#31 – Ode to Jones

Let’s talk about Saturday for a moment.

If it was a 400m sprint we jumped out of the blocks, stopped for a cigarette at around the 100m mark, then jumped in a car and finished in record time.

I’ve spent most of my life thinking I’d never experience that night. Amidst the delirium, I barely held myself back from buying an official Demons cheeseboard.

But I want to bring it back to one man.

Nathan Jones joined the club in 2006 just in time for the struggle years. The team spent Sunday afternoons putting up less of a fight than flies in a bug-zapper.

He put 110% into every contest. He inspired his teammates, he was tough as nails and sometimes managed to drag Melbourne into the winner’s column single-handedly. If you had a group assignment with him, he would do it all.

More importantly, he had every chance to leave the club. This was like being on the Titanic, seeing the iceberg up ahead and refusing a lifeboat because he’d rather have a go commandeering the ship and steering it to safety.

So he captained Melbourne. It was rough, but improvement came. His loyalty was rewarded with a captain’s goal against Geelong in 2018, etched into the memories of every Dees fan.

But footy isn’t a fairytale. In our drought-breaking year, he was forced to watch from the sidelines. After 300 games, it was ‘so long, good luck’ for our beloved warrior.

23 players got a Premiership medal on Saturday night. Jones was at home for the birth of his twins and preparing for retirement.

He was interviewed during the week. Instead of the frustration and bitterness of missing out on every kid’s childhood dream; he was satisfied that he gave it his all for 15 years, pleased to leave the club in a better position than he found it and satisfied that he had given it his all.

That’s leadership. He took responsibility for a shambles of a club, led by example and put the club ahead of himself every week even when he wasn’t playing for them any more.

Warrior. Champion. Leader. Saturday night was for him.

Next week: Knowing when to fold ’em