John Barnes (born 1 June 1969) is a retired Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League. Playing career Barnes' VFL/AFL career included two State of Origin games for Victoria. Early career – from Essendon to Geelong The young Barnes was a ruckman/forward recruited by Essendon in 1986 from Cobram, Victoria. He was traded after five seasons with Windy Hill to the Geelong Football Club for Sean Denham. Under the coaching of Malcolm Blight and later Gary Ayres he would go on to feature prominently in the losing 1994 and 1995 Grand Final sides. During a Round 5 encounter at Princes Park against Carlton in 1997, after a marking duel, Barnes landed awkwardly on his left elbow, dislocating it and sidelining him for ten weeks. Barnes was delisted by the club in 1999. He had played a total of 144 games with 65 goals with the Cats. Return to Essendon It was Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy, however, who tempted Barnes back to Windy Hill, and he was selected at number #59 in the 1999 AFL Draft. A shortage of ruckmen at the club led Sheedy to reacquaint Barnes with his former club. A season later, after a defeat to the Brisbane Lions in the 2001 Grand Final, Barnes retired. He had totalled 58 games and 25 goals with the Bombers during his original tenure and return to the club. Playing statistics |- style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1987 | | 20 || 6 || 9 || 4 || 21 || 8 || 29 || 14 || 6 || 2 || 1.5 || 0.7 || 3.5 || 1.3 || 4.8 || 2.3 || 1.0 || 0.3 |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1988 | | 20 || 2 || 0 || 1 || 12 || 6 || 18 || 8 || 1 || 1 || 0.0 || 0.5 || 6.0 || 3.0 || 9.0 || 4.0 || 0.5 || 0.5 |- style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1989 | | 20 || 2 || 1 || 1 || 10 || 8 || 18 || 8 || 2 || 5 || 0.5 || 0.5 || 5.0 || 4.0 || 9.0 || 4.0 || 1.0 || 2.5 |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1990 | | 20 || 2 || 2 || 1 || 9 || 8 || 17 || 6 || 1 || 7 || 1.0 || 0.5 || 4.5 || 4.0 ||