Jones a Demon one last time

MORE than 2,500 football fans flocked to Portarlington Recreation Reserve on Saturday to watch a former Melbourne Demon dazzle in his return to football.

Former Demons captain and 302-game player Nathan Jones pulled on the Demons jumper one last time, for winless BFL side Portarlington, in a bid to raise awareness for regional football as part of the inaugural Carlton Draft.

“It is super exciting,” Jones said before the opening bounce.

“It’s not lost on me the irony of the whole thing being in the Demons jersey again, but I’m rapt.

“I’ve transitioned throughout my whole career in these colours, I played all my junior footy in these colours, wore them throughout my entire AFL career, and I get to wear them one last time.”

The script could not have been written better to start the Demons’ contest against Ocean Grove, following a looping kick into Portarlington’s forward line early in the first quarter. The ball spilled from the pack right into the hands of Jones, who went on to kick the contest’s first major, sending the spectators into a frenzy.

The Grubbers quickly regained the lead and ran away with the contest in the end, but Portarlington fought gallantly, kicking eight more goals to accumulate its third-highest score of the season, with Jones kicking his second goal in the later stages of the game.

Ocean Grove were 74-point winners on the day (60-134), but Portarlington president Steve Cogger said it was a tremendous day as a whole, despite the loss.

“It was an excellent event for the community, everybody was involved from the cricket club to the Lions Club; it was just a tremendous community effort to pull off today,” Cogger said.

“It had started off as a footy game, but it became bigger than that. We’ve put ourselves on the map a bit.

“Already in the short-term having Nathan here has provided benefits, the community and our membership base has really gotten behind us, which has seen our supporters and sponsors grown.

“Our junior base is growing, and Nathan could have only improved that and we’re so grateful for that.”

Jones was one of eight former AFL players to be selected to a local football club in the Carlton Draft two and a half months ago, hoping to bring together Victorian communities and encourage them to support local football coming out of the pandemic.

Jones said the reception he received from Portarlington was incredible and hoped he could help get the club out of some challenging times moving forward.

“It’s been a tough couple of years for community footy in particular with the whole COVID situation, so to reinvigorate some of that excitement among the local community is huge for me. I’m just excited to be a part of something like this.”