There will be plenty of cheering for the Melbourne Demons in Yarrawonga if young gun and Yarrawonga product James Jordon gets a call up for Melbourne for this weekend’s AFL Preliminary Final.
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James, who was drafted at no. 33 in the 2018 AFL Draft, wears the number 23 has played 23 matches for the Demons this year with his top season performance coming in round 13 versus Collingwood.
As the Demons prepare for the Preliminary final this Friday against Geelong, the team have been in isolation in Perth for 11 days, but James said the club has adapted well.
“It’s going good (the hubs). Obviously, we’re in isolation at the Joondalup Resort but it’s going pretty well,” James told the Yarrawonga Chronicle.
“We’re just training at a few different grounds where we can. The club is doing as good of a job as they can to get us to facilities, but it’s been pretty good.
“They’ve tried to keep the schedule as normal as possible.”
Although very different to pre-covid life, the hubs and isolation have given players time to reconnect and gel even more as a core unit.
“The morale is absolutely still good. I think it’s a great opportunity for us to be away all together at the same time but obviously it’s an exciting time of the year to be playing and all the boys are very excited for this weekend,” James said.
“We get quite a bit of downtime without the club trying to make it all about footy, so we go to training, we have our meals but then just hang out around the resort which is enjoyable.
“I also don’t have a roommate, which is good so you can get your own downtime then.”
Debuting in round one of the 2021 season and playing a majority of the home and away season, James has had several players take him under their wing with a few key names included.
“Since I’ve got to the football club Clayton Oliver and the rest of the midfield group like Christian Petracca, Jack Viney and Angus Brayshaw have all been so good to me with anything I need and being in the midfield group I hang out with them quite a lot,” James said.
“They’re obviously quality players so it’s good to see what they do and learn off the best I guess.”
And what does James say is the key to the Demons success so far this year?
“I guess the complete buy in from everyone,” James said.
“We haven’t had anyone need to go above and beyond than just playing their role for the team. “Everyone’s got a role and everyone’s just been playing it so it’s worked and there has just been a complete buy in to the team which is what we said at the start of the year we wanted to do and if we did that we knew we could go a long way.
“It’s exciting and hopefully we can keep that up for this weekend.”
Speaking on his own year, where he earnt himself a rising star nomination in round eight after a career-high 23 disposals and 13 contested possessions, to accompany his 28 pressure acts and eight tackles, as well as selection in the 40-man AFLPA 22under22 squad alongside four of his teammates, James said it has been amazing being a part of the Melbourne Football Club this year.
“The year has been awesome, I’ve loved every minute of it especially when we’re winning,” James said.
“There’s nothing better than when you’re winning and I was just stoked to be a part of it, part of this year then again just being able to play my role for the team and whatever that needs to be done. I’ve loved every minute of it.
“Finals don’t come around too often and I’m just absolutely stoked to be a part of this group and what could potentially come about over this next week and the next couple of weeks.”
Although there is a great amount of excitement, rightfully so, there is also the disappointment that family, friends and supporters from the East will not be able to attend the match.
James, the rest of the Demons squad and undoubtedly all AFL players however know how lucky they are to be able to still play footy in these challenging times.
“Mum comes to basically every game so its hard for them not being there and the same with all the supporters, everyone in Melbourne,” James said.
“Not being able to play at the MCG in front of our home crowd is a bit sad too but we’re still able to do our job and play footy so now we’re over here and aiming to make all our friends, family and supporters proud.”
One such person who is undoubtedly proud is James’ Mum Prue who will be barracking hard from Yarrawonga.
“It’s a really exciting time of the year and the AFL has done an amazing job keeping the season alive,” Prue said.
“It’s great to see the AFL still able to go ahead but I feel so sorry for the country footy. It’s where it all begins, and they’ve had such a disrupted season.”
Even when James was living in Melbourne and played for Caulfield Grammar, Oakleigh Chargers and Casey Demons, Prue attended almost all his matches, which makes this weekend a hard one with the magnitude of the game and families unable to attend.
“It is hard now for all the families as they have made finals and we are not able to go over and be there, we would still be there to support Melbourne whether James was playing or not,” Prue said.
“We haven’t seen him since the end of June when the lockdowns hit again and the season was thrown into a bit of turmoil, but we speak every couple of days which is good, and the Melbourne Football Club have been amazing.
“I am very proud of the season he has had, it has been amazing and he is just one of the many parts of what Melbourne has done this year so far.”
Journalist