John Blair

Who is John Blair?

John Blair is a former Australian rules footballer who played with South Melbourne, Fitzroy and St Kilda in the Victorian Football League. He has since become a successful coach in Queensland and is currently senior coach of Morningside.

A utility, Blair spent a lot of his career as a centre-half back but was also used up forward. He had begun his career at Springvale and it was from there was he was recruited to South Melbourne. He made his VFL debut in 1975, against Footscray at Waverley Park, but it was the only game he played that season. Over the next two years he put together 23 senior appearances, only to be traded to Fitzroy during the 1978 season. He didn't play a VFL match in 1979 and in 1980 was playing for his third club, St Kilda. He appeared just twice for St Kilda and left at the end of the year, to captain-coach Queensland club Morningside.

Blair, who won the Grogan Medal in 1982, steered Morningside to the QAFL grand final ever year from 1982 to 1984. Each time they lost, but Blair would later captain-coach Windsor-Zillmere to a premiership in 1988, before retiring. He had been their best forward that season, with 96 goals.