Nathan Jones (born 20 January 1988) 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 known for playing for the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...

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 ...

. He is the older brother of player

Zak Jones Zachary Jones (born 15 March 1995) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Early life Zachary is the younger brother of former Melbourne captain Nathan ...

. He served as the captain of Melbourne from 2014 until he stepped down at the end of the 2019 season.

Early life

Jones played for the

Dandenong Stingrays The Dandenong Southern Stingrays are an Australian rules football team in the NAB League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition. 1992 saw the birth of the Southern Stingrays, developed under the leadership of Steve Kennedy (Regional Ma ...

in 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 ...

during his junior career and was selected to play for Vic Metro in the 2005 AFL Under-18 Championships. He was named in the 2005 Under-18 All-Australian team as a follower. He played in the TAC Cup Grand Final (now known as NAB League Boys) for Dandenong in 2005 and collected 36 disposals; however, they were defeated by 15 points by

Gippsland Power The Gippsland Power is an Australian rules football team in the NAB League, the top statewide under-18 competition in Victoria, Australia. Honours *Premierships (1): 2005 *Runners-up (3): 1999, 2010, 2012 *Wooden Spoons (1): 2003 *Morrish Medal ...

. Growing up, he was a supporter.

AFL career

Nathan Jones (Australian Rules footballer) (2007)

Jones was drafted to with their first selection and the 12th overall in the 2005 national draft. He made his debut against the in Round 17, 2006, at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadiu ...

and played the remaining eight games for the season, including the elimination final win against and the semi-final loss to . After his fourth match, he earned the Round 20 Rising Star nomination for his game against the , where he collected 25 disposals. After Melbourne were eliminated from the finals, he played for Melbourne's

VFL-affiliate The Australian Football League stages the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in the country. However, there has not been a league-wide Reserves competition since 1987, when the then-Victorian Football League expanded int ...

team,

Sandringham Sandringham can refer to: Places * Sandringham, New South Wales, Australia * Sandringham, Queensland, Australia * Sandringham, Victoria, Australia **Sandringham railway line **Sandringham railway station **Electoral district of Sandringham * Sand ...

, and played in their premiership side. Jones played 21 games during 2007 and earned a second Rising Star nomination after the round 17 loss to . He finished third in the award behind

Joel Selwood Joel Anthony Selwood (born 26 May 1988) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was a quadruple premiership player, a six-time All-Australian, and a three-ti ...

and

Scott Pendlebury Scott Pendlebury (born 7 January 1988) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He has served as the Collingwood captain since the 2014 season. In round ...

and received 17 votes out of a possible 45. He was the runner-up in Melbourne's

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

with 190 votes, finishing behind James McDonald who received 260 votes. Jones cemented himself in Melbourne's side by playing 21 games in 2008 in what was a disappointing year for the club, finishing on the bottom of the ladder. He played 21 matches in 2009 in a year where the club received the

wooden spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to: * Wooden spoon, implement * Wooden spoon (award) A wooden spoon is an award that is given to an individual or team that has come last in a competition. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous e ...

for the second consecutive season. After the Round 2 match against in 2009, Jones's father was attacked by Collingwood fans in an altercation outside the ground. Jones remained a consistent figure in the side, playing every match in 2010 and 2011, including his 100th AFL game in the latter season. Nathan Jones 2015

Jones established himself as Melbourne's leading midfielder in 2012 by winning his first

Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal The Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Trophy is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player(s) adjudged the best and fairest at the Melbourne Football Club throughout the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League (VFL/A ...

as the club's best and fairest; in addition, he polled 14 votes in the

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 ...

count to finish inside the top 20. He was named as vice captain prior to the 2013 season. In May 2013, Jones was appointed as interim co-captain alongside

Jack Trengove Jack Trengove (born 2 September 1991) is a professional Australian rules footballer who most recently played for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A Australian rules football positions#Midfield, midfielde ...

, replacing the injured Jack Grimes. He played every match during the season and won the best and fairest for the second consecutive season, finishing ahead of Colin Garland. After the appointment of new coach Paul Roos, Jones was elected as co-captain alongside Jack Grimes for the 2014 season. He played every match for the season, amassing a career-high 610 disposals, the second-highest tally in the league during the home-and-away season, as well as having the fourth-highest number of clearances. He won his third consecutive Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal, a feat only previously achieved by club champion

Jim Stynes James Stynes OAM (23 April 196620 March 2012) was an Irish-born footballer who converted from Gaelic football to Australian rules football. Playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), he went on to become o ...

. At the end of 2014, Jones signed a four-year contract extension with the Demons, practically ensuring he would remain a one-club player. In February 2015, after Jack Grimes relinquished the co-captaincy, Jones was announced as sole captain, with

Lynden Dunn Lynden Dunn (born 14 May 1987) is a retired professional Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League (AFL) for Melbourne from 2005 to 2016 and for Collingwood from 2017 to 2020. He kicked 99 goals in 198 games. ...

named as vice-captain. He played his 200th AFL game in the Round 22 match against ; however, he suffered an ankle injury in the second quarter that forced him to be substituted out of the game. He finished fifth in the best-and-fairest count; and, despite playing every match for the season, it was announced that he had played most of the season with a neck injury. In 2021, the 33-year-old Jones sustained multiple injuries (including a

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupeds, ...

and later calf injury) that saw him missing the majority of his season (as in 2020, where he'd injured his

quadriceps The quadriceps femoris muscle (, also called the quadriceps extensor, quadriceps or quads) is a large muscle group that includes the four prevailing muscles on the front of the thigh. It is the sole extensor muscle of the knee, forming a large ...

). Nonetheless, Jones became just the second Melbourne player, after

David Neitz David Neitz (born 22 January 1975), is a retired Australian rules footballer. The strongly built centre half back who became a full forward was the longest-serving captain in the history of the Melbourne Football Club and the first Melbourne ...

, to reach the 300-game milestone for the club, doing so against in round six. After Melbourne qualified for the

2021 AFL Grand Final The 2021 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football match contested between and the at Optus Stadium in Perth, Western Australia, on Saturday 25 September 2021. It was the 126th annual grand final of the Australian Football League (AFL) ...

, the injured Jones made the decision to return home to Victoria to be with his wife for the birth of their twins. He subsequently announced his retirement from the AFL, finishing on 302 games, four short of the club's all-time games record held by Neitz.

Statistics

: , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, , 2 , , 8 , , 2 , , 0 , , 64 , , 47 , , 111 , , 20 , , 25 , , 0.3 , , 0.0 , , 8.0 , , 5.9 , , 13.9 , , 2.5 , , 3.1 , , 2 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, , 2 , , 21 , , 10 , , 6 , , 219 , , 146 , , 365 , , 61 , , 86 , , 0.5 , , 0.6 , , 10.4 , , 6.9 , , 16.9 , , 2.9 , , 3.9 , , 5 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, , 2 , , 21 , , 9 , , 6 , , 212 , , 220 , , 432 , , 65 , , 53 , , 0.4 , , 0.3 , , 10.1 , , 10.5 , , 20.6 , , 3.1 , , 2.5 , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, , 2 , , 20 , , 8 , , 11 , , 209 , , 234 , , 443 , , 77 , , 41 , , 0.4 , , 0.6 , , 10.5 , , 11.7 , , 22.2 , , 3.9 , , 2.1 , , 4 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, , 2 , , 22 , , 9 , , 12 , , 198 , , 227 , , 425 , , 54 , , 62 , , 0.4 , , 0.5 , , 9.0 , , 10.3 , , 19.3 , , 2.5 , , 2.8 , , 1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, , 2 , , 22 , , 14 , , 9 , , 266 , , 241 , , 507 , , 100 , , 68 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 12.1 , , 11.0 , , 23.1 , , 4.5 , , 3.1 , , 1 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, , 2 , , 21 , , 16 , , 10 , , 265 , , 251 , , 516 , , 45 , , 95 , , 0.8 , , 0.5 , , 12.6 , , 12.0 , , 24.6 , , 2.1 , , 4.5 , , 14 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, , 2 , , 22 , , 8 , , 7 , , 233 , , 276 , , 509 , , 46 , , 76 , , 0.4 , , 0.3 , , 10.6 , , 12.5 , , 23.1 , , 2.0 , , 3.4 , , 6 , -style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, , 2 , , 22 , , 7 , , 6 , , 311 , , 299 , , 610 , , 64 , , 115 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 14.1 , , 13.6 , , 27.7 , , 2.9 , , 5.2 , , 13 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, , 2 , , 22 , , 12 , , 7 , , 268 , , 255 , , 523 , , 53 , , 95 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 12.2 , , 11.6 , , 23.8 , , 2.4 , , 4.3 , , 10 , -style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, , 2 , , 22 , , 10 , , 11 , , 288 , , 329 , , 617 , , 56 , , 118 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 13.1 , , 15.0 , , 28.0 , , 2.5 , , 5.4 , , 11 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, , 2 , , 16 , , 10 , , 6 , , 207 , , 232 , , 439 , , 63 , , 86 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 12.9 , , 14.5 , , 27.4 , , 3.9 , , 5.4 , , 7 , -style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, , 2 , , 25 , , 15 , , 10 , , 285 , , 329 , , 614 , , 66 , , 93 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 11.4 , , 13.2 , , 24.6 , , 2.6 , , 3.7 , , 7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, , 2 , , 22 , , 8 , , 5 , , 241 , , 210 , , 451 , , 83 , , 53 , , 0.4 , , 0.2 , , 11.0 , , 9.5 , , 20.5 , , 3.8 , , 2.4 , , 0 , -style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

, , 2 , , 8 , , 1 , , 3 , , 50 , , 54 , , 104 , , 23 , , 13 , , 0.1 , , 0.4 , , 6.3 , , 6.8 , , 13.0 , , 2.9 , , 1.6 , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, , 2 , , 8 , , 2 , , 3 , , 50 , , 45 , , 95 , , 23 , , 12 , , 0.3 , , 0.4 , , 6.3 , , 5.6 , , 11.9 , , 2.9 , , 1.5 , , 0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 302 ! 141 ! 112 ! 3366 ! 3395 ! 6761 ! 899 ! 1091 ! 0.5 ! 0.4 ! 11.1 ! 11.2 ! 22.4 ! 3.0 ! 3.6 ! 81 Notes

Honours and achievements

Team *

McClelland Trophy The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football trophy which has been awarded each year since 1951 by the Australian Football League (known prior to 1990 as the Victorian Football League) to the best-performing club in the home-and-away sea ...

():

Individual * Melbourne captain: 2014–2019 * Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Trophy: 2012, 2013, 2014 * AFL Rising Star nominee: 2006 (Round 20), 2007 (Round 17) * David Neitz Medallist 2021

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Nathan 1988 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Melbourne Football Club players Dandenong Stingrays players Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Trophy winners Melbourne Football Club captains Sandringham Football Club players