club in the West Australian Football League ...

, Blight started them on the interchange bench, and Geelong ended up winning by 63 points. In an interview with Gerard Whateley in 2019, Blight opened up about the day he knew his time as Geelong coach was finished. In Round 12 of the

1994 AFL season The 1994 AFL season was the 98th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured fif ...

, Geelong were hosting at

Kardinia Park Kardinia Park is a major public park located in South Geelong, Victoria. A number of public and sporting facilities are located in the park: a major AFL stadium, a secondary football oval, a cricket field, an open air swimming pool, a numbe ...

, and at last break the unfancied Saints held a 26-point lead after kicking seven goals to none in the third quarter. The frustrated home fans directed their displeasure at Blight, booing and heckling him as he made his way down to the huddle. Although he made light of this to his assistant coach and soon-to-be successor

Gary Ayres Gary James Ayres (born 28 September 1960) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is currently the senior coach for the Montrose Football Club in the Eastern F ...

by remarking "I told you, the Geelong people don’t like you Hawthorn people", Blight was stung inwardly by the negative reception. Fortunately for the home side, star forward Gary Ablett kicked four of his seven goals as Geelong came from behind to win by three points. The Cats ended up making the Grand Final in 1994 for the third time under Blight, but after a difficult finals series, they were no match for , where Geelong fell short to West Coast by eighty points in the 1994 Grand Final and Blight confirmed his decision after the game to hand the coaching reins to assistant coach

, who replaced Blight as Geelong Football Club senior coach. 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. Blight coached Geelong Football Club from 1989-1994 to a total of 145 games with 89 wins and 56 losses with a winning percentage of 61 percent.

Adelaide Football Club senior coach (1997-1999) : Premiership success

Blight's then made his arrival at the Crows at the end of the 1996 season, when he replaced Robert Shaw as senior coach of Adelaide Football Club. This was marked with dramatic effect, with the delisting of four ageing club stalwarts Tony McGuinness,

Chris McDermott Christopher Stephen McDermott (born 4 November 1963) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the Glenelg Football Club and North Adelaide Foot ...

Andrew Jarman Andrew Newton Jarman (born 14 January 1966) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the North Adelaide Football Club and Norwood Football Club i ...

and Greg Anderson. This attracted great criticism at the time, but Blight was vindicated, when Adelaide Football Club under Blight won the

AFL premiership This page is a complete chronological listing of VFL/AFL premiers. The Australian Football League (AFL), known as the Victorian Football League (VFL) until 1990, is the elite national competition in men's Australian rules football. The inaugur ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

, and again in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

for the second consecutive year in a row. Blight resigned as Adelaide Football Club senior coach at the end of the 1999 season after an unsuccessful year finishing 13th. In 74 games under Blight, Adelaide won 41 games and 33 losses bringing a winning percentage to 55 percent. But he will always be remembered for his finals record with seven wins from eight games for two premierships To commemorate his legacy as Adelaide's first premiership coach, the club named their annual best and fairest award the

Malcolm Blight Medal The Malcolm Blight Medal is a post-season award given to the best and fairest player for the Adelaide Football Club. The medal was first awarded in 1991, and later named after former Adelaide Crows coach Malcolm Blight. The voting system as of t ...

. Blight was once again replaced by

, this time as Adelaide Football Club senior coach.

St Kilda Football Club senior coach (2001): Promising start, disappointing end

After finishing at Adelaide, Blight decided to retire from football and moved to Queensland. St Kilda officials visited him there during 2000 and overcame his reluctance to coach St Kilda in 2001 with a $1 million offer. Blight then replaced

Tim Watson Timothy Michael Watson (born 13 July 1961) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). After retiring from the game, he has continued working in the Australian footb ...

as the St Kilda Football Club senior coach. Blight was however sacked after Round 15 during the 2001 season with three wins and twelve losses sitting at fourteenth (third-last) on the ladder. Blight was then replaced by Grant Thomas as caretaker senior coach for the rest of the 2001 season, who was eventually appointed as full-time senior coach. Blight's famous humiliation of the players by making them stay on Colonial Stadium after a Round 10 loss to Melbourne and again after a Round 15 loss to Adelaide in his final game as coach, highlighted the worsening relation between the coach, players and club supporters. Some years later the former president of St Kilda,

Rod Butterss Roderick "Rod" Butterss is an Australian investor, with stakes in property development and the recruiting industry. During the late 1970s, Butterss played in the St Kilda Football Club reserves side, but never made it to senior level. He develo ...

, questioned Blight's commitment to the club during his tenure. Blight responded memorably from his position as media commentator with Channel Ten, saying: However, as early as February 2003, Butterss had admitted that his appointment of Blight as coach was "an error." In August 2017, Butterss further admitted that he'd made crucial decisions (including the Blight saga) while under the influence of drugs and alcohol during his tenure at the club. Blight coached St Kilda Football club in 2001 to a total of 15 games with three wins and twelve losses to a winning percentage of 20 percent.

Involvement at Gold Coast Suns

In 2009, Blight joined the

Board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit orga ...

at the 17th AFL team,

Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast in the suburb of Carrara. The club has been playing in the AFL since th ...

. In July 2012, Gold Coast Suns announced that Blight had stepped down from the board to take up a part-time advisory role as director of coaching under Gold Coast Suns senior coach

Guy McKenna Guy Lindsay McKenna (born 11 May 1969) is a retired Australian rules football player and the former senior coach of the Gold Coast Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). McKenna played 267 games for the West Coast Eagles, includi ...

, following a similar growing trend where former coaches (among them Mark Williams,

Dean Laidley Danielle May Laidley (born Dean James Laidley; 27 March 1967) is a former Australian rules football coach and player, who played for the West Coast Eagles and North Melbourne in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 1987 to 1997, including ...

and

Mark Harvey Mark Harvey (born 11 June 1965) is a former Australian rules football player and coach. He played over 200 games during fourteen seasons with the Essendon Football Club, winning three premierships, and was senior coach of Fremantle from 2007 t ...

) have been employed as advisors to other senior coaches. Blight left the Gold Coast Suns at the end of the 2015 season, after he was relieved of his duties as director of coaching position at Gold Coast. Blight and the club came to a mutual agreement that the position had become redundant after the appointment of

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 377 g ...

as senior coach of the Gold Coast Suns at the start of the year and season.

Blight's Squad of Champions

Looking back over his coaching career, Blight nominated in June 2012 a team of the greatest 22 players that he had coached, plus four emergencies. This was how the team looked: The four emergencies named were:

Peter Caven Peter Caven (born 16 May 1970) is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League. He played initially as a nagging, sometimes ungainly but effective defender and built on this base to become a sweeping counte ...

(Adelaide),

Kane Johnson Kane "Sugar" Johnson (born 15 March 1978) is a former Australian rules footballer and former captain of the Richmond Football Club and dual premiership winner with the Adelaide Crows in the Australian Football League (AFL). Career He began his ...

(Adelaide),

Peter Riccardi Peter Riccardi (born 17 December 1972) is a former Australian rules footballer for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Career Early career Of Italian and Argentine descent, Riccardi made his debut for Geelong i ...

(Geelong) and

Tony Modra Anthony Dale Modra (born 1 March 1969) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented Adelaide and Fremantle in the Australian Football League (AFL) and West Adelaide in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Known fo ...

(Adelaide).

Media career

Blight continued his football involvement through the media. He commentated for the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

during his hiatus from coaching in 1988, 1995-1996 and 2000, and also co-hosted ''

Talking Footy ''Talking Footy'' was an Australian rules football television program on the Seven Network broadcast from 1994 to 2004 and 2013–2020. The show was hosted mainly by Bruce McAvaney and Luke Darcy in both runs of the show. Original format (1 ...

'' with fellow commentator Bruce McAvaney and journalist

Mike Sheahan Michael Sheahan (born 4 March 1947) is an Australian journalist who specialises in Australian rules football. He was chief football writer and associate sports editor for the '' Herald Sun'' for 18 years. Although he left these positions at th ...

. He was one of the commentators at

Waverley Park Waverley Park (also and originally called VFL Park) was an Australian rules football stadium in Mulgrave, Victoria, Australia. For most of its history, its purpose was as a neutral venue and used by all Victorian-based Victorian Football ...

during the famous "Lights Out Incident" during a night match between and in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

. After finishing up as a coach, Blight commentated for

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of fiv ...

's television coverage. In 2006 Blight appeared in a Toyota Legendary Moment ad recreating his goal after the siren against Carlton. He also wrote football-related articles for the '' Sunday Mail''. Blight is known for his dislike of the practice of players using

grubber kick The grubber kick is a type of kick in various codes of football with an oval ball which results in the ball moving erratically along the ground. The point of the grubber is to make the ball roll and tumble across the ground, making it hard for the ...

s when attempting to score a goal, due to the lack of control and unpredictability of the bounce. He is currently the cohost of Sportsday SA on FIVEaa in Adelaide with David Wildy.

Statistics

Playing statistics

: , - , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 15 , , 15 , , 17 , , 18 , , 200 , , 60 , , 260 , , 91 , , , , 1.1 , , 1.2 , , 13.3 , , 4.0 , , 17.3 , , 6.1 , , , - , style="text-align:center;background:#afe6ba;",

† , style="text-align:center;", , 15 , , 18 , , 14 , , 18 , , 187 , , 63 , , 250 , , 69 , , , , 0.8 , , 1.1 , , 11.0 , , 3.7 , , 14.7 , , 4.1 , , , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 15 , , 23 , , 35 , , 29 , , 378 , , 102 , , 480 , , 159 , , , , 1.5 , , 1.3 , , 16.4 , , 4.4 , , 20.9 , , 6.9 , , , - , style="text-align:center;background:#afe6ba;",

† , style="text-align:center;", , 15 , , 24 , , 24 , , 33 , , 415 , , 115 , , 530 , , 127 , , , , 1.0 , , 1.4 , , 17.3 , , 4.8 , , 22.1 , , 5.3 , , , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 15 , , 24 , , 77 , , 51 , , 361 , , 69 , , 430 , , 136 , , , , 3.2 , , 2.1 , , 15.0 , , 2.9 , , 17.9 , , 5.7 , , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 15 , , 19 , , 60 , , 27 , , 275 , , 67 , , 342 , , 102 , , , , 3.2 , , 1.4 , , 14.5 , , 3.5 , , 18.0 , , 5.4 , , , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – In ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 15 , , 20 , , 44 , , 29 , , 282 , , 90 , , 372 , , 87 , , , , 2.2 , , 1.5 , , 14.1 , , 4.5 , , 18.6 , , 4.4 , , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 15 , , 15 , , 70 , , 45 , , 206 , , 31 , , 237 , , 79 , , , , bgcolor="DD6E81", 4.7 , , bgcolor="DD6E81", 3.0 , , 13.7 , , 2.1 , , 15.8 , , 5.3 , , , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 15 , , 20 , , bgcolor="DD6E81", 103 , , 66 , , 233 , , 43 , , 276 , , 112 , , , , bgcolor="DD6E81", 5.2 , , bgcolor="DD6E81", 3.3 , , 11.7 , , 2.2 , , 13.8 , , 5.6 , , , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 178 ! 444 ! 316 ! 2537 ! 640 ! 3177 ! 962 ! ! 2.5 ! 1.8 ! 14.3 ! 3.6 ! 17.8 ! 5.4 !

Head coaching record

References

External links

* * *
Profile at kangaroos.com.au

AFL: Hall of Fame
* SANFL Hall of Fam
Profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blight, Malcolm North Melbourne Football Club players North Melbourne Football Club Premiership players Woodville Football Club players Coleman Medal winners Brownlow Medal winners Syd Barker Medal winners Magarey Medal winners Adelaide Football Club coaches Adelaide Football Club Premiership coaches Geelong Football Club coaches North Melbourne Football Club coaches St Kilda Football Club coaches Woodville Football Club coaches Australian rules football commentators Members of the Order of Australia All-Australians (1953–1988) Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees South Australian State of Origin players Australian people of Cornish descent Australian rules footballers from Adelaide South Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees 1950 births Living people Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership players Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership coaches