John Northey | Demonwiki (original) (raw)
DOB: 29 June <1953>
First game as coach: Round 1, 1986 vs at
Last game as coach: Round 24, 1992 vs at
Honours
Night Series premiership - <1987>, <1989>
Grand final coach - <1988>
| Matches | Wins | Draws | Losses | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 167 | 90 | 1 | 76 | 54.19 |
Former Richmond dual-premiership player Northey coached Sydney side Western Suburbs from <1971> to <1973>, and led the NSW state side in <1972> and <1973>. He returned to Victoria and oversaw five Ballarat league premierships at Redan between 1975 and 1980. He also steered Ballarat representative teams to three titles in the Country Football Championships and served as an assistant coach with St Kilda from <1978> through <1979>.
Returning to Sydney, his senior coaching career began with the Swans in <1985>. He was sacked after a year when he didn't fit into flamboyant owner Geoffrey Edelsten's vision of a flashy hard-sell to the tough Sydney market.
With the club seeking a "player's man" after the often fiery reign of Ron Barassi had failed to pay dividends, the Melbourne committee unanimously voted to appoint the less combative Northey as coach for two years.
Interviews had also been conducted with David Parkin, Kevin Bartlett, Carl Ditterich, Tom Hafey, Stan Alves and Greg Wells before Northey got the nod. Ironically after serving a divided club in Sydney Northey walked into a similar situation at Melbourne where an extraordinary general meeting was about to be held to decide the fate of the incumbent board.
The committee that recommended the new coach had equal representation from both sides of that debate so at least Northey could be comfortable knowing that he'd have support no matter who won the vote.
After a mid-season contract extension in <1987>, the new coach presided over an era featuring Melbourne's first finals appearance in three decades and a grand final as well as the development of players like Garry Lyon and Todd Viney who would become the future leaders of the club. He had already received a two year contract extension at the start of <1988>, but after leading the club to the Grand Final he received a further extension to at least the end of <1990>.
After five years of finals football, Melbourne missed finals in <1992>. Despite media reports that he was likely to be reappointed for two seasons, Northey was told that his position was under review. Fortuitously he was offered the job after Allan Jeans retired for health reasons, and within 48 hours had resigned to take up a four year contract at Punt Road. After two lean years at Punt Road "Swooper" managed to steer them to a rare finals appearance in <1995> before walking out to join the Brisbane Bears. He took Brisbane into the finals in '96, and repeated the feat the next year. <1998> was a disaster and Northey was sacked midway through the year with his side at the bottom of the ladder. He was briefly linked to the Fremantle Dockers job in <2001> and coached South Fremantle in <2002> and <2003> before retiring to the Gold Coast.
He later returned to coaching in Victoria, joining the Ballarat Swans as senior coach in <2006> and as their director of coaching until the end of <2012> when he joined Central Highlands League side Learmonth as senior coach for <2013>.
Media
Inside Football - 25/08/1973, 01/09/1973, 30/03/1978, 15/07/1987
Canberra Times - 01/05/1979
Age - 03/10/1985, 09/10/1985, 16/12/1988, 26/08/1992, 31/08/1992, 04/09/1992
Inside Football - 15/07/1987
Courier - 14/09/2012