{xtypo_dropcap}E{/xtypo_dropcap}d Blackaby vividly remembers the phone call he received from Swan Districts committeeman Rod Sargent in late 1979.

“ I was twenty eight years of age, playing with Manuka in the ACT Football League, and this bloke’s asking me if I’d consider moving to Swan Districts,” he said.

At first I thought he must have meant Western Districts, a club in Sydney, and when the penny dropped that it was a West Australian team, I asked him if he was sure he’d got the right bloke.

It was a bold move by the black and whites, considering Blackaby’s age and the competition he was playing in, but they had certainly done their homework. Whether or not the coincidence  that his onfield style and demeanor was reminiscent of Swans most decorated player, Billy Walker, was an influence isn’t clear, but it certainly proved to be a winner with the fans when Ed arrived at Bassendean. 

{xtypo_quote_left}At first I thought he must have meant Western Districts, a club in Sydney, and when the penny dropped that it was a West Australian team, I asked him if he was sure he’d got the right bloke.{/xtypo_quote_left}

Edney Blackaby’s football career began at Burnie, in Tasmania.

An outstanding junior as a wingman or centreman, he was recruited by Queensland club Sandgate at the age of eighteen, but due to a worrying exodus of young players from Tasmania, his clearance application was refused. In the meantime, his parents had moved to Canberra, and because of the circumstances a transfer to ACT League club Manuka was eventually approved.

Nephew of one of Clarence Football Club’s finest players, member of their Official Best Team 1947 to 2001, Jimmy Blackaby, Ed Blackaby  was a fast and elusive midfielder and rover, in the mould of a Walker, and he quickly made his mark in the Canberra competition. His ten years(four of those as captain coach) at Manuka was a factor in their premierships of 1971, 73, 74, 75, and 77, and his dominance in the competition was reflected with a Mulrooney Medal as league fairest and best as well as being a five times winner of the Red and Black’s corresponding award.

Swan Districts, after consecutive wooden spoons in 1977 and 78, had improved markedly in 1979, and saw the signing of Blackaby as ticking one of the premiership boxes.

Ed, wife Suellen and their young family drove across a sweltering Nullarbor Plain in November, 1979, and arrived in Perth during a heatwave. “It must have been about a hundred and fifteen,” Ed recalled, “and we seriously considered doing a u turn.” It may have been an ominous sign of the luck that was about to descend.

Blackaby made a huge impression initially in 1980 as a rover/forward in a rampaging Swans outfit, and they careered on to eventually top the ladder going into the finals. Ed had quickly found many fans among the legion of black and white supporters, who enjoyed the fleet of foot little man’s run and attack on the ball.

Playing under coach John Todd proved to be an enlightening experience for the Tasmanian.   

“I had always played under more reserved coaches,” Blackaby said. “I’d never heard anyone like Toddy. He was a hard taskmaster, but had a heart of gold. Definitely the best coach I ever played with.”

Midway through the 1980 season, selection in the State squad had the trip West looking like a good move, but it was then that things turned sour for Ed. A serious bout of glandular fever and hepatitis sidelined him for the remainder of the season, missing the losing grand final to South Fremantle, and it was to be a long road to recovery. Playing again during 1981, he was nowhere near his best, spending a lot of time on the bench, but his efforts didn’t go unnoticed, and he was awarded the 6PM-Swan Brewery Most Courageous Player Award, as well as the Barry Cable Highest Achievement Award.  

Recovering temporarily in 1982, Blackaby finished fourth in the club’s fairest and best voting. In 1983 he could only manage three games. “It was a struggle,” he recalled. Although talked into returning in 1984, Blackaby retired as a player at the end of the season, in what was a premiership year for his side.

Aware of the potential of the rover as a coach, Swan Districts quickly installed Ed as an assistant coach for the following two seasons, and when Todd won the appointment  at West Coast in 1988 Blackaby inherited the job at Bassendean.

Back on the bottom in 1986, Swans had improved to be fifth in 87, and under Blackaby just missed the four in his second season. Todd’s demise at West Coast led to his re appointment at Bassendean, and in 1990 Sunday League club Osborne Park offered Ed Blackaby their coaching position. His professional attitude and hard discipline approach, no doubt legacies of his time with Todd, brought immediate success, and the club defeated Kelmscott in the grand final by twenty two points. In 1991 the side finished in fourth place, and lost the semi final to Armadale by seven points.

Heading the ladder going into the 1992 playoffs, Osborne Park kicked themselves out of contention, booting six goals seventeen, to lose to Wanneroo by twenty four points.

In later years Blackaby made his presence felt on the Super Rules scene, selected in  All Australian sides in 1993, 95, and 97, and was named as coach of the team in 1994.  

Despite the warm welcome to Western Australia back in 1979 and the subsequent illness that curtailed a promising career in the WAFL, Ed Blackaby has put his roots down deep in Swans territory and is happily ensconced in the West. In the Sales department of a national transport company, he is involved with martial arts, representing Australia in Tae Kwan Do at Belarus in the 2010 World Championships, and winning Gold. He barracks for Hawthorn, (Suellen is an Essendon member), and gets down to Bassendean whenever possible. 

Ed regarded an old adversary in the ACT League, Jimmy Black, and South Fremantle’s Stephen Michael as toughest opponents, while acknowledging all his Swans team mates as “great players and blokes,” but reckoned that Stan Nowotny deserved a special mention.

A member of the ACT Legends Hall of Fame, Ed Blackaby was also selected in the ACT –AFL Team of the Century as number one rover, along with Black, and a West Australian, Ross Bowe, who represented Eastlake. He played a hundred and eighty five games with Manuka and fifty four at Swan Districts, and was outstanding in the ACT League.  Initially looking  likely to repeat that form in WA, a devastating illness prevented him from exhibiting the best of his abilities in the West. 

Nevertheless, he was a fine rover for Swans, a favourite with black and white fans, a good servant of the club as player and coach, and a legend at Manuka.  

Editors Note. The Eastlake logo has been used as Manuka and Eastlake have had a number of mergers throughout history. Eastlake continue to use the Manuka colours even today.