Jarrod Harbrow (born 18 July 1988) is a former professional

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 for the

Gold Coast Football Club The Gold Coast Suns is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast in the suburb of Carrara. The club has been playing in the AFL since th ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL).

Early life

Harbrow was born in Cairns to an

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

mother from Cairns and a Caucasian father from

Mooroopna, Victoria Mooroopna is a rural town located north of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is on the banks of the Goulburn River opposite the larger town of Shepparton. The Midland Highway crosses the river between the two towns. At the 2016 census, Moor ...

. His indigenous ancestry can be traced to the

Yirrganydji The Yirrganydji (Irrukandji) people are an Indigenous Australian people of Queensland who trace their descent from the ''Irukandji'' and, as such, are the original custodians of a narrow coastal strip within Djabugay country that runs northward ...

, a rainforest tribe in

Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stretches north to the Torres Strait, and west to the Gulf C ...

. He grew up in the town of

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

, in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

and began playing junior football with the Manunda Hawks and then the South Cairns in the

AFL Cairns AFL Cairns is a semi-professional Australian rules football league that includes clubs from the Cairns region in Queensland, Australia. It is widely regarded as the strongest regional Australian rules football league in Queensland and has a lar ...

competition. He attended

Woree State School Woree State School (WSS) is a public school situated in the southern suburbs of Cairns, North Queensland, Australia. The school provides education from Prep to Year 6 and has around 900 students. It was opened in 1980. Its motto A motto ( ...

while based in Cairns. When Harbrow was 13, his brother was rushed to the

Townsville Hospital Townsville University Hospital (TUH), formerly The Townsville Hospital (TTH), is a public tertiary care hospital on Angus Smirth Drive, Douglas, Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It is the largest facility within the Townsville Hospital and He ...

after being diagnosed with

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

. As a result, Jarrod moved to

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

with his family for one year and gave his brother bone marrow to survive leukemia. He continued to play junior football for the Hermit Park Tigers and attended

Townsville Grammar School , motto_translation = Come In Good, Go Out Better , established = 1888 , type = Independent, day & boarding, IB , gender = Co-educational , denomination = Non-denomina ...

. In 2005, at the age of 16, Harbrow moved to country Victoria where he played for the Mooroopna Football Club before joining the

TAC Cup The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Victo ...

side the

Murray Bushrangers The Murray Bushrangers is an Australian rules football team playing in Victorian statewide under-18s competition, presently known as the NAB League, since 1993 based in Wangaratta. The team trains on Norm Minns Oval. The team is coached by Mark ...

in a bid to nominate for the AFL Draft. He represented Queensland at both the 2004 AFL Under 16 Championships and

2006 AFL Under 18 Championships The 2006 NAB AFL Under 18 Championships was the 11th edition of the AFL Under 18 Championships. Eight teams competed in the championships: Vic Metro, Vic Country, South Australia and Western Australia in Division 1, and New South Wales/Australian ...

, both sides winning the respective division titles. He was overlooked in the

2006 AFL Draft The 2006 AFL draft is a recent national draft of the Australian Football League. The AFL draft is the annual draft of talented players by Australian rules football teams that participate in the main competition of that sport, the Australian Foot ...

, however had already attracted the attention of AFL talent scouts Peter Dean and

Scott Clayton Scott Clayton (born 13 November 1959) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1980s. A tagger from Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the c ...

AFL career

Drafted as a

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

, Harbrow was picked up by the Bulldogs in the 2007 rookie draft. Following only a short time in development playing for the Bulldogs VFL affiliate

Werribee Werribee is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area. Werribee recorded a population of 50,027 at the 2021 census. Werribee i ...

, Harbrow was called up for his AFL debut against the

Richmond Tigers The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football team playing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Between its inception in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond in 1885 and 1907, the club competed in the Victo ...

in Round 4, 2007. He has since become a senior regular and impressed with his pace, skill, defensive pressure and evasive running abilities. In 2009, after struggling to get a game in the first few weeks of the season, he was thrown into defence against

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at the ...

. Since then, he was often seen among the Bulldogs' best, became a regular senior player. He had many highlights in 2009 and shut down some of the league's best small forwards, including Matt Campbell,

Stephen Milne Stephen Milne (born 8 March 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A small forward, he held the record for the most games played by a play ...

Brad Dick Brad Dick (born 25 July 1988) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles and the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A small, speedy wingman from Western Australia, Dick was ...

, and

Mathew Stokes Mathew Stokes (born 22 November 1984) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played with the Geelong Football Club and the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Early life Mathew Stokes grew up ...

. At the conclusion of the 2010 season, the Bulldogs confirmed Jarrod would be the newest uncontracted player to join the Gold Coast Suns. Jarrod wasted no time with the announcement to the football world, coming just days after the Bulldogs' loss to St Kilda in the preliminary final. After being the subject of much speculation all year, the lure of returning home to Queensland proved too strong, despite the Bulldogs' best efforts to retain the rebounding damaging defender. Jarrod was the fifth uncontracted player from an AFL club to join the Suns. Jarrod played his 100th AFL game in Round 18, 2012 against . In round 7, 2016 he became the first Gold Coast player to play 100 AFL games. In round 19, 2018, Harbrow became the first Gold Coast player to play 150 games for the club. The club board ratified the decision to award him life membership. He also won The Gold Coast Club Champion award in 2018, Gold Coast's Best & Fairest award. On August 17th, 2021, Harbrow announced that he would retire after the

Suns Suns may refer to: * Gold Coast Suns, Australian rules football team * Phoenix Suns, basketball team *The Sun, the star of the solar system * Stars, massive balls of plasma * Sun (unit), or cun, a traditional Chinese unit of length *An abbreviatio ...

season finale against the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...

. He played 262 games and is the Gold Coast's games record holder, with 192 games.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harbrow, Jarrod 1988 births Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football Australian rules footballers from Queensland Gold Coast Football Club players Western Bulldogs players Werribee Football Club players Murray Bushrangers players Sportspeople from Cairns Living people Australia international rules football team players Gold Coast Suns Club Champion winners