Jason Norrish (born 26 January 1972) is a former Australian rules footballer. Norrish played as a defensive

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and began his football career at the Claremont Tigers.

Early career

Norrish grew up in Bunbury where he attended Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School. He represented WA in the State Schoolboys national championships before moving to Perth to attend

Hale School Hale School is an independent, Anglican day and boarding school for boys, located in Wembley Downs, a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Named after the school founded by Bishop Mathew Blagden Hale in 1858, Hale School claims to ...

.A Tiger. A Demon. A Docker . . .
/ref> In 1990 he made his debut for Claremont and the following year played in the Tigers' premiership side. At the 1991 national draft he was taken by

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 me ...

with the 5th selection,The 10 greatest players in Fremantle Dockers history
with three other Claremont teammates selected before him. Norrish stayed at Claremont for the 1992 season, before moving to Melbourne in 1993.

Melbourne Demons

Norrish made his debut towards the end of the 1993 season and played in five of their last nine games. The following year he missed the first seven games, before playing in most of the remaining games, including all three finals.

Fremantle Dockers

With the introduction of the

Fremantle Dockers The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers, 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 represent the port city of ...

to the AFL, coached by Norrish's Claremont premiership coach

Gerard Neesham Gerard Joseph Neesham (born 11 December 1954) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and for the East Fremantle Football Club, Swan Districts Football Club and Claremont ...

, he was targeted as a priority signing. He returned as an uncontracted player and Melbourne were able to select Don Cockatoo-Collins as compensation. Hampered by injury in his first three seasons at the new club, including a groin injury in 1997, he played all 22 games in 1998 and won named the club champion by one vote from

Adrian Fletcher Adrian Fletcher (born 10 October 1969) is a former Australian rules footballer and current assistant coach. He is regarded as one of football's nomads, having played for five Australian Football League clubs in his 13-year career. Fletcher's ...

. He claimed it was an award that recognised that he was 'just doing his job properly'. His reputation and standing amongst the team was recognised in 1999 when he was named as a vice-captain, a position he held through to the 2001 season. In 2001 he became the third player to play 100 games for Fremantle. Following his retirement from AFL in 2002, he returned to Claremont and played for a further season before work commitments resulted in his retirement from all league football. In total he played 66 games for Claremont, 20 for Melbourne, 128 for Fremantle and one state game for Western Australia. He was inducted into the WA Two Hundred Club in 2003.WA Football 200 Club

References

External links

*
Fremantle Football Club profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norrish, Jason 1972 births Claremont Football Club players Fremantle Football Club players Doig Medal winners Living people Melbourne Football Club players Sportspeople from Bunbury, Western Australia People educated at Hale School Australian rules footballers from Western Australia