Jeremy Ronald McGovern (born 15 April 1992) 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 for the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and first competed in 1987 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known ...

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 ...

(AFL). He was a tall key-position player who spent most of his career as a defender, although he occasionally played forward. McGovern was recruited from the

Claremont Football Club The Claremont Football Club, nicknamed Tigers, is an Australian rules football club based in Claremont, Western Australia, that currently plays in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). Its official colours are na ...

with the 44th pick in the 2011 Rookie Draft. He was something of a late bloomer, only making his senior debut for West Coast midway through the 2014 season (aged 22). McGovern has been a fixture in the Eagles' line-up since then, and in 2015 played in the grand final loss to Hawthorn. He was named as a defender in the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, and

2024 All-Australian team The 2024 All-Australian team represents the best performed Australian Football League (AFL) players during the 2024 season. It was announced in August as a complete Australian rules football team of 22 players. The team is honorary and does no ...

s, entrenching himself as one of the best key defenders in the league.

Early life

McGovern was born in Sydney, New South Wales while father Andrew McGovern was playing for in the early 90s. The family moved over to West Australia in 1993 after Andrew was delisted and eventually played for . His younger brother

Mitch Mitch is a short form of the masculine given name Mitchell. It is also sometimes a nickname, usually for a person with the surname Mitchell. It may refer to: People * Mitch Albom (born 1958), American author, journalist, and musician * Mitch ...

plays for . As a child, McGovern spent four years living in Warburton, a remote community in the

Gibson Desert The Gibson Desert is a large desert in Western Australia, largely in an almost pristine state. It is about in size, making it the fifth largest desert in Australia, after the Great Victoria, Great Sandy, Tanami and Simpson deserts. The ...

where his father was working for the

Clontarf Foundation The Clontarf Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation that assists in the education and employment of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men. Overview With support from the corporate/philanthropic sector, state/Territory government ...

. He later spent time in

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

and Albany, attending North Albany Senior High School. McGovern played his junior football for the North Albany Football Club, in the same teams as two other future AFL players – Josh Bootsma and Marley Williams. He played WAFL colts for

Claremont Claremont may refer to: Places Australia *Claremont, Ipswich, a heritage-listed house in Queensland * Claremont, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart * Claremont, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth * Town of Claremont, Perth * Claremont Airbase, an ...

in 2010, as a ruckman.

AFL career

McGovern was drafted by the Eagles with the 44th pick in the 2011 Rookie Draft (held in late 2010). He was elevated to the senior list in November 2013. In late 2013, McGovern showed up for pre-season training significantly overweight, after a holiday to Thailand. He was "banished" from the club and told to pursue an individual training routine if he wished to continue his career, eventually losing 10 kg and regaining the trust of the coaching staff. In his fourth year on West Coast's playing list, McGovern finally made his senior debut for the club in round six of the 2014 season, against Carlton at

Etihad Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium, currently known as Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, and commonly shortened as The Etihad, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City, with a domestic football capacity of 53,600, making it the 7t ...

. He was dropped for the next game, but returned in round twelve against Hawthorn as a like-for-like replacement for Josh Kennedy (who had a fractured cheekbone). McGovern kicked 10 goals across the next four games, and held his spot for the rest of the year. Overall he managed 13 games in 2014, playing predominantly as a swingman in a similar vein to how Adam Hunter was used under

John Worsfold John Richard Worsfold (born 25 September 1968) is a former Australian rules football coach and player. He had a long association with the West Coast Eagles as player (1987–1998) and coach (2002–2013), captaining the club to premierships in ...

. In 2015, McGovern emerged as one of the best contested marks in the game as a result of West Coast's considerable injury list. Injuries to Eric MacKenzie and Mitch Brown meant McGovern was forced back into a key defender role. He performed it with aplomb despite often being undersized and inexperienced compared to some of the best forwards in the game. He emerged as a reliable mark, often going back with the flight of the ball into packs to influence the contest, and he was rewarded with a position in the 40-man

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

squad (although he did not make the final team). In 2016, after a career-best season, McGovern was named as a defender in the

2016 All-Australian team The 2016 Virgin Australia All-Australian team represents the best performed Australian Football League (AFL) players during the 2016 season. It was announced on 1 September as a complete Australian rules football team of 22 players. The team is ...

. He was the first Eagles key defender to make the team since

Darren Glass Darren Glass (born 14 May 1981) is a former Australian rules footballer who played as a full-back for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). Originally from Northam, Western Australia, he attended Carine Senior High S ...

in 2011. McGovern set a new overall record for the most contested intercept marks in a season, and recorded the equal-most marks from opposition kicks in 2016 (alongside

Easton Wood Easton Phillip Wood (born 4 September 1989) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL). He grew up in Camperdown, Victoria, Camperdown, Victoria (Australia), Victoria whi ...

). In July 2018, McGovern signed a five-year contract extension with West Coast reportedly worth $5 million. Many clubs were interested in recruiting him, including Fremantle, St Kilda and Sydney. In the West Coast game against Port Adelaide on Saturday 11 August 2018, McGovern kicked a goal after the siren to win the game for the West Coast Eagles. In Round 23, 2018, McGovern broke the record for most intercept marks in a season by taking his 77th of 2018. The record was previously held by Easton Wood of the Western Bulldogs at 76 and was set in 2015. 2024 would be a successful season for McGovern as he achieved his fifth

All Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

selection, his first in five years, and his first ever

John Worsfold Medal The John Worsfold Medal is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player(s) adjudged the best and fairest at the West Coast Eagles throughout the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League (VFL/AFL) season. Sixt ...

as the West Coast Eagles Best & Fairest for season 2024. After sustaining a concussion in West Coast's Round 8, 2025 game against Melbourne, McGovern consulted an AFL Concussion Panel. The panel recommended his retirement, which he and the Eagles announced on 20 June 2025.

Statistics

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2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

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2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

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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 ...

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2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 20 , , 15 , , 0 , , 0 , , 196 , , 50 , , 246 , , 111 , , 15 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 13.1 , , 3.3 , , 16.4 , , 7.4 , , 1.0 , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 20 , , 6 , , 0 , , 0 , , 73 , , 34 , , 107 , , 30 , , 6 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 12.2 , , 5.7 , , 17.8 , , 5.0 , , 1.0 , , , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 197 !! 38 !! 32 !! 2173 !! 913 !! 3086 !! 1313 !! 267 !! 0.2 !! 0.2 !! 11.0 !! 4.6 !! 15.6 !! 6.7 !! 1.4 !! 17 Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McGovern, Jeremy 1992 births Living people West Coast Eagles players West Coast Eagles premiership players Australian rules footballers from Western Australia Sportspeople from Albany, Western Australia North Albany Football Club players Claremont Football Club players East Perth Football Club players All-Australians (AFL) VFL/AFL premiership players 21st-century Australian sportsmen

Early life

AFL career

Statistics

See also

References

External links