| Jack Moriarty | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Geoffrey John Moriarty | ||
| Date of birth | (1901-04-30)30 April 1901 | ||
| Place of birth | Fitzroy, Victoria | ||
| Date of death | 5 September 1980(1980-09-05) (aged 79) | ||
| Place of death | Heidelberg, Victoria | ||
| Original team(s) | Essendon Association | ||
| Height | 178 cm (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Weight | 62 kg (137 lb) | ||
| Position(s) | Full-forward | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1922 | Essendon | 13(36) | |
| 1924–33 | Fitzroy | 157 (626) | |
| Total | 170 (662)[1] | ||
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1933. | |||
| Career highlights | |||
| |||
| Sources:AFL Tables,AustralianFootball.com | |||
Jack Moriarty (30 April 1901 – 5 September 1980) was anAustralian rules footballer and champion goal-kicker in theVictorian Football League (VFL).
The son of the Fitzroy full-back, dual premiership player, and first coach,Geoffrey John Moriarty (1871–1948),[2][3] and Mary Anne Moriarty (1879–1964), née Jackson,[4][5] Geoffrey John Moriarty was born atFitzroy, Victoria on 30 April 1901.[6]
He married Isabel Sophia Nairn (1901–1987) in 1924.
Moriarty was a lightly built full-forward — 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 — who became a spectacular success after leavingEssendon Football Club at the end of1923 and crossing toFitzroy Football Club.
He played in every home-and-away game (17 matches) for theEssendon Association Football Club (a.k.a. "Essendon A") in 1921, the club's final season in theVictorian Football Association (VFA)'s competition.
Moriarty transferred to the Essendon VFL club in 1922, playing thirteen games at full-forward, including theSemi-final, against Carlton, on 23 September 1922.
He was controversially dropped from the team for thePreliminary Final, against Fitzroy, on 7 October 1922, and half-back flankerGreg Stockdale moved to full-forward in his place. Although Essendon lost the match, 6.6 (45) to 9.14 (68), Stockdale kicked five of Essendon's six goals (one with his right foot, despite being a natural left-foot kick).
Based upon that performance, Stockdale became the team's full-forward in 1923 — Stockdale scored 68 goals in the 1923 season breaking the VFL's (then) record of 66 goals set jointly by Fitzroy'sJimmy Freake and Collingwood'sDick Lee in 1915, and Moriarty was unable to break back into the senior team.
However, Stockdale's record was broken the next season (in 1924), by Moriarty, who kicked 82 goals in his first season with Fitzroy.
In each of his first three matches with Fitzroy, Moriarty kicked seven goals en route to a then VFL season record of 82.
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Moriarty represented theVFL at theHobart carnival in 1924 and went on to become a permanent fixture in Victorian sides for most of the next decade.
He topped Fitzroy's goal kicking list every year between1924 and1933, except for1930, and was voted the club's best and fairest player in1927 during an era when an award of this type was not made every season.
At the end of his career, Moriarty had scored 662 goals in his 170-game VFL career, at an average of almost four goals per game.[7]
His total of 626 career goals for Fitzroy remained the club record when Fitzroy exited the VFL/AFL in 1996.
He died on 5 September 1980.[8]
In 2004 Moriarty was inducted into theAustralian Football Hall of Fame.[9]
