Jarryd Blair returns to Wonthaggi as senior coach
Ten years after he figured in Collingwood’s grand final triumph over St Kilda, Jarryd Blair is going back to Wonthaggi. And the local folk are fizzing about it. He tells us what is like going “back home’’ to where he began as an Auskicker.
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Jarryd Blair is going to back to where his football began.
Back to where he took up Auskick and played in the juniors.
Back to where he made his first steps in senior football.
Back to where Gippsland Power noticed him.
Back to the town that revelled in his rise to Collingwood premiership player.
Jarryd Blair is going back to Wonthaggi Football Club, as senior coach.
At 30, he believes it’s a good time to make his start as a coach after spending two seasons in the VFL as a playing assistant with Port Melbourne.
It’s fair to say his arrival “back home’’ has Wonthaggi buzzing.
“I don’t think I’ve felt pressure like this ever!’’ Blair said with a laugh.
His appointment last week came 10 years after he played his first AFL game with Collingwood as a high-number hopeful drafted from the Gippsland Under 18 team.
It was a headspinning start: 14 matches into his career he was a premiership player as the Magpies beat St Kilda in two grand-final goes.
For the next few years Blair was rarely out of the side, a 174cm player who endeared himself to coaches and Collingwood supporters with his chin-up approach. He gave it all, and then a little bit more.
He said he realised early in his time with the Magpies that “I was going to have to fight to have the career I wanted’’. He was made a Collingwood life member last year.
Blair always felt the support of Wonthaggi, where he started in Auskick and with Wonthaggi Blues.
The Blues merged with fierce town rivals Wonthaggi Rovers to become Wonthaggi Power. Blair captained the Under 15s to the premiership on 2005. The following year he started in the senior side, and was part of the 2006 premiership team coached by Charlie Ware.
“The club had a massive influence on my football,’’ Blair said.
“Footy clubs in country towns are the lifeblood of the town and pretty much the place where kids grow up and hang out with their friends, watching the ones on a Saturday and playing juniors on a Sunday.
“Your life pretty much revolves around the footy club. It had a big part in my upbringing, for sure. We got down there whenever we could. It’s a good place for kids to belong, in a team environment all trying to achieve something.’’
After going on to Collingwood — he was drafted as a rookie ahead of 2009 — Blair felt Wonthaggi’s sense of pride in his rise as a Pie.
It was unwavering to the end of 2018, when he finished up after 157 games and 121 matches.
“I could really feel the support from back home, right throughout my career,’’ he said.
“It was always good going back and catching up with everyone. I always felt that whatever I did I was representing Wonthaggi, which was pretty cool, pretty special. It made me feel proud, and it sort of sums up community footy, when someone from your club can go and achieve what they’ve dreamt of doing … it’s sort of like you’re taking a whole lot of people on the ride with you.’’
That support also extended to his time at Port Melbourne: last year two rows of Wonthaggi people, including the Blair family and the Woolfe clan, set up camp in the Norm Goss Medal grandstand at North Port Oval.
Blair enjoyed his time at Port under Gary Ayres and believed his 2020 season would have been better than his first. He was best finals player in 2019.
But the appeal of coaching Wonthaggi was strong. His partner, Jessica, is from the area and they’d like to see their boys Ziggy and Gus spending more time with their families.
His brother Jack has also gone back to the club.
The wheel turns. Fourteen years ago Blair was a talented young player in Wonthaggi. Now the locals think they’ve got another group of accomplished players coming through.
“I always had in mind that I’d love to go back and finish up at Wonthaggi,’’ he said.
“A lot of mates are still floating around and playing good footy, as well as kids stepping up into the seniors now.
“I spoke to Stuie Gilmour and Carl Lindsay (club officials) a few times and they were pretty strong on the timing being right. They want to keep these kids engage and pretty much challenge them to get better and go to another level.’’
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