John Douglas Coleman (23 November 1928 – 5 April 1973) was an Australian rules footballer who played for and coached the Essendon Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Coleman is widely regarded as one of the greatest-ever Australian rules footballers. In a relatively short playing career, Coleman has the second-highest goal average in the history of the VFL/AFL (with 5.48), kicking 537 goals in 98 matches; he is only eclipsed by Peter Hudson (with 5.64). As of 2023, they are the only VFL/AFL players to average more than 5 goals per game. He was also known for his high-flying spectacular marks, in some cases jumping cleanly over opponents. After a knee injury ended his playing career at age 25, he returned to coach Essendon to premiership success. Coleman died in 1973, at the age of 44, of sudden coronary atheroma. In 1981, the VFL named the Coleman Medal in his honour, awarding it to the League's leading goalkicker at the end of the home-and-away rounds. In 1996 he was one of 12 inaugural Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees bestowed "Legend" status. He is the only player amongst them to have played fewer than 100 games at senior level. Family Born at Port Fairy in the Western District of Victoria to Albert Ernest Coleman (a manager) and his wife Ella Elizabeth (née Matthews), Coleman was the youngest of four siblings; his three older siblings were Lawna Ella, Thurla Margaret and Albert Edwin. He married his Sri Lankan wife, Reine Monica Fernando, in March 1955. They had two daughters, Anne-Marie and Jennifer. Teenage prodigy Coleman was introduced to football at Port Fairy Higher Elementary School. During the early war years, the family moved to Melbourne, where Coleman was enrolled at Ascot Vale West State School. He later attended Moonee Ponds Central School, where he became dux of the school. At the age of 12, he already played in a local under-18 Australian rules football team. In 1943, Coleman's mother took the children to live at Hastings on the Mornington Peninsula as her husband remained in the city to look after his business. Coleman then divided his time between Melbourne, where he was a student at University High School, and Hastings, playing on Saturdays for the local football team which competed in the Mornington Peninsula League. first invited Coleman to train at the club in 1946, but they considered him