Opinion
One of the best prelim final performances in recent memory puts Melbourne into pole postion to win the flag and with it an opportunity of sentimentality.
Nathan Jones was drafted in 2005, and managed eight games the following year, including the elimination final victory against his childhood team St Kilda and the loss the next week to Fremantle.
In 2018 against Geelong he was the only player left from the last Demons team to play a final when Melbourne walked out onto the ground. They would go on to beat Geelong and Hawthorn before getting belted by West Coast as the Eagles charged towards a premiership.
Jones has been there for the journey, ridden the highs of some early finals and the lowest of lows, which includes the 2011 flogging at the hands of Geelong and the sacking of several coaches along the way.
Clubs came and asked the question but Nathan Jones never took the bait. Although he may have wavered, he never jumped ship and now the club that he guided through some of the darkest times in recent history as captain are on the cusp of premiership glory.
When they run out on Optus Stadium in two weeks’ time, he almost certainly won’t be with them.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Jones has struggled at times to really get his best football going, only playing eight games in season 2021. He has not appeared in the squad since Round 15, and even then he pulled on the jumper as an unused sub.
This is Jones’ last season in the red and blue. He signed a one-year extension to play on last year but with limited appearances and no VFL, there is no way to see him going around again next year for this stacked Demons line-up.
As for the grand final, he could potentially find his way onto the lists as a medical substitute but I’m not sure Simon Goodwin would risk a flag for sentimentality and I doubt whether Nathan Jones would want him to.
However, it does give Goodwin another opportunity should the Demons salute on the 25th of September. It is a chance to honour a legend of the club who got them to where they are now.
Luke Beveridge did the same in 2016 for Bob Murphy, a man who took on the captaincy when the club was at a low point, after Ryan Griffen left and Brendan McCartney stood down.
Bob Murphy was a huge part of the reason as to why the Bulldogs found themselves on the last day in September just like Nathan Jones is for Melbourne, and a gesture from the coach or the club should Nathan Jones also find himself watching on from the stands as Melbourne break their premiership drought would also be fitting.
I don’t necessarily mean Goodwin should give Jones his medal come presentation time, but should the opportunity arise and Melbourne are to end their season in celebration, Nathan Jones deserves some recognition as being a part of it.
He most likely wouldn’t welcome it and that’s part of the reason why we all love and respect the humble champion so much. But he is beyond deserving.
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