| Jayden Hunt | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Hunt playing for Melbourne in July 2019 | |||
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Jayden Hunt | ||
| Date of birth | (1995-04-03)3 April 1995 (age 30) | ||
| Original team(s) | Brighton Grammar (APS)/East Sandringham Zebras (SMJFL) | ||
| Draft | No. 57,2013 national draft | ||
| Debut | Round 4, 2016,Melbourne vs.Collingwood, atMCG | ||
| Height | 187 cm (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Weight | 82 kg (181 lb) | ||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | West Coast | ||
| Number | 5 | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 2014–2022 | Melbourne | 114 (43) | |
| 2023– | West Coast | 43 (10) | |
| Total | 157 (53) | ||
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2024. | |||
| Career highlights | |||
| |||
| Sources:AFL Tables,AustralianFootball.com | |||
Jayden Hunt (born 3 April 1995) is a professionalAustralian rules footballer playing for theWest Coast Eagles in theAustralian Football League (AFL), having previously played for theMelbourne Football Club. Adefender, 1.87 metres (6 ft 2 in) tall and weighing 83 kilograms (183 lb), Hunt plays primarily on thehalf-back flank with the ability to also play on thewing. He was born into an Australian rules football family with both his great-uncle and uncle playing in the Victorian Football League (now the Australian Football League). He played his final junior football year in school sports and did not play any football at under-18 level. Despite this, he was recruited by the Melbourne Football Club with the fifty-seventh selection in the2013 AFL draft. After persistent injuries in his first two years, he made his AFL debut during the 2016 season.
Hunt was born into a football family with his great uncle,Harold Rumney, playing 186 games in theVictorian Football League (now the Australian Football League) for theCollingwood Football Club andCarlton Football Club, including four premierships with Collingwood between 1927 and 1930; and his uncle,Andrew Moir, played 73 matches for theMelbourne Football Club from 1977–1981.[1] He played under 16 level football with theHampton Rovers Football Club in 2011[2] before playing school football withBrighton Grammar School.[3] Playing in theAssociated Public Schools of Victoria (APS) competition during his draft year, he did not play in theTAC Cup orunder 18 championships that year.[4] His only representative match for the year was the APS vs.Associated Grammar Schools of Victoria (AGSV) match.[5]
Playing just the one representative match for the year, Hunt was drafted by theMelbourne Football Club with their third selection and fifty-seventh overall in the2013 national draft,[6] he was the only player in the draft to not play any football at under 18-level.[7] He was labelled as the draft smoky[4] andHerald Sun journalist, Sam Landsberger, noted he was "plucked from relative obscurity".[8] After playing the first six matches in theVictorian Football League (VFL) for Melbourne'saffiliate team, theCasey Scorpions in 2014,[9] he was sidelined for over a year after suffering from a back injury[10][11][12] and a broken jaw which he injured in June 2015.[13] He returned to the VFL in July[14] and played the remainder of the season including the elimination final loss againstEssendon.[15][16]
Hunt had his first uninterrupted pre-season in the lead-up to the 2016 season and played the first two matches of theNAB Challenge.[17][18] He made his AFL debut in the thirty-five point win againstCollingwood in round four at theMelbourne Cricket Ground.[19] Regarded for his speed,[20][21] he received high praise during his eleventh match in round fifteen againstAdelaide, which was described as his break-out match byFox Sports Australia journalist, Julian De Stoop,[22] and then-Melbourne coach,Paul Roos, stated it was "as good a 12-possession game as [he'd] ever seen".[23] The next week, he recorded a then-career-high twenty-nine disposals and eight inside-50s in the thirty-two point win againstFremantle atTIO Stadium.[24] Despite being eligible for theAFL Rising Star, he entered the final round of the season without a nomination, which caused Paul Roos to criticise the Rising Star process, stating "it would be a travesty if he did not receive a nomination"[25] and proclaim he "could be the best young player in the competition".[26] He ultimately missed out on a nomination, which led toFox Sports Australia naming him the unluckiest player to miss a nomination.[27] He did not miss a match following his debut and he finished with nineteen matches for the season.[28] His season was rewarded with theHarold Ball Memorial Trophy as Melbourne's best young player,[29] and an eleventh-place finish in thebest and fairest count.[30]
Hunt struggled to maintain a place in the Melbourne side over the following years, only being listed as an emergency in Melbourne's2021 grand final win. The following year, Hunt exercised his rights as a free agent and moved toWest Coast.[31]
Updated to the end of the 2022 season.[32]
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 | ||||
| 2014 | Melbourne | 29 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2015 | Melbourne | 29 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2016 | Melbourne | 29 | 19 | 3 | 1 | 159 | 137 | 296 | 59 | 41 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 8.4 | 7.2 | 15.6 | 3.1 | 2.2 |
| 2017 | Melbourne | 29 | 22 | 7 | 5 | 254 | 142 | 396 | 85 | 69 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 11.5 | 6.5 | 18.0 | 3.9 | 3.1 |
| 2018 | Melbourne | 29 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 49 | 22 | 71 | 22 | 14 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 8.2 | 3.7 | 11.8 | 3.7 | 2.3 |
| 2019 | Melbourne | 29 | 21 | 21 | 10 | 157 | 95 | 252 | 77 | 46 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 7.5 | 4.5 | 12.0 | 3.7 | 2.2 |
| 2020[a] | Melbourne | 29 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 27 | 8 | 35 | 10 | 7 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 4.5 | 1.3 | 5.8 | 1.7 | 1.2 |
| 2021[b] | Melbourne | 29 | 20 | 2 | 3 | 179 | 95 | 274 | 64 | 49 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 9.0 | 4.8 | 13.7 | 3.2 | 2.5 |
| 2022[c] | Melbourne | 29 | 20 | 0 | 2 | 134 | 66 | 200 | 52 | 27 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 6.7 | 3.3 | 10.0 | 2.6 | 1.4 |
| Career | 114 | 43 | 25 | 959 | 565 | 1524 | 369 | 253 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 8.4 | 5.0 | 13.4 | 3.2 | 2.2 | ||
Notes
Team
Individual
