Jade Rawlings (born 9 October 1977) is a former
Australian rules football
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
er who played in the
AFL
AFL may refer to:
Sports
* American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues:
** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...
with the Hawthorn, Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne Football Clubs. He served as the caretaker coach of the Richmond Football Club for 11 games in 2009, and has served as the senior coach for
Norwood in the
SANFL
The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport.
Originally formed as the ...
since November 2020, becoming a premiership coach with the club in 2022.
Playing career
Hawthorn
Picked up very late in the
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...
AFL draft
The Australian Football League draft is the annual draft of unsigned players, especially new nominations, by Australian rules football teams that participate in the main competition of that sport, the Australian Football League (AFL).
History
W ...
at pick 94 by the
Hawthorn Football Club
The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawt ...
, Rawlings developed into a very handy
key position
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (ma ...
defender and occasionally,
forward. He racked up 116 games for the Hawks before going into a contractual dispute at the end of 2003.
Western Bulldogs
He was picked up at number 1 in the
2004 AFL Pre-season draft by the
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition.
Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...
, who needed a tall forward, even though Rawlings was probably more at home in the backline. On debut with his new club, in Round 1, 2004, Rawlings booted 7 goals. However, in what would be a sign of things to come, he missed a relatively simple shot that may have cost the Bulldogs the game.
Throughout 2004 Rawlings' kicking was woeful, sometimes kicking difficult goals along the boundary line but missing relatively simple goals (with a 50% accuracy rate). He was dropped to the
VFL. In 2005 Rawlings did not fare much better, his knee troubles ruling him out for the Bulldogs after Round 14 of that year. Rawlings soon got into internal disputes at the club and was traded to his third club, the
Kangaroos
Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...
.
Kangaroos
Rawlings joined his brother
Brady
Brady may refer to:
People
* Brady (surname)
* Brady (given name)
* Brady (nickname)
* Brady Boone, a ring name of American professional wrestler Dean Peters (1958–1998)
Places in the United States
* Brady, Montana, a census-designated plac ...
at the Kangaroos and was believed to be one of the reasons for moving to the club.
After his recruitment, coach
Dean Laidley
Danielle May Laidley (born Dean James Laidley; 27 March 1967) is a former Australian rules football coach and player, who played for the West Coast Eagles and North Melbourne in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 1987 to 1997, including ...
did not guarantee Rawlings a senior game in 2006, saying he had to earn his spot. Jade played most of the year in 2006 with the Tasmanian Devils Football Club in the VFL showing some good form.
After playing just two games in the
2006 season, Rawlings announced that he would retire after the Round 21 game against one of his former clubs, Hawthorn, despite an interview on ''
Before the Game
''Before the Game'' was an Australian rules football comedy panel television show which aired on Network Ten on 1 March 2003 until 27 September 2013. The show was hosted by Andrew Maher with regular panelists Mick Molloy, Dave Hughes, Anthony ...
'' the week prior which had little no hint of retirement, although he did say his "knees weren't too flash" – a problem which hampered him during the 2005 season.
His final game was played in his home state of
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
(at
Aurora Stadium), a match where Rawlings was visibly emotional, as he was well respected by the Hawthorn and Kangaroos sides.
Coaching career
Richmond Football Club
For three seasons beginning in 2007 Rawlings was an assistant coach at the
Richmond Football Club, under senior coach
Terry Wallace
Terry Wallace (born 13 December 1958) is a former professional Australian rules football player and coach.
As a player, his career spanned three VFL/AFL clubs; most notably Hawthorn where he played in three premierships. After one season with ...
, as well as senior coach at Richmond's VFL affiliate club, the
Coburg Tigers. Part of the way through the 2009 season, he was replaced at Coburg by former Brisbane Lions player
Craig McRae
Craig McRae (born 22 September 1973) is a former Australian rules footballer and the current senior coach of the Collingwood Football Club.
Playing career
Originally from South Australian National Football League club Glenelg, McRae was draf ...
, when after Round 11, 2009, he was appointed caretaker senior coach of Richmond Football Club, following the resignation of
Terry Wallace
Terry Wallace (born 13 December 1958) is a former professional Australian rules football player and coach.
As a player, his career spanned three VFL/AFL clubs; most notably Hawthorn where he played in three premierships. After one season with ...
. His first game as Richmond caretaker senior coach was a victory against the West Coast Eagles. Rawlings was dubbed "The Blade" because of 5 cuts he made to the lineup for his first game as caretaker senior coach, including veteran
Joel Bowden
Joel Francis Bowden (born 21 June 1978) is an Australian politician, former union leader and former professional Australian rules footballer. He was elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly at the 2020 Johnston by-election, repres ...
. Rawlings then led Richmond to three wins, one draw and seven losses of the remaining eleven games left in the 2009 season, to finish Richmond in fifteenth place (second-last) position on the ladder with a total of five wins, sixteen losses and one draw. However on 25 August 2009, at the end of the 2009 season, the
Richmond Football Club appointed
Damien Hardwick
Damien Patrick Hardwick (born 18 August 1972) is an Australian rules football coach and former player. He is the senior coach of the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) since 2010, and has the longest continuous servi ...
as their senior coach and Rawlings was not retained as Richmond Football Club senior coach for the 2010 season. Rawlings then left the Richmond Football Club at the end of the 2009 season.
Brisbane Lions
Rawlings was an assistant coach at the
Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL).
The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...
under senior coach
Michael Voss
Michael Voss (born 7 July 1975) is a former professional Australian rules football player with the Brisbane Bears/Lions and current senior coach of the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Voss was a triple premiersh ...
for the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
Melbourne Football Club
Rawlings became an assistant coach in the role of the backline coach at
Melbourne Football Club from the 2012 season.
On 28 September 2017, Rawlings became senior coach of
Casey Demons, Melbourne Football Club's reserves in the
VFL League. Rawlings coached Casey Demons until midway through the 2019 season, before stepping down as senior coach of Casey Demons and being replaced by Sam Radford. Rawlings then returned back to Melbourne Football Club's
AFL
AFL may refer to:
Sports
* American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues:
** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...
coaching panel as an assistant coach under senior coach
Simon Goodwin
Simon Goodwin (born 26 December 1976) is an Australian rules football coach and former player. He has been the senior coach of the Melbourne Football Club of the Australian Football League (AFL) since 2017.
As a player, Goodwin tallied 275 AFL ...
. Rawlings then left Melbourne Football Club at the end of the 2019 season.
North Melbourne Football Club
Rawlings then became an assistant coach at
North Melbourne Football Club under senior coach
Rhyce Shaw
Rhyce Shaw (born 16 October 1981) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Collingwood Football Club and Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is the former senior coach of the North Melbourne ...
for the
2020 season. Rawlings was then sacked by North Melbourne as an assistant coach at the end of the 2020 season.
Norwood Football Club
On 5 November 2020, Rawlings became the senior coach at
Norwood Football Club
Norwood Football Club, nicknamed the Redlegs, is an Australian rules football club competing in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) in the state of South Australia. Its home ground is Coopers Stadium (Norwood Oval), which i ...
in the
SANFL
The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport.
Originally formed as the ...
.
In 2022, Rawlings coached Norwood to their 31st SANFL premiership, winning a 1-point thriller against minor premiers North Adelaide.
Personal life
Rawlings was married to Samantha Richardson (sister of former Richmond player
Matthew Richardson). They have two children. He also has two children with new wife Sallee.
Rawlings also has a brother,
Brady
Brady may refer to:
People
* Brady (surname)
* Brady (given name)
* Brady (nickname)
* Brady Boone, a ring name of American professional wrestler Dean Peters (1958–1998)
Places in the United States
* Brady, Montana, a census-designated plac ...
, who played for the
North Melbourne Football Club. In the latter stages of Rawlings' career he was drafted by the Kangaroos and played alongside his brother.
Rawlings plays cricket in Melbourne for the Burnley CYMS Cricket Club, alongside his brother-in-law, Andrew, whenever his football commitments allow.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rawlings, Jade
1977 births
Living people
Hawthorn Football Club players
North Melbourne Football Club players
Western Bulldogs players
Richmond Football Club coaches
Devonport Football Club players
Coburg Football Club coaches
Casey Demons coaches
People from Devonport, Tasmania
Australian rules footballers from Tasmania
Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame inductees
Australia international rules football team players