Jason Luke Horne-Francis (né Horne; born 21 June 2003) is a professional

Australian rules footballer 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 ...

currently playing for the

Port Adelaide Football Club Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where it is nicknamed the ...

in 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 ...

, having been initially selected by the

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 ...

as the number one pick in the

2021 AFL draft The 2021 AFL draft consisted of the various periods where the 18 clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL) could trade and recruit players during and following the completion of the 2021 AFL season. The National Draft returned to being a t ...

Early life and junior football

Horne-Francis was born in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

and raised in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. He was named the Most Valuable Player for South Australia when he captained the under-16 state team. He was also captain of the South Australian under-19 team, during which he was named in the competition's All-Australian team. He commenced playing senior-level SANFL at the age of 17, and was named best on ground in the 2021 preliminary final. Horne-Francis played senior-level football for the

South Adelaide Football Club The South Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed the Panthers, is an Australian rules football club based in the Adelaide suburb of Noarlunga Downs, South Australia, Noarlunga Downs. The club competes in the South Australian National Football Leagu ...

in the

South Australian National Football League 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. ...

and the

Christies Beach Football Club The Christies Beach Football Club is an Australian rules football team based in the outer southern suburbs of Adelaide that first fielded junior teams in the Southern Football League (South Australia), Southern Football League in 1964. In 1966 ...

in the

Southern Football League The Southern League is a football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from East Anglia, the South and Midlands of England, and South Wales. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven a ...

AFL Career

In late 2021, Horne-Francis was the first South Australian since Bryce Gibbs (2006) to be chosen as the first pick in the national draft and just the third

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

player to be drafted with the first selection after

Des Headland Desmond John Headland, Jr (born 21 January 1981) is a retired Australian rules footballer, Following on from his AFL career he continued on finishing his playing career for Subiaco in the West Australian Football League. He was also a former c ...

(

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

) and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (

2020 The year 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 even ...

). Upon joining the Kangaroos, Horne-Francis had the choice of numbers 6 and 18 for his jumper, and chose 6 because the number 18 was closely associated with club legend

Wayne Carey Wayne Francis Carey (born 27 May 1971) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the North Melbourne Football Club and Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A dual-premiership captain at North Melbourne ...

, and Horne-Francis wanted to carve his own path. Horne-Francis played his first game in the AFL in the opening round of the 2022 season, having 13 disposals and kicking one goal on North Melbourne's narrow defeat to Hawthorn. He was part of his first victory the following week in North's 15 point victory against West Coast. In June of his first season, he was suspended by the league for two weeks for striking an opponent. In October 2022, Horne-Francis requested a trade to , the second number one draft pick after Tom Boyd to request a trade after one season. He was traded to Port Adelaide on 10 October, signing a six-year deal keeping him at Port Adelaide until 2028.

Personal life

Growing up, Horne-Francis supported the Fremantle Dockers. He dropped out of school in year 11 to work at the Fleurieu Milk Company; he credits this experience, as well as his stepfather's influence, with maturing him as a person. Born Jason Horne, in 2021 he added the Francis name after his stepfather, former AFL player Fabian Francis. As an adult Horne-Francis learned that he had partial indigenous heritage through his biological father, whom he has no contact with. This connects him to the

Wardaman people The Wardaman people are a small group of Aboriginal Australians living about South-West of Katherine, on Menngen Aboriginal Land Trust in the Northern Territory of Australia. Language Wardaman is a non- Pama-Nyungan language. Though close to ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

Statistics

: ''Statistics correct to the end of the 2024 season'' , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ,

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, , , , 6 , 17 , , 4 , , 6 , , 169 , , 112 , , 281 , , 51 , , 49 , , 0.2 , , 0.3 , , 9.9 , , 6.5 , , 16.5 , , 3.0 , , 2.8 , , 0 , - ,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, , , , 18 , 24 , , 16 , , 12 , , 268 , , 154 , , 422 , , 78 , , 69 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 11.2 , , 6.4 , , 17.6 , , 3.3 , , 2.9 , , 16 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ,

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 ...

, , , , 18 , 24 , , 27 , , 21 , , 373 , , 149 , , 522 , , 106 , , 71 , , 1.1 , , 0.9 , , 15.5 , , 6.2 , , 21.7 , , 4.4 , , 3.0 , , 19 , - class=sortbottom ! colspan=3 , Career ! 65 !! 47 !! 39 !! 810 !! 415 !! 1225 !! 235 !! 189 !! 0.7 !! 0.6 !! 12.5 !! 6.4 !! 18.9 !! 3.6 !! 2.9 !! 35

Honours

Individual

* Gavin Wanganeen Medal: 2023, 2024 * The Alberton Crowd Player of the Year: 2024

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Horne-Francis, Jason Living people 2003 births North Melbourne Football Club players Port Adelaide Football Club players South Adelaide Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Adelaide Christies Beach Football Club players Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football 21st-century Indigenous Australian people 21st-century Australian sportsmen