AFL legend Matt Lloyd mourning father John after death from cancer

AFL legend Matthew Lloyd is mourning the loss of his father John, the former Carlton defender who has died aged 77.

Matthew Lloyd with his father John.

The father of AFL legend Matthew Lloyd has died after a battle with cancer.

John Loyd, who played for Carlton in the 1960s, passed away aged 77.

Eddie McGuire announced the sad news on Footy Classified on Wednesday night, explaining to viewers why Lloyd wasn’t in his customary position on the panel.

“It’s with the deepest of sympathies to the Lloyd family that we say John Lloyd, the patriarch of this magnificent family and former Carlton player, passed away after a long battle with cancer today,” McGuire said.

“To Matthew, to his mum Bev and most importantly to his brothers and sisters — to Brad who’s a great servant of football down at Carlton, to Simon at Geelong and to Kylie who’s been our colleague here at the Nine network, doing a lot of finances behind the scenes on all our footy shows for 20-odd, 25 years or so.

“I can’t think of a family that have actually given more to football and John was a wonderful man and he passed away this afternoon.

“So on behalf of everybody here at the Nine network and in football in general our condolences to the Lloyd family.”

Lloyd grew up wanting to follow in his father’s footsteps and play for Carlton, but he ended up becoming an Essendon legend, kicking 926 goals across 270 games for the Bombers.

The key forward wore guernsey No. 18 at the club — the same number his dad wore at Carlton.

Wynn's Coonawarra Estate Fathers Day Lunch. Bistro Guillaume John and Matthew Lloyd