Liam Jones 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

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 ...

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 drafted by the Western Bulldogs in the second round of the 2008 AFL Draft, and made his senior debut in 2010. After six seasons on the Bulldogs list, Jones was traded to the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Princes Park (stadium), Princes Park in Carlton North, Victoria, Carlton North, an inner suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The c ...

. Originally a key forward, Jones' switch to Carlton saw a revitalisation for his career when he moved into a key defensive position.

Early life

Growing up in

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

, Liam played his junior football with

North Hobart Football Club The North Hobart Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Southern Football League Premier Division. The club was a part of the Tasmanian Football League from the early 1900s until 2001 ...

before being selected to represent Tasmania's U18s. An

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

, Jones's father Bob Jones was also a professional footballer, playing with St Kilda. Jones attended

Scotch College, Melbourne Scotch College is a private, Presbyterian day and boarding school for boys, located in Hawthorn, an inner-eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The college was established in 1851 as The Melbourne Academy in a house in Spri ...

as part of the school's indigenous program. From years 7-10 he attended Dominic College in

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

AFL career

Western Bulldogs (2008–2014)

At the 2008 National Draft, Liam was drafted with pick #32 by the Western Bulldogs. He spent the 2009 season in the reserves as he was only 17. He made his debut against

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

in round 18 of the 2010 season, and averaged 9.4 disposals from 5 games in his debut season. In round 24, 2011, he was nominated for the

AFL Rising Star The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 season, and was won by Nathan Bu ...

award. He was nominated after playing in his team's win against Fremantle where he scored 2 goals. He also got 9 disposals and 4 marks. Jones showed promise and recorded good stats but remained on the fringes of a falling Western Bulldogs side. His stat averages were increasing but he still found himself being picked in fewer games.

Carlton (2015–2021)

Liam Jones was traded to the Carlton Football Club during the 2014 trade period in exchange for pick 46. That pick ended up being used to draft

Caleb Daniel Caleb Daniel (born 7 July 1996) is a professional Australian rules footballer who plays for the North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos or colloquially the Roos, is a professional Australia ...

. Signed on a three-year deal as a key forward, the start of Jones' career at Carlton was met with erratic form. He only managed nine games in his first season with the Blues, and eight in his second, for an inaccurate and unremarkable return of only 16 goals from 32 scores. The highlight of his time in the Carlton forward-line was two crucial goals in the final quarter of the Round 5, 2016 upset 4-point win against . 2017 was the final year of Jones' initial three-year contract with the Blues, and few – Jones included – expected him to play much senior football or be in any serious contention for a new contract. Early in the season at Carlton's , the

Northern Blues The Northern Bullants are a semi-professional Australian rules football club that currently competes in the Victorian Football League (VFL). The club, which is based in the Melbourne suburb of Preston, plays its home games at Preston City Ov ...

, Jones' position was switched from the forward line to defence to full back, largely to clear the way for Carlton's newly drafted key forwards to develop. Within a month he had begun to excel in the role of shutting down the opposition's best key forward, and he was recalled to the senior team in Round 12, immediately making an impact as an AFL defender. His performances in the second half of the year drew a lot attention and praise, as well as a top-ten finish in the club's best and fairest. He recorded an elite level of spoils per game (10.7) largely due to his preference to punch the ball away instead of attempt a mark (he only recorded 5.1 marks a game). He continued this form into the next season with 7.6 spoils a game, 5.4 marks (1.5 contested, 3.6 intercept) per game, and helped the team with 8.7 one percenters a game. Jones signed a two-year contract extension during 2017 that would see him at Carlton until the end of 2019. He missed eight weeks with a nasty concussion after a head clash during the 2019 season, but recovered and soon afterwards signed another three-year extension with Carlton to the end of 2022. He continued to excel in a key defensive stopping role in the Carlton defence, and recorded five consecutive top-ten finishes in the club's best and fairest from 2017 to 2021. In November 2021, during the AFL’s off-season, Jones’ position at the club (and his career) was made vulnerable after it was revealed that he was opposed to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all AFL players which saw the potential of a player being sacked for not getting vaccinated by mid-February. He ultimately retired days later with a year remaining on his contract at the Blues amid news of his reluctance on getting the vaccine.

Return to the Western Bulldogs (2023–)

During his AFL hiatus, Jones moved to the Gold Coast to play for Palm Beach Currumbin in the QAFL. After the AFL lifted its vaccine mandate during the

2022 AFL season The 2022 AFL season was the 126th 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 ...

, he rejoined the Bulldogs as a free agent during the 2022 trade period, signing a three-year deal, starting in 2023. Jones became the Bulldogs' number-one key defender, and after arguably a career-best year in

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 ...

, Jones was selected for 2025's Indigenous All-Stars match, his second squad selection following 2013. However, Jones was ruled out of the pre-season match against following a hamstring strain at training, also ruling the defender out for the beginning of the AFL season.

Statistics

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

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

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2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, , , 19 , 5, , 6, , 2, , 37, , 10, , 47, , 20, , 11, , 1.2, , 0.4, , 7.4, , 2.0, , 9.4, , 4.0, , 2.2, , 0 , - ,

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, , , 19 , 20, , 19, , 10, , 136, , 60, , 196, , 96, , 38, , 1.0, , 0.5, , 6.8, , 3.0, , 9.8, , 4.8, , 1.9, , 0 , - ,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, , , 19 , 12, , 9, , 9, , 75, , 33, , 108, , 41, , 19, , 0.8, , 0.8, , 6.3, , 2.8, , 9.0, , 3.4, , 1.6, , 0 , - ,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, , , 19 , 19, , 22, , 15, , 107, , 54, , 161, , 77, , 28, , 1.2, , 0.8, , 5.6, , 2.8, , 8.5, , 4.1, , 1.5, , 0 , - ,

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 ...

, , , 19 , 10, , 12, , 4, , 59, , 41, , 100, , 35, , 19, , 1.2, , 0.4, , 5.9, , 4.1, , 10.0, , 3.5, , 1.9, , 2 , - ,

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 ...

, , , 14 , 9, , 7, , 9, , 46, , 19, , 65, , 31, , 18, , 0.8, , 1.0, , 5.1, , 2.1, , 7.2, , 3.4, , 2.0, , 0 , - ,

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 ...

, , , 14 , 8, , 9, , 7, , 44, , 34, , 78, , 24, , 18, , 1.1, , 0.9, , 5.5, , 4.3, , 9.8, , 3.0, , 2.3, , 0 , - ,

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 ...

, , , 14 , 12, , 0, , 0, , 95, , 40, , 135, , 56, , 34, , 0.0, , 0.0, , 7.9, , 3.3, , 11.3, , 4.7, , 2.8, , 5 , - ,

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 ...

, , , 14 , 17, , 0, , 1, , 124, , 56, , 180, , 92, , 39, , 0.0, , 0.1, , 7.3, , 3.3, , 10.6, , 5.4, , 2.3, , 0 , - ,

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 ...

, , , 14 , 13, , 0, , 0, , 87, , 29, , 116, , 62, , 29, , 0.0, , 0.0, , 6.7, , 2.2, , 8.9, , 4.8, , 2.2, , 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 ...

, , , 14 , 17, , 0, , 2, , 111, , 24, , 135, , 72, , 24, , 0.0, , 1.0, , 6.5, , 1.4, , 7.9, , 4.4, , 1.4, , 1 , - ,

, , , 14 , 19, , 0, , 1, , 178, , 41, , 219, , 105, , 19, , 0.0, , 0.1, , 9.4, , 2.2, , 11.6, , 5.5, , 1.0, , 1 , - ,

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 ...

, , , 19 , 18, , 0, , 0, , 129, , 37, , 166, , 89, , 16, , 0.0, , 0.0, , 7.2, , 2.1, , 9.3, , 4.9, , 0.9, , 0 , - ,

, , , 19 , 21, , 0, , 1, , 184, , 60, , 244, , 122, , 10, , 0.0, , 0.0, , 8.8, , 2.9, , 11.7, , 5.8, , 0.5, , 3 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career !200 !84 !61 !1412 !538 !1950 !922 !320 !0.4 !0.3 !7.1 !2.7 !9.8 !4.6 !1.6 !12

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Liam 1991 births Living people Western Bulldogs players Australian rules footballers from Tasmania People educated at Scotch College, Melbourne Tassie Mariners players Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football 21st-century Indigenous Australian people Carlton Football Club players Williamstown Football Club players Northern Bullants players 21st-century Australian sportsmen North Hobart Football Club players