Joel Jeffrey

Joel Jeffrey (born 12 March 2002) is a professional Australian rules footballer who plays for the Gold Coast Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Joel Jeffrey
Personal information
Date of birth (2002-03-12) 12 March 2002
Place of birth Darwin, Northern Territory
Original team(s) Wanderers (NTFL)
NT Thunder (NEAFL)
Draft Academy Pre-Selection, 2020 AFL draft, Gold Coast
Height 192 cm (6 ft 4 in)
Weight 80 kg (176 lb)
Position(s) Forward
Club information
Current club Gold Coast
Number 40
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2021– Gold Coast 16 (15)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of round 21, 2023.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Early life

Jeffrey was born into a Darwin-based family of Indigenous Australian descent from the Northern Territory (Wulwulam) and Queensland (Kukatj).[1] His father, Russell, was a professional Australian rules footballer who played at the highest level for St Kilda before relocating to the Gold Coast to continue his AFL career with the Brisbane Bears. Following his retirement, Russell returned to Darwin to play for Wanderers and coached Palmerston to back-to-back NTFL premierships in 2001–02. He was inducted into the AFLNT Hall of Fame in 2010.[2]

Joel began playing junior football for Palmerston and later switched to the Wanderers Football Club where he made his Men's Premier League debut for the club in 2018 at 16 years of age.[3] In June 2019, at 17 years of age, Jeffrey made his senior NEAFL debut for the NT Thunder at TIO Stadium and kicked a goal in his first game.[4] He was also selected to represent the Allies at the 2019 AFL Under 18 Championships as a bottom ager[5] and intended to relocate to the Gold Coast in 2020 to take part in the Gold Coast Suns Academy program on a full-time basis until the COVID-19 pandemic eliminated that possibility.[6] In December 2020, Jeffrey was drafted to the Gold Coast Suns via their academy access.[7]

AFL career

Jeffrey spent the first half of the 2021 season playing for Gold Coast in the VFL and notably kicked a winning goal after the siren to defeat the Sydney Swans after marking the ball one handed with seconds to go in the game.[8] He impressed again a month later with a 9-goal, best on ground performance in the VFL,[9] which earned him an AFL debut the following week against the Melbourne Demons at Metricon Stadium.[10] In his sixth AFL game, Jeffrey remarkably kicked five goals against the Western Bulldogs, which included a Goal of the Year nomination that involved an intercept and a snap over his head.[11] He was awarded a 2022 AFL Rising Star nomination for his performance.[12]

Statistics
Statistics are correct to the end of round 3, 2022[13]
Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game)
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2021 Gold Coast 4042419625640.51.04.81.56.31.51.0
2022 Gold Coast 40041––––––––––––
Career 4 2 4 19 6 25 6 4 0.5 1.0 4.8 1.5 6.3 1.5 1.0

    References
    1. "AFL Players' Indigenous Map 2021" (PDF). AFL Players Association. 1 June 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
    2. "NTFL Hall of Fame - Russell Jeffrey". 3 September 2016.
    3. "NT Thunder player Joel Jeffrey". 12 December 2019.
    4. "2019 NEAFL Round 9 Team vs Redland". 31 May 2019.
    5. "JEFFREY, JUNGFER AND ROSAS COMBINE FOR THE FINAL TWO ALLIES GAMES". 27 June 2019.
    6. "AFL Draft Prospect Forwards - Joel Jeffrey". 1 October 2020.
    7. "Gold Coast Suns add academy members Alex Davies and Joel Jeffrey to primary list". 9 December 2020.
    8. "Suns snatch dramatic VFL win on siren". 12 July 2021.
    9. "Suns' son of a gun kicks a bag to down Hornets". 25 July 2021.
    10. "Suns axe former No.3 pick, nine-goal sharpshooter to make debut". 30 July 2021.
    11. "Joel Jeffrey's incredible over-the-head goal". 26 May 2022.
    12. "Gun Sun scores Rising Star nomination after five-goal haul". 23 May 2022.
    13. "Joel Jeffrey". AFLTables. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
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