Peter Pianto

Who was Peter Pianto?

Peter Pianto was an Australian rules footballer and coach with Geelong in the VFL.

Pianto played as a rover and was a premiership player with Geelong in 1951 and 1952. During his career he was a best and fairest winner, All-Australian and Victorian interstate representative. He polled well in the Brownlow Medal counts, finishing fourth in 1952 and second in 1956.

As coach his best performance was in the 1967 season when he steered Geelong to the Grand Final where they lost to Richmond.

In recent times he was a member of the club's history and tradition committee.

Peter played 121 games and kicked 144 goals over seven years with the Cats. He was a brilliant rover who was recruited from Eaglehawk. Pianto was choose to join Geelong because of its country atmosphere, after having offers from four league clubs.

One of his most memorable efforts was his career high five goal performance in the 1953 semi final against Collingwood. He was an outstanding contributor in the 1951 and 1952 premiership winning sides.

Peter played for Victoria nine times and won the club best and fairest in 1953. After retiring from the VFL in 1957, he coached Colac and then Claremont as captain-coach for three years between 1961 and 1963, before returning to Geelong to coach them between 1966 to 1970, including the 1967 VFL Grand Final. Peter is a member of the Geelong Football Club Hall of Fame and Team of the Century.