Jack Gunston (born 16 October 1991) is a professional Australian footballer who plays for 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 ...

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

Gunston was raised in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in Beaumaris and attended

Haileybury College Haileybury may refer to: Australia * Haileybury (Melbourne), a school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ** Haileybury Rendall School, an offshoot in Berrimah, North Territory, Australia China * Haileybury International School, an internatio ...

, playing school football alongside three other future AFL players (

Tom Scully Tom Scully (born 15 May 1991) is a former professional Australian rules footballer. He played for the Melbourne Football Club, Greater Western Sydney Giants, and Hawthorn Football Club. A star midfielder at junior level, Scully was originally s ...

, Jack Hutchins, and Tom Lynch). His father, Ray Gunston, played VFA football for Brunswick, and later moved into sports administration. Gunston began his junior career with the Beaumaris Football Club. He originally played mainly as a midfielder, but after growing in two years he began to play more in key positions. In 2009, the year he became eligible for the

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 ...

, Gunston was selected for the

Sandringham Dragons The Sandringham Dragons are an Australian rules football club playing in the NAB League, the top statewide under-18 competition in Victoria, Australia. They are based at the Trevor Barker Oval in Sandringham, Victoria, representing the souther ...

, a

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 ...

team. Early in the season, he

dislocated A joint dislocation, also called luxation, occurs when there is an abnormal separation in the joint, where two or more bones meet.Dislocations. Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. Retrieved 3 March 2013 A partial dislocation is refe ...

his elbow in a practice game, an injury which took eight weeks to heal. Gunston played for the Dragons in only their last six matches, but was nonetheless a second-round pick in the 2009 AFL National Draft, taken by Adelaide with the 29th pick overall.

AFL career

Adelaide (2010–2011)

Gunston made his AFL debut against the

in 9th round of the 2010 AFL season. In a promising debut Gunston collected seven disposals and kicked a vital goal in the final quarter. He played one more game in round 18 against Richmond collecting nine disposals. He finished the year on the wing with Central District's 2010 premiership Side. In 2011 he played 12 games, kicking five goals against Richmond in round 23. After two years in Adelaide, Gunston became homesick and sought to return to Victoria. He refused to participate in the finals series for Central District, choosing to return home to Victoria before the end of the SANFL season.

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

had awarded him the

Mark Bickley Mark Alan Bickley (born 4 August 1969) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Bickley was a player for the Crows from 1991 until 2003, captaining the team to bo ...

Award as the club's best young player, but he was stripped of the title after announcing his intention to leave.

Hawthorn (2012–2022)

He was traded to Hawthorn in a deal that saw three draft picks (pick 24, 46 & 64) given to Adelaide and two picks returned (pick 53 and 71). In his first season at Hawthorn he played 19 games, including the 2012 Grand Final, and followed up in 2013 with 23 games. Gunston played in the 2013 Grand Final against Fremantle, and was one of the best players on the ground, kicking 4 goals to be the leading goal scorer in the match and finishing second in the Norm Smith Medal count to teammate Brian Lake. Gunston played an important role as key forward in 2014, finishing with a career high 58 goals for the season, and earning his second premiership as Hawthorn triumphed in the Grand Final. In 2015 Gunston was Hawthorn's leading goalkicker, kicking 57 goals. He injured his knee in the Qualifying Final against the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football ...

, but returned in the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

to kick 4 goals, in Hawthorn's three-peat victory against the Eagles once more. In

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, Gunston was forced to take on new roles due to the season-ending injury received by

Jarryd Roughead Jarryd Roughead (born 23 January 1987) is an Australian rules football coach and former player. He is currently an assistant coach with the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played for the Hawthorn Football C ...

, occasionally moving into the centre. Regardless, he kicked 51 goals over the Home-and-Away season and the finals, and was widely regarded as being in excellent form. Gunston had a poor beginning to 2017, not kicking a large amount of goals. As both a result of this and large number of injuries suffered by Hawthorn's key defenders, Gunston was moved into the backline, where he significantly improved his performance. Gunston was moved back into the forward line for 2018. He enjoyed good form, forming a forward partnership with

Luke Breust Luke Breust (born 11 November 1990) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Early career Recruited from Temora, New South Wales, Breust played both rugby league and A ...

with the pair kicking a combined 105 goals between them. Gunston personally kicked 48 goals and came equal 6th in the

Coleman Medal The Coleman Medal is an Australian rules football award given annually to the Australian Football League (AFL) player who kicks the most goals A goal is an objective that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve. Goal may also refer ...

. In February 2019, it was announced that Gunston had been appointed Vice-Captain, alongside new Captain, Ben Stratton. His forward partnership with Breust was not as effective as the previous season, with the pair kicking only a combined 60 goals between them, and Hawthorn missing the finals. Gunston missed the majority of the 2021 season, playing just one game. He suffered a back injury that required surgery, before a premature comeback and recurrence of the injury required further surgery to correct the issue. Gunston returned to full fitness in the 2022 season, finishing with 32 goals from 16 games and ending the season rated as 'above average' for marks inside 50, goals and score involvements. Gunston has collected 47

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the " best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by ...

votes over the course of his career.

Brisbane Lions (2023–)

At the conclusion of the 2022 AFL season, Gunston expressed a desire to move to the as a free agent. However, in order to avoid diluting their free agency compensation for losing

Daniel McStay Daniel McStay (born 24 June 1995) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Career McStay was recruited from the Eastern Ranges in the TAC Cup with pick 25 in the 20 ...

, the Lions instead sought to trade for Gunston, ultimately acquiring him on 11 October in exchange for AFL draft pick 48 and a future fourth round selection.

Playing style

Gunston has a reputation for being very accurate in kicking for goal from

set shot A set shot in Australian rules football is a kick for goal in which the player can 'set' themselves, rather than have to quickly react during the play. A set shot occurs when a player has been awarded a free kick, or has taken a mark within ki ...

s, being frequently described as a "sharp-shooter". He is said to have a "very balanced, methodical set-shot routine", with a focus on a straight drop-ball. Towards the end of the 2013 season, it was reported that Gunston had the best conversion rate out of the top 50 goal-kickers in the competition, with 82.5 percent of his set shots from the past two seasons resulting in goals.

Statistics

''Updated to the end of the 2022 season.'' , - ,

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Honours and achievements

Team * 3× AFL premiership player ():

, 2014,

* 2× Minor premiership ():

Individual *

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...

: 2018 *

Peter Crimmins Medal The Peter Crimmins Medal is an Australian rules football award given to the player(s) from the Hawthorn Football Club deemed best and fairest for the season. Peter Crimmins was a rover for Hawthorn, playing from 1966 to 1975. He died of cancer jus ...

: 2020 * vice-captain: 2019 * 3× Hawthorn leading goalkicker: 2015, 2016, 2020 * 2× most consistent player: 2018, 2020 * best player in finals: 2013 * best first year player (debut season): 2012 * goal of the year: 2022 * 22under22 team: 2014 *

Australia international rules football team :''This article concerns the men's team; for information on the Australian women's team, see Australia women's international rules football team.'' The Australia international rules football team is Australia's senior representative team in Int ...

: 2017

Personal life

Gunston's partner is Melbourne model Dani Shreeve.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gunston, Jack Living people 1991 births People educated at Haileybury (Melbourne) Adelaide Football Club players Hawthorn Football Club players Hawthorn Football Club Premiership players Sandringham Dragons players Central District Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Box Hill Football Club players Australia international rules football team players All-Australians (AFL) Peter Crimmins Medal winners Three-time VFL/AFL Premiership players