Peter Charles Banfield (born 21 January 1965) 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played for and the

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Bears were a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, now known as the Brisbane Lions. Granted a Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL), licence in 1986, ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL) during the 1980s, and with 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. ...

(SANFL) during the early 1990s.

Playing career

Banfield was recruited from North Ringwood made his way into the Essendon team having played under-19s football at the club. He participated in the Essendon reserves 1983 premiership and after being unable to establish himself in the seniors, won a PIE Best & Fairest in 1986. When he did make it into the VFL side, 11 times in total, Essendon won all their games. Brisbane picked up Banfield for their first ever VFL season in

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

and he took part in their inaugural appearance in Round 1 starting in the

back pocket Vulfpeck is an American funk/soul music, soul band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2011. Founded by multi-instrumentalists Jack Stratton, Theo Katzman, Woody Goss, and bassist Joe Dart, the band has released four extended plays, six studio a ...

. He only missed two games that year collecting a career-best 197 kicks, 93 handballs and kicking 9 goals. After three seasons in Brisbane where he played a total of 45 games, Banfield played league football in his third state,

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, by joining West Adelaide. Banfield played 95 games with the club over four years and won their Best & Fairest award in 1991. In 1991 Banfield's form was a contributing factor in West's late-season form change which saw them win 9 of their last 11 minor round games to surge into the finals. This form continued into the finals but was halted in the Grand Final against

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct (Australia), precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. Laid out in a grid plan in three section ...

. Banfield continued to play for West Adelaide under the coaching of

Neil Kerley Donald Neil Kerley (20 February 1934 – 29 June 2022) was an Australian rules footballer and coach. He is best known for taking three clubs to four South Australian National Football League (SANFL) premierships over three decades as both a p ...

in 1992 and 1993, but his team failed to recapture their late 1991 form and missed the finals in both years, finishing 6th and 8th respectively. Following the 1993 SANFL season, Peter Banfield retired from league football having played a total of 56 VFL games for Essendon and Brisbane from 1984 to 1989 and 95 SANFL games for West Adelaide from 1990 to 1993.

Coaching career

As a coach, Banfield steered ACT club Ainslie to three successive premierships from 1994 to 1996. This earned him the job of St Kilda's assistant coach, firstly to Stan Alves and then to Tim Watson. He crossed to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in 2001 for a two-year stint as Neale Daniher's assistant. The 2003 and 2004 season were spent as coach of the Bendigo Bombers and he then was put in charge of the Casey Scorpions before resigning in 2007. In 2008 Banfeild took up the role as Head Coach at Old Scotch Football Club in the VAFA until 2011. In 2012, Peter Banfeild was announced as the Senior Coach of Blackburn Football Club, Blackburn finish 2nd in 2011 looking very promising in season 2012 until it became public that they had lost 38 players from their list making survival in Division 1 key for Banfeild in 2012. 2013 Banfeild took them the finals in which they bowed out in an Elimination final at the hands of Balwyn FC. Banfield continued coaching Blackburn until the end of 2015. Banfeild then was Senior Coach at the North Ringwood Football Club, The club where he played his junior football. He currently is The Seniors Men's Coach of Mazenod Old Collegians Football Club For Season 2021/2022.

References

External links

* * Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing. {{DEFAULTSORT:Banfield, Peter 1965 births Living people Essendon Football Club players Brisbane Bears players West Adelaide Football Club players Casey Demons coaches Ainslie Football Club coaches Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state)