Clinton Jones limited Melbourne creative defender Aaron Davey to 7 possessions in the first half whilst having 14 possessions himself in the Round 14 Sunday twilight match against Melbourne at Etihad Stadium. In the second half Jones was used in a more attacking role in the midfield and Sean Dempster performed the shut-down role on Davey. Jones proved to be just as effective in the attacking role as he was as a tagger, kicking a very good goal from a stoppage and collecting 10 possessions during the third quarter.
Jones finished with 16 kicks, 15 handballs, laid 8 tackles and won an equal team-high 9 contested possessions. Jones’s speed and endurance are key traits that make him the one of the best taggers in the game, however as was shown on Sunday these traits along with his hardness and ability to win the contested ball also allow him to be used as an attacking midfielder.
Clinton Jones was picked by St Kilda with the No.9 selection in the 2007 Rookie Draft after winning two consecutive best and fairests for South Fremantle in the WAFL and playing in their 2005 premiership side. Jones played as an attacking wingman for South Fremantle, and finished third in the 2006 Sandover Medal. Although Clinton’s dad had represented rival club East Fremantle, Clinton was zoned to South Fremantle. At the time of being recruited by St Kilda at 22 years of age Jones was 183 centimetres tall and weighed 83 kilograms.
Jones made his AFL debut in Round 3 2007 as a late replacement for Matthew Clarke. Jones had 14 possessions and kicked a goal in the 50 point victory against the Western Bulldogs at the Telstra Dome, however he was dropped to the VFL for the next two games. Jones represented St Kilda in Round 6 and 7, but then an injured cheekbone kept him on the sidelines until Round 15 when he returned through the VFL. Jones came into the St Kilda Round 18 side as a late replacement for Luke Ball. Jones played three of St Kilda’s final five matches of the 2007 season and was named as an emergency for the other two.
In 2007 Jones played 6 matches averaging 86 minutes, 6.2 kicks, 3.7 handballs and 2.2 marks a game. Jones played in the midfield with his strengths being his hard running and ability to win the contested ball. He was rewarded for his 2007 season by being elevated off St Kilda’s rookie list onto the main list.
Jones played in the Round 1 2008 game against Sydney at Etihad Stadium and showed great courage to run back with the flight of the ball in the dying minutes. Jones was awarded a free kick and the Saints held on to win a thrilling encounter by two points. Clinton was named as an emergency for Round 2 and 3 and was a late replacement in Round 4 for Adam Schneider who missed with a hamstring injury, Jones retained his place in the side for Round 5, but then spent the next three weeks in the VFL. Jones was recalled to the St Kilda side for the Round 9 match and played the final 17 games of the season for the Saints. In his first 9 AFL matches Jones only had 15 or more possessions once however in the final 17 matches of the 2008 season had 15 or more possessions in 14 games and established himself in St Kilda’s best 22.
Jones significantly improved the quality as well as the quantity of his possessions during the 2008 season, with his disposal efficiency increasing from 54.2% to 74.2% and his possessions per game increased by 78.8%. During 2008 Jones predominantly played as a midfielder but he also spent some in the forward line where his defensive pressure was a valuable asset. In 2008 Jones played 20 matches averaging 96 minutes, 8.0 kicks, 9.7 handballs and 4.2 marks a game. Jones reaped the benefits of working diligently on the defensive side of his game after his debut AFL season and he was ranked fifth at St Kilda for tackles despite missing five games.
Regular taggers Steven Baker and Sean Dempster both missed the concluding stages of the 2008 season with knee injuries. It was during this time that St Kilda successfully experimented with using Clinton Jones as a tagger. Steven Baker came back from his knee injury at the start of the 2009 season and played as a small defender allowing Jones to continue playing as a midfield tagger.
In the Round 3 2009 match against West Coast Jones had 13 kicks, 12 handballs, took 6 marks and kicked a goal whilst tagging 2005 Brownlow Medal runner-up Daniel Kerr. Kerr had 8 kicks and 19 handballs however his influence was greatly diminished by the immense pressure applied by Jones who was phenomonal in making 14 tackles, many of them just after Kerr gained possession of the ball. Kerr was one of only two players on the ground not to take a mark. Due to his great defensive pressure and endurance Jones gives his opponents significantly less time and space than they are accustomed to reducing their effectiveness when they dispose of the ball.
During 2009 Jones established himself as one of the best taggers in the competition, taking some big scalps throughout the season and also winning more possessions than most taggers. Jones played 24 matches averaging 99 minutes, 7.8 kicks, 10.6 handballs and 2.5 marks a game with a disposal efficiency of 73.4%. Jones won the Robert Harvey Most Professional Player Award.
In 2009 Jones performed his role as a tagger very effectively, “restricting the likes of Alan Didak, Bernie Vince, Danyle Pearce and Dane Swan all to 15 or less disposals.”1 Jones finished sixth in St Kilda’s best and fairest behind five members of the 2009 All-Australian team in Nick Riewoldt, Brendon Goddard, Leigh Montagna, Nick Dal Santo and Lenny Hayes. Jones was ranked third at St Kilda in tackles and sixth in handballs.
During the 2010 season Michael Barlow and James Podsiadly have both had remarkable debut seasons in the AFL as mature age recruits. After their success AFL clubs will be more willing to draft mature age players, especially in the next couple of seasons with expansion clubs Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney joining the AFL. St Kilda have been one of the most active AFL clubs in relation to recruiting mature age players in the past 15 years. St Kilda’s mature age recruits during this time include:
Name Age when drafted Total Games Finals Recruited From
Max Hudghton 20 234 13 West Brisbane
Andrew Thompson 24 221 11 Old Melburnians
Stephen Milne 20 202 11 Essendon Reserves
Sam Fisher 21 132 8 West Adelaide
Clinton Jones 22 64 6 South Fremantle
As you can tell from the list above St Kilda’s mature age recruits in the past 15 years have been exceptional. During its 113 year VFL/AFL history 21 players have played 200 games for the St Kilda Football Club, three of them in Hudghton, Thompson and Milne are on the list of mature age recruits above and also rank in the top 19 for finals played with St Kilda. Sam Fisher is a best and fairest winner and All-Australian defender whilst Clinton Jones has developed into an elite tagger who in the majority of matches over the past season and a half has won his duel or broken even with one of the opposition’s most damaging midfielders.
Some AFL recruiters can be quick to rule out mature age players due to one or two weaknesses that they have. The major criticism of Jones was his kicking, however even though this weakness was clearly outweighed by his hardness, speed and endurance AFL clubs had still been unwilling to draft him until St Kilda gave him a spot on their rookie list in 2007.
All three of St Kilda’s current players from the mature age recruits list above rank among the elite in the AFL for the specific role that they perform for the St Kilda Football Club, Fisher as a tall defender, Milne as a small forward and Jones as a tagger in the midfield. The current St Kilda Football team is significantly stronger due to the presence of Milne, Fisher and Jones in the team, everyone involved with the St Kilda Football sholud be appreciative of the great judgement shown by the St Kilda recruiting staff in drafting Milne and Jones onto the rookie list in 2000 and 2007 respectively and picking Fisher with selection No. 55 in the 2003 National Draft.
During his final season in the WAFL for South Fremantle in 2006 Jones was regularly tagged as the opposition attempted to reduce his effectiveness as an attacking midfielder. In his past couple of seasons for St Kilda the roles have been reversed as it is now Jones who regularly tags one of the opposition’s most damaging midfielders. The tactics that he used in 2006 to break the tag are now used on him and Jones has become the hunter rather than the hunted.
Earlier this year Jones told the Sunday Age “It is almost like there’s been two completely different sides to my football. But in some ways I am still the same. I still try to use my speed, and I still try to use my endurance. I just use them in different ways.” 2 The Round 14 2010 match against Melbourne was the best demonstration yet of Jones bringing the two sides of his game together during the same AFL match. Jones, like several of his teammates has become a more versatile player during the 2010 season and whilst he will be used a tagger on most ocassions he has also shown that he can perform a role as an attacking midfielder or as a defensive forward.
In the 2010 pre-season St Kilda indicated that although Jones would be focused on nullifying his opponent he was going to play a slightly more attacking role than he did in 2009. During the 2010 season Jones has had some even duels with players such as Adam Cooney, Michael Barlow and Marc Murphy and has beaten Stephen Hill, Brent Stanton, Brent Harvey, Leon Davis and Aaron Davey.
Jones has played every match in the first 14 rounds of 2010 and is averaging 9.4 kicks, 12.7 handballs and 6.1 marks a game with a disposal efficiency of 70.7%. Clinton is ranked 6th for disposals at St Kilda in 2010, 2nd for tackles behind Lenny Hayes, 3rd for handballs and 6th for contested possessions. Jones is averaging 20 per cent more possessions per game in 2010 than 2009 and has remained very effective at negating the influence that his opponent has on the game.
In the Round 2 game against the Kangaroos Jones did an amazing job in restricting Brent Harvey to only five possessions whilst having 18 possessions himself, the North Melbourne captain admitted after the match, that it was his worst ever AFL game. St Kilda completely dominated the match, winning by 104 points after keeping North Melbourne goalless in the first quarter.
The following week against Collingwood Jones briefly returned to being the hunted as Collingwood players including Harry O’Brien and Nick Maxwell attempted to rough him up before the game to unsettle him. It was a pre-meditated tactic brought about by Collingwood’s obvious concern that Jones could comprehensively outplay one of the Magpies most damaging midfielders in the same fashion as he had done the previous week to four time North Melbourne best and fairest winner Harvey.
Jones had 14 kicks, 7 handballs and laid 6 tackles in the match against Collingwood, having a close battle with Alan Didak in the first half and then convincingly beating Leon Davis in the second half.
Although Jones made his AFL debut much later than many other players, in some ways having to wait longer to make his debut worked to his benefit as Jones was able to focus more intently on his football in an attempt to make the most of an opportunity that looked like it had passed him by – to make a career as a footballer with an AFL side. Jones had already experienced the other side of life that many 18 year old draftees miss out on or have to cut back, like going out with mates and having a full-time job outside of football.
Now in his fourth AFL season Jones has done much more than just cement a position with a successful AFL team in St Kilda, he has developed into an elite tagger and an important component of St Kilda’s brilliant midfield. Jones, now 26 is making the most of his opportunity as an AFL footballer and has got many successful years with the St Kilda Football Club ahead of him.
1 Champion Data, AFL Prospectus the essential number-cruncher for season 2010, 5th edition, page 229.
2 The Sunday Age, April 18 2010, Playing tag … and loving it by Emma Quayle
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I have recently set-up a WordPress site that provides detailed explanations of the following fixture models that I have developed:
- 3 year period 18 Club Fixture Model
- 17 Club Fixture Model
- Pre-season Fixture Model for 17 clubs and 18 clubs
For information on these fixture models please click on the link below:
http://fairfixturemodels.wordpress.com/ Fair fixtures for an 18 club and 17 club AFL competition
TS|Journal 
I think this your best article Dean! Looking forwarded to future articles as they seem to be getting better and better all the time. Very well written. I hope these articles are read by all our TS members you deserve that much just for the effort.
Clinton Jones didn’t let you down either with his game against the Brisbane Lions. I gave him votes for that game.