Past Jack Moriarty (1924-1933)

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Footyinfo

Full name: Jack Moriarty
Born: April 30, 1901
Teams: Essendon 1922, Fitzroy 1924-33
Height: 178cm
Weight: 62kg
Debut: Essendon vs Carlton Round 1, Windy Hill, 6 May 1922

Wikipedia

Moriarty, the son of dual Fitzroy premiership player Geoff, was a lightly built full forward who became a spectacular success after leaving Essendon Football Club at the end of 1923 and crossing to Fitzroy Football Club. Despite standing only 5'10" (178 cm), and weighing approximately 60 kg, he had the ability to jump over opponents and take strong over-head marks, as well as being a goal-sneak. In each of his first three matches with Fitzroy, Moriarty kicked 7 goals en-route to a then VFL season record of 82.

Statistics:

afl tables

 

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Fitzroyfc.com

He topped the VFL goal kicking list in 1924 with the then record of 82 goals. Except for 1930 he lead the goalkicking at Fitzroy in all of his ten seasons there. He was the third player in the VFL/AFL to kick 500 goals after Dick Lee and Gordon Coventry of Collingwood fame from the same era.

His average of 3.89 goals per game is the tenth best of all time. His record of kicking 31% of his team's goals over his ten seasons with Fitzroy is second only to the great John Colemen. He twice kicked ten or more goals with his best at 12 against Nth Melbourne in 1927. He was a Victorian State rep in every year between 1924 and 1933.

 

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Fitzroy's Leading Goal Kickers

1924   Jack Moriarty
1925   Jack Moriarty
1926   Jack Moriarty
1927   Jack Moriarty
1928   Jack Moriarty
1929   Jack Moriarty
1930   [URL="http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=909491"]Charlie Chapman[/URL]
1931   Jack Moriarty
1932   Jack Moriarty
1933   Jack Moriarty

Fitzroy Club champions 1927

1924   Len Wigraft
1925   Len Wigraft
1926   [URL="http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=909487"]Horrie Jenkin[/URL]
1927   [U]Jack Moriarty[/U]
1928   N/A
1929   Arthur Batchelor
1930   N/A
1931   N/A
1932   N/A
1933   N/A

Fitzroy Team of the Century

B:       Bill Stephen         [URL="http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=910582"]Fred Hughson[/URL]       Frank Curico
HB:      [URL="http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=715278"]Kevin Murray[/URL] (c)     [URL="http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=788519"]Paul Roos[/URL]          [URL="http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=789272"]Gary Pert[/URL] 
C:       [URL="http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=794205"]Wilfred Smallhorn[/URL]    [URL="http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=794296"]John Murphy[/URL]        Warwick Irwin
HF:      Owen Abrahams        [URL="www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=787666"]Bernie Quinlan[/URL]     [URL="http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=787989"]Gary Wilson[/URL] (vc)
F:       [URL="http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=885563"]Allan Ruthven[/URL]        [U]Jack Moriarty[/U]      Norm Brown
R:       Alan Gale            [URL="www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=909123"]Norm Johnstone[/URL]     [URL="http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=793028"]Haydn Bunton[/URL]
I:       [URL="http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=787992"]Michael Conlan[/URL]       [URL="http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=134778"]Alaistar Lynch[/URL]     [URL="http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=903855"]Harvey Merrigan[/URL]   
         [URL="http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=788524"]Richard Osborne[/URL]      [URL="http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=853635"]Percy Parratt[/URL]      Percy Trotter
Coach:   Len Smith

Link

Jack Moriarty played 157 games for Fitzroy between 1924 and 1933. He was recruited from Essendon and ironically played against Fitzroy in the 1922 Grand Final. During his career he kicked 626 goals for Fitzroy, which is a club record. His best season was 1927 when he kicked 83 goals. This remained the club record for 52 years. He played in three finals games for seven goals.

 

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Link

 

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Link ....

Tunes of popular songs have been borrowed and reworked for as long as they’ve been around – Norm was a master craftsman at it, giving new intent to many favourite tunes. One was based on Barney Google, a hit of the early twenties, reworked into a celebration of Fitzroy goal kicking great, Jack Moriarty.

Moriarty with the goog, goog, googly eyes (1924)

Moriarty with the goog, goog, googly eyes,
Moriarty who Fitzroy idolize,
Who’s the chap who kicks the goals,
Sends them right through the poles,
Moriarty with the goog, goog, googly eyes.​

​

 

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2004 Hall of Fame inductee

30/4/1901-5/9/1980

Playing career:

1922, 1924-33 (Ess 1922, Fitz 1924-33)

Games:

170 (Ess 13, Fitz 157) Goals: 662 (Ess 36, Fitz 626)

Player honors:

* Fitz Best & Fairest 1927
* Fitz Captain 1933
* Leading goalkicker Medal 1924
* Ess Leading goalkicker 1922
* Fitz Leading goalkicker 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1931, 1932, 1933
* Fitz Team of the Century
* Victoria (11 games, 42 goals).

Link

Moriarty still stands 18th on the list of the game’s all-time great goalkickers with 662 goals from 170 games – the bulk of them coming with Fitzroy from 1924-33 after his career almost ended before it began following just one season with Essendon in 1922.

The Bombers certainly came to regret letting Moriarty go as he went to become Fitzroy’s leading goalkicker a record nine times – despite weighing at the jockey size of just 59 kilos.

His career tally of 626 goals for the Lions was never beaten and his effort to kick 83 goals in a season in 1927 stood as Fitzroy’s best in a season for more than 50 years until Bob Beecroft kicked 87 goals in 1979

 

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Fullpointsfooty

After starting his senior career at Essendon Association, for whom he booted 35 goals in 1921, full forward Jack Moriarty made his league debut with Essendon in 1922. Despite standing only 178cm in height, and weighing a mere 59kg, he proved to be a handy acquisition, kicking 36 goals in just 13 games to top the Dons' list. Somewhat surprisingly, however, he was dropped for the 1922 preliminary final in favour of George Stockdale, and in the remainder of his time at Essendon he never managed to recapture his place in the senior side.

The 1924 season saw Moriarty at Fitzroy where, using a combination of pace, guile and superb anticipation skills, he rapidly developed into a goalsneak par excellence. In each of his first three matches with the Maroons he booted 7 goals, en route to a new VFL season's record of 82 - 14 more than the previous record which had, somewhat ironically, been established by Moriarty's replacement at Essendon, Greg Stockdale, in 1923. Moriarty represented the VFL at the Hobart carnival in 1924, and went on to become virtually a permanent fixture in Big V sides for most of the next decade.

 

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Essendonfc.com

Moriarty had kicked 36 goals in only 13 games in 1922, but was surprisingly dropped for the preliminary final to make way for Greg Stockdale who went on to kick five goals in the loss to Fitzroy. Stockdale continued to play so well in that position that Moriarty could not regain his place in the team in 1923 and he languished in the Seconds. Discouraged, he transferred to Fitzroy where he became one of the great full-forwards of all time.

In a bizarre incident, he became ill while playing for Fitzroy against Carlton after he accepted a piece of chewing gum from a supporter - the gum had been poisoned. Moriarty rates as one of Essendon's worst selection mistakes. His father, Geoff, played 106 games for Fitzroy, and his uncle, Dan, played 74 games for Fitzroy and Melbourne. He died on 5th September, 1980.

 

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Forwards are Bigger
Haydn Bunton
Sunday 10 July 1938

An interesting tendency in the game today is towards bigger full-forwards. In my opinion this has developed through hurried kicking to the forward lines - the outcome of increased speed of play.

Forwards of years ago - Jack Moriarty and Jimmy Freake, of Fitzroy; Dick Lee, of Collingwood - made leads with the certainty of an accurate pass. They were small men, and many of their opposing full-backs were not much bigger. Vic. Thorpe and Donald Don, or nearer today, Dibbs and Todd, were not the big men we see between the sticks now.

 

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J. Moriarty Approached
Monday 14 May 1934

He began with Fitzroy in 1924, and in the 10 seasons he has played he has kicked 627 goals. His highest number for a season was 83, kicked in 1927, and his lowest 20, in 1930, when, owing to ill-health and accident, he took part in very few games.

Last season he led the team in tho absence of J. Sexton, the captain, who broke his leg in the first match and did not play again. This year Moriarty is treasurer of the Fitzroy Football Club.

It was suggested to Jack Moriarty on Saturday night that he should return to assist his team. It was pointed out to him that his was just the style of play the team needed, and it is hoped that he will accede to the wishes of the committee and once more appear for Fitzroy. His skill and goal-kicking sense are undoubted.

 

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Greatest forward riddle
Hugh Buggy
Saturday 7 June 1952

Jack Moriarty, dropped by Essendon in 1924, went to Fitzroy, and became one o the most consistent goal-getters in the League for 10 years.

Moriarty was neither tall nor solidly built, but he was a fast mover and a deadly snapshot.

 

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Club Notes
15 April 1933

A dritt cannot be stopped at once; but there are signs of distinct improvement, and Fitzroy will soon be soon be in the front rank again. In Bunton, twice winner of the Brownlow medal, and Jack Moriarty, the clever forward, the team has two star players.

Moriarty is one of the cleverest forwards the game has known, and it is a tribute to his skil that, though playing with a weak team, he has scored so many goals. With the old Fitzroy strength behind him he might have surpassed even Gordon Coventry's record.

In a team which won only three matches last year he kicked 81 goals, and was equal with Gordon Coventry (Collingwood) in third place behind Moloney (Geelong), 109, and Vallence (Carlton), 92. He headed the list of goalkickers in 1924 with 82, and is keen to reach 100 goals in a season before he retires.

 

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Interstate football
Saturday 18 August 1928

The Melbourne team will be as follows:

B:            D. Harris (Rich),      C. Dibbs (Col),          G. Stockdale (Ess)
HB:           C. Stanbridge (SM),    A. Collier (Col),        B. McCormack (Rich)
C:            R. Taylor (Mel),       C. O. Carr (SK)          L. Dwyer (NM)
HF:           S. Wittman (Mel),      I. Warne Smith (Mel)(c)  F. Murphy (Col)
F:            W. Libbis (Col),       G. Coventry (Col),       [COLOR=Red][B]J. Moriarty (Fitz)[/B][/COLOR]
Foll:         S. Coventry (Col)(vc)  C. Chapman (Fitz)
Rover:        R. Baker (Ge)
Emergencies:  N. Beckton (Ess)       H. Weidner (Rich)