Jade Rawlings (born 9 October 1977 Devonport, Tasmania) was the caretaker coach of the Richmond Tigers Football Club, and is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the AFL with the Hawthorn, Western Bulldogs and the North Melbourne Football Clubs.

Playing career [link]

Hawthorn [link]

Picked up very late in the 1994 AFL Draft at pick 94 by the Hawthorn Football Club, Rawlings developed into a very handy key position defender and occasionally, forward. He racked up 116 games for the Hawks before going into a contractual dispute at the end of 2003.

Western Bulldogs [link]

He was picked up at number 1 in the 2004 AFL Pre-season Draft by the Western Bulldogs, who needed a tall forward, even though Rawlings was probably more at home in the backline. On debut with his new club in Round 1, 2004 Rawlings booted 7 goals but in what would be a sign of things to come, missed a relatively simple shot that may have cost the Bulldogs the game.

Throughout 2004 Rawlings' kicking was woeful, sometimes kicking difficult goals along the boundary line but missing relatively simple goals (with a 50% accuracy rate). He was dropped to the VFL. In 2005 Rawlings did not fare much better, his knee troubles ruling him out for the Bulldogs after Round 14 of that year. Rawlings soon got into internal disputes at the club and was traded to his third club, the Kangaroos.

Kangaroos [link]

Rawlings joined his brother Brady at the Kangaroos and was believed to be one of the reasons for moving to the club.

After his recruitment, coach Dean Laidley did not guarantee Rawlings a senior game in 2006, saying he had to earn his spot. Jade played most of the year in 2006 with the Tasmanian Devils Football Club in the VFL showing some good form.

After playing just two games in the 2006 season, Rawlings announced that he would retire after the Round 21 game against one of his former club, Hawthorn, despite an interview on Before the Game the week prior which had relatively no hint of retirement, although he did say his "knees weren't too flash" – a problem which hampered him during the 2005 season.

His final game was played in his home state of Tasmania (at Aurora Stadium), a match where Rawlings was visibly emotional, as he was well respected by the Hawthorn and Kangaroos sides.

Coaching career [link]

Rawlings was the assistant coach of the Richmond Football Club, as well as head coach at Richmond's VFL affiliate club, the Coburg Tigers. He would later be replaced at Coburg by former Brisbane Lions' player Craig McRae, when after Round 11, 2009, he was appointed caretaker coach of the Richmond Football Club. following the resignation of Terry Wallace. His first game as coach of the Richmond Football Club was a victory against the West Coast Eagles.^[1] Rawlings has been dubbed "The Blade" in lieu of the 5 cuts to the lineup made for his first game as an AFL coach, including veteran Joel Bowden. However on 25 August 2009 the Richmond Football Club appointed Damien Hardwick as their new senior coach. Thus Rawlings was not retained for the 2010 season. On 15 September 2009 Rawlings was appointed as assistant coach of Brisbane Lions under Michael Voss for the 2010 season. At the end of the 2011 season, Rawlings became Assistant coach at Melbourne Demons for the 2012 season under their new coach Mark Neeld.

Personal life [link]

Rawlings is married to Samantha Richardson (sister of Matthew Richardson – a footballer for the Richmond Football Club) They have two children.

Rawlings also has a brother, Brady, who played for the North Melbourne Football Club. In the latter stages of Rawlings' career, he was drafted by the Kangaroos and played alongside his brother.

Rawlings has been noted to play cricket in Melbourne for the Burnley CYMS Cricket Club, along side his brother-in-law, Andrew, whenever his football commitments allow.

References [link]

External links [link]

• Jade Rawlings's profile on the Official AFL Website of the North Melbourne Football Club
• Jade Rawlings's statistics from AFL Tables

v t e Australian squad – 2003 International Rules Series Barry Bell Bickley Bizzell Brown Burgoyne Carr Crouch Crawford Hall Harvey Hasleby Hayes Jakovich B. Johnson C. Johnson Kirk Murphy Pavlich Power Rawlings Scarlett Simpson Smith Wells Wirrpanda Coach: Lyon