MALCOLM Blight was officially named a Legend of Australian Football at Tuesday night's gala Hall of Fame ceremony.
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A champion footballer with North Melbourne and Woodville, Blight completed his legacy by leading Adelaide to back-to-back premierships.
Here are six moments that made Blight player a Legend of the game.
1. Malcolm's Magarey
The prodigiously talented Woodville onballer/forward enhanced his standing as one of the hottest properties in the country when, at 22, he won the 1972 Magarey Medal as the outstanding player in the SANFL. Blight kicked 45 goals while playing predominantly as a ruck-rover.
2. Blight becomes a dual premiership star
After six years at Woodville, Blight was finally coerced into transferring to North Melbourne, becoming a key member of the club's first two premiership sides, in 1975 and 1977. Almost dropped by Ron Barassi after the 1977 Grand Final draw against Collingwood, Blight was one of the Kangaroos’ best in the replay with 27 possessions (including a game-high 23 kicks), two goals and even a career-high six hit-outs.
3. The long bomb
Blight's heroics to lift North Melbourne to victory over Carlton at Princes Park in 1976 is the stuff of legend. He kicked five goals, including three in the dying stages – the last of which came after a booming torpedo after the siren.
4. Blighty's Brownlow
The genius was at his brilliant best in 1978 when he won the Brownlow Medal after being adjudged best afield on five occasions and polling 22 votes – one clear of Hawthorn champion Peter Knights. The then 28-year-old averaged 18.5 disposals (including 15.5 kicks), six marks and 3.6 goals a game. He tallied 76 goals (plus one in the finals), including bags of eight (twice), seven and six.
5. The goal king
Blight farewelled the Kangaroos with a sensational season at full-forward in 1982, winning the Coleman Medal after amassing 103 goals (94 in the home and away rounds) in 20 games, including 10 hauls of at least six. Most notably, he twice bagged seven against eventual grand finallist Richmond, and slotted eight against the highly rated Hawthorn.
6. Another ton
Blight returned home to captain-coach Woodville and in his final season as a player in 1985 he won the SANFL's goalkicking award, the Ken Farmer Medal, with a career-best 126 goals. It's a tally that has been surpassed just once since, by Port Adelaide's Scott Hodges (153) in 1990.
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