Jake Rogers is a 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who was selected by the Gold Coast Suns with the fourteenth pick in the 2023 AFL draft.

Early life

Rogers was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

to an Australian father and a South African mother. He moved with his family to the Gold Coast at five years of age and attended Varsity College throughout his upbringing. Rogers began playing junior football for the first time shortly after arriving in Queensland when he signed up to play for the Broadbeach Cats in the local Gold Coast under-6s competition. Rogers became a foundation member of the Gold Coast Suns when they entered the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

in 2011 and he joined the club's

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

at 13 years of age where he met future AFL teammates Jed Walter, Ethan Read and Will Graham. Along with

, Rogers also played

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

for his school in the position of fullback. He made his senior QAFL debut for Broadbeach at 16 years of age in May 2021. In 2022, his club form was rewarded with selection to represent the Allies in the U18 National Championships as well as the Gold Coast Suns Academy in the U19 Talent League. His performances at the representative and club levels led to placement in the AFL's 30-player National Academy program on the eve of his draft year. In 2023, he moved into top 20 draft calculations when he was awarded the best on ground award in the AFL U18 Academy's victory over Carlton's VFL team and also played in the Allies' first U18 National Championship win, which earned him a starting midfield position in the 2023 U18 All-Australian team. Rogers was drafted to his hometown team the Gold Coast Suns with pick 14 in the 2023 AFL draft after the Suns elected to match a bid from 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 Austral ...

AFL career

Rogers made his AFL debut for the Suns in round 6 of the 2024 season against the

at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

Statistics

: ''Statistics are correct to the end of 2024'' , - ,

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, , , , 29 , 9 , , 2 , , 0 , , 33 , , 50 , , 83 , , 10 , , 24 , , 0.2 , , 0.0 , , 3.7 , , 5.6 , , 9.2 , , 1.1 , , 2.7 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 9 !! 2 !! 0 !! 33 !! 50 !! 83 !! 10 !! 24 !! 0.2 !! 0.0 !! 3.7 !! 5.6 !! 9.2 !! 1.1 !! 2.7

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Jake Living people 2005 births Australian rules footballers from the Gold Coast, Queensland Gold Coast Football Club players Australian people of South African descent Sportspeople of South African descent Broadbeach Australian Football Club players