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Australian rules footballer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jake Aarts (born 8 December 1994) is a professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played state-league football with Richmond's VFL side before being drafted to the club's AFL list at the 2019 rookie draft in November 2018. Aarts made his AFL debut in round 5 of the 2020 season.
Jake Aarts | |||
---|---|---|---|
![]() Aarts with Richmond's VFL side in May 2019 | |||
Personal information | |||
Date of birth | 8 December 1994 | ||
Original team(s) | Richmond (VFL) | ||
Draft | No. 16, 2019 rookie draft | ||
Debut | Round 5, 2020, Richmond vs. Melbourne, at MCG | ||
Height | 177 cm (5 ft 10 in) | ||
Weight | 75 kg (165 lb) | ||
Position(s) | Small forward | ||
Club information | |||
Current club | Richmond | ||
Number | 16 | ||
Playing career1 | |||
Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
2019–2022 | Richmond | 42 (34) | |
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2022 season. | |||
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com |
Aarts played junior and senior local football at the Beaconsfield Football Club in his teenage years but was overlooked by junior representative TAC Cup clubs.[1] In 2013, he followed former Beaconsfield coach Austinn Jones to the Bendigo Football Club when Jones became the club's VFL head coach.[2][3][4][5] He remained with Bendigo for 32 games over two years playing as a wing and half-forward, but when the club folded at the end the 2014 season, Aarts joined the 2015 VFL-only playing squad for the AFL club Richmond's reserves team.[1][6][7][8][9] There he played alongside the club's non-selected AFL-listed players for three years before being selected to serve in the team's leadership group for the 2018 season.[10][11] Aarts finished 2018 having played 16 matches and holding averages of 13 disposals, four tackles and one goal a game, and earned an invitation to the Victorian state draft combine.[12][6] By the end of the 2018 season, Aarts had played 49 matches with Richmond's reserves and a total of 81 state-league games.[6]
He attended secondary school at St. Francis Xavier College, Beaconsfield
Aarts was drafted by Richmond with the club's first pick and the 16th selection overall in the 2019 rookie draft.[12]
He began his first AFL-listed season by playing reserves grade practice matches with the VFL team in March 2020, including with a three-goal haul in the last of those outings.[13][14] Aarts missed the opening round of the VFL season with injury but by the end of April was labelled "ready for an AFL opportunity" by reserves coach Craig McRae.[15][16] In mid-May, Aarts was named a round 8 non-playing AFL emergency following a strong three-goal performance in the VFL a week earlier.[17][18] He was rested for one VFL match later that month while dealing with general soreness and missed a further match in July with a minor calf injury.[19][20][21] He turned in an excellent VFL performance in early August, notching 24 disposals and three goals in a showing that saw him named as an AFL emergency in round 22.[22][23][24] While he was again an emergency in round 23, Aarts could not make an AFL debut before the beginning of the VFL finals series, where he contributed one goal in a qualifying final win over the Essendon reserves.[25][26] In the preliminary final a fortnight later, Aarts was reported for rough conduct against Port Melbourne's Tom O'Sullivan and received a four-week suspension.[27][28][29] Due to that suspension, Aarts was one of just six players on the Richmond list to play in neither the AFL nor VFL premiership winning sides in 2019.[30] Aarts finished the 2019 season without having made an AFL debut, but having played 16 matches and kicking 18 goals with Richmond's reserves side in the VFL.[31][32]
In the early months of the 2019/20 pre-season, Aarts suffered from groin and hip soreness and had limited participation in training, before returning to full fitness by the first week of February 2020.[33][34] He was selected to play in the opening match of the pre-season series in early-March, his first top-level game since being drafted to the club.[35][36] Aarts was dropped back to reserves level after recording 10 disposals, instead playing in one VFL practice match the following week before the remainder of pre-season practice matches were cancelled due to safety concerns as a result of the rapid progression of the COVID-19 pandemic into Australia.[37][38][39] After just one round of AFL matches and as a result of the still unfolding pandemic, the AFL season was suspended for a period of 11 weeks.[40][41][42] In place of the cancelled VFL season, Aarts' return to match-play came through organised reserves practice matches against opposition team's unselected players.[43] He performed consistently well in three such matches when the season resumed in June, earning an AFL debut in round 5's win over Melbourne at the MCG.[7][44][45][46] Aarts made a solid debut with 15 disposals and three score involvements in the shortened game, played with quarter lengths reduced by one fifth like all matches in that pandemic-affected 17-round season.[47][48][49] In the week that followed, Aarts moved with the main playing group when the club was relocated to the Gold Coast in response to a virus outbreak in Melbourne.[50] He kicked his first two career goals in his third match, a round 7 win over North Melbourne.[51][52] After that breakthrough, Aarts became a regular goalkicker, contributing eight goals over the next four matches including a career-high three goals in round 9's win over the Western Bulldogs.[53][54][55] He remained in the senior side for the rest of the regular season, including as the game's equal-leading goalscorer in a round 18 win over Adelaide despite a minor shoulder injury sustained during the match.[56][57] Aarts held his place into the first week of the finals, contributing eight disposals and three tackles in a qualifying final loss to the Brisbane Lions.[58] It was to be his last AFL match of the season however, with omitted from the semi-final side but named instead as a non-playing emergency across each of the club's final three matches including for the grand final victory over Geelong.[59][60][61] For his debut season in which he featured in 14 of a possible 21 matches, Aarts earned equal-14th place in the club's best and fairest count.[62]
Ahead of the 2021 season, Aarts switched guernsey numbers, adopting the number 16 last worn by Shaun Hampson in 2017.[63]
Aarts plays as a small forward and half-forward, adept at tackling and applying defensive pressure on rebounding opposition defenders while also being relatively strong at ball-winning in contest situations compared to most small forwards.[64][12] In his junior years, his time with Bendigo and his early seasons with Richmond's VFL side, Aarts played as an inside midfielder, before making a move to the forward line under the direction of Richmond VFL coach Craig McRae.[6][65][66]
Updated to the end of round 23, 2022.[31]
G |
Goals | K |
Kicks | D |
Disposals | T |
Tackles |
B |
Behinds | H |
Handballs | M |
Marks |
Season | Team | No. | Games | Totals | Averages (per game) | Votes | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G | B | K | H | D | M | T | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | |||||
2019 | Richmond | 39 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
2020[lower-alpha 1] | Richmond | 39 | 14 | 14 | 5 | 71 | 64 | 135 | 31 | 33 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 5.1 | 4.6 | 9.6 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 1 |
2021 | Richmond | 16 | 21 | 18 | 12 | 122 | 100 | 222 | 53 | 53 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 5.8 | 4.8 | 10.6 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 0 |
2022 | Richmond | 16 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 20 | 29 | 49 | 6 | 14 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 2.9 | 4.1 | 7.0 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 0 |
Career | 42 | 34 | 19 | 213 | 193 | 406 | 90 | 100 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 5.1 | 4.6 | 9.7 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 1 |
Notes
Prior to his professional career, Aarts worked as a qualified carpenter.[3]
Aarts and partner Amelia had a baby daughter in January 2021.[67]
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