| Peter Banfield | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Peter Charles Banfield | ||
| Date of birth | 21 January 1965 | ||
| Original team | North Ringwood | ||
| Height/Weight | 177 cm / 80 kg | ||
| Position(s) | Rover | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1984-86 1987-89 Total - |
Essendon Brisbane Bears |
11 (3) 45 (16) 56 (19) |
|
|
1 Playing statistics to end of 1989 season .
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Peter Charles Banfield (born 21 January 1965) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Essendon and the Brisbane Bears in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1980s.
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 and he took part in their inaugural appearance in Round 1 starting in the back pocket. 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, by joining West Adelaide.
Banfield played 95 games with the club over four years and won their Best & Fairest award, the Sam Suckling Medal 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 continued in the finals but was halted in the Grand Final against North Adelaide. Banfield contributed to be a major contributor for West Adelaide under the coaching of Neil Kerley in 1992 and '93 but he team failed to recapture their late 1991 form and finished a disappointing 6th and 8th in both seasons.
Following the 1993 SANFL season, Peter Banfield retired from league football having played a total of 56 VFL games for Essendon and Brisbane from 1984-89 and 95 SANFL games for West Adelaide from 1990-93.
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 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.