Jye Caldwell (born 28 September 2000) 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 playing for the

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers or colloquially the Dons, is a professional Australian rules football club that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCrac ...

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 recruited by the

Greater Western Sydney Giants The Greater Western Sydney Giants (officially the Greater Western Sydney Football Club and colloquially known as the GWS Giants or simply GWS or Giants) are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney Olympic Park which repres ...

with pick 11 in the 2018 national draft.

Early life

Caldwell participated in the

Auskick Auskick is a program designed to teach the basic skills of Australian football to children aged between 5 and 12. Auskick is a non-contact variant of the sport. It began in Australia and is now a nationwide non-selective program. It has incre ...

program at Golden Square and played his junior football with

Golden Square Golden Square, in Soho, the City of Westminster, London, is a mainly hardscaped garden square planted with a few mature trees and raised borders in Central London flanked by classical office buildings. Its four approach ways are north and so ...

before progressing to the

Bendigo Pioneers The Bendigo Pioneers is an Australian rules football team in the statewide Victorian under-18s league, the Talent League. History The Bendigo Pioneers is an Australian rules football team playing in Talent League since 1993 based in Bendigo, Vic ...

in the

TAC Cup The Talent League (also known as the Coates Talent League under naming rights and previously as the NAB League and TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition based in Melbourne and run by the Australian Foot ...

. He represented Victoria Country at the

2018 AFL Under 18 Championships The 2018 NAB AFL Under-18 Championships was the 23rd edition of the AFL Under-18 Championships. The tournament was played in two divisions, with the best players from across the entire Division 2 Academy series, combined into an Allies team ...

. Apart from football Caldwell was also a talented junior boxer.

AFL career

Greater Western Sydney

Caldwell was recruited by the

with pick 11 in the 2018 national draft. He made his senior debut in the 56-point loss against Hawthorn, in round 21 of the

2019 AFL season The 2019 AFL season was the 123rd season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season feature ...

Manuka Oval Manuka Oval is a sporting venue in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is located in Griffith, Australian Capital Territory, Griffith, in the area of that suburb known as Manuka, Australian Capital Territory, Manuka. Manuka Oval has a seating ...

Essendon

At the conclusion of the

2020 AFL season The 2020 AFL season was the 124th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featur ...

, Caldwell requested a trade to . He was traded on November 12, the final day of trade period. Caldwell made his debut for Essendon in their round 1 match against , however suffered a hamstring injury in round 2 and was ruled out for the rest of the home and away season. Caldwell returned for Essendon's elimination final defeat against 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 ...

York Park 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 ...

in Launceston. In 2024, Caldwell had a "breakout season", getting more midfield time and thus becoming one of Essendon's best players and most important midfielders, including winning Essendon's player of the month award in June of that season. Caldwell played every game for the season and finished the season ranked 7th in the league for tackles, while also finishing ranked 1st for clearances at the Bombers. Caldwell capped off his fantastic season by re-signing with Essendon for a further four seasons.

AFL statistics

''Updated to the end of 2024''. , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 5 , 2 , , 0 , , 0 , , 13 , , 10 , , 23 , , 7 , , 9 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 6.5 , , 5.0 , , 11.5 , , 3.5 , , 4.5 , , 0 , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 5 , 9 , , 1 , , 2 , , 56 , , 58 , , 114 , , 27 , , 33 , , 0.1 , , 0.2 , , 6.2 , , 6.4 , , 12.6 , , 3.0 , , 3.7 , , 0 , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 6 , 2 , , 0 , , 1 , , 18 , , 14 , , 32 , , 6 , , 12 , , 0.0 , , 0.5 , , 9.0 , , 7.0 , , 16.0 , , 3.0 , , 6.0 , , 0 , - ,

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 , 20 , , 6 , , 8 , , 175 , , 200 , , 375 , , 67 , , 86 , , 0.3 , , 0.4 , , 8.7 , , 10.0 , , 18.7 , , 3.3 , , 4.3 , , 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 ...

, , , , 6 , 21 , , 11 , , 12 , , 183 , , 208 , , 391 , , 71 , , 89 , , 0.5 , , 0.6 , , 8.7 , , 9.9 , , 18.6 , , 3.4 , , 4.2 , , 2 , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 6 , 23 , , 8 , , 9 , , 253 , , 270 , , 523 , , 95 , , 149 , , 0.4 , , 0.4 , , 11.0 , , 11.7 , , 22.7 , , 4.1 , , 6.5 , , 8 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3 , Career ! 78 !! 26 !! 32 !! 707 !! 765 !! 1472 !! 275 !! 382 !! 0.3 !! 0.4 !! 9.1 !! 9.8 !! 18.9 !! 3.5 !! 4.9 !! 10 Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Caldwell, Jye Living people 2000 births Greater Western Sydney Giants players Essendon Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Bendigo Pioneers players People educated at Geelong Grammar School 21st-century Australian sportsmen