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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played in the AFL 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 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 sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

since November 2020, becoming a premiership coach with the club in 2022. Rawlings departed Norwood late 2024, to take on a role as backline coach for the

Fremantle Football Club The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers or colloquially Freo, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represen ...

Playing career

Hawthorn

Picked up very late in the

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

AFL draft The Australian Football League draft is the annual draft (sports), 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 ( ...

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 Hawth ...

, Rawlings developed into a very handy key position 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 club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

, 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

Rawlings joined his brother Brady at the Kangaroos and this was believed to be one of the reasons for moving to the club. After his recruitment, coach Dean Laidley 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, Antho ...

'' 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 Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

(at

Aurora Stadium York Park is a sports ground in the Inveresk and York Park Precinct, Launceston, Australia. Holding 21,000 people, York Park is known commercially as University of Tasmania (UTAS) Stadium and was formerly known as Aurora Stadium under a previo ...

), 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 The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers or colloquially the Tiges, is a professional Australian rules football team competing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Founded in 1885 in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond, Victoria, Ric ...

, under senior coach Terry Wallace, 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, when after Round 11, 2009, he was appointed caretaker senior coach of Richmond Football Club, following the resignation of Terry Wallace. 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. 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

appointed Damien Hardwick 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 are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...

under senior coach Michael Voss 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 The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons or colloquially the Dees, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

from the 2012 season. On 28 September 2017, Rawlings became senior coach of

Casey Demons The Casey Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Cranbourne East, Victoria, Cranbourne East. The club, which was previously known as the Springvale Football Club (1903–2005) ...

, 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 coaching panel as an assistant coach under senior coach Simon Goodwin. 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 The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos or colloquially the Roos, is a professional Australian rules football club. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AF ...

under senior coach Rhyce Shaw for the 2020 season. Rawlings was then sacked by North Melbourne as an assistant coach at the end of the 2020 season. Jade Rawlings 190425

Norwood Football Club

On 5 November 2020, Rawlings became the senior coach at

Norwood Football Club The Norwood Football Club, nicknamed the Redlegs, is an Australian rules football club competing in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Its home ground is Norwood Oval, Coopers Stadium (Norwood Oval), which is often referred ...

in the

. In 2022, Rawlings coached Norwood to their 31st SANFL premiership, winning a 1-point thriller against minor premiers North Adelaide. In 2024, Rawlings coached Norwood to a remarkable and worthy minor premiership, dominating most of the season by being on top of the ladder for the majority of the rounds. During the 2024 finals series Rawlings coached Norwood into another Grand Final but unfortunately, in spite of leading for most of the game, Glenelg pegged them down and won. Rawling's Redlegs finishing runners up.

Fremantle Football Club

In October 2024, Rawlings was appointed as backline coach of the

for the 2025 AFL season under Justin Longmuir.

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, who played for the

. 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 Sportspeople from Devonport, Tasmania Australian rules footballers from Tasmania Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame inductees Australia international rules football team players