Jade Rawlings
Personal information
Full name	Jade Rawlings
Birth	9 October 1977 (1977-10-09) (age 32)
Place of birth	Devonport, Tasmania, Australia
Draft	94th overall, 1994 Hawthorn
Height	196cm
Weight	97kg
Playing Career
Position(s)	Forward
Club
Years	Team	Pld	G
1996–2003	Hawthorn	116	62
2004–2005	Western Bulldogs	29	32
2006	Kangaroos	3	2
	Total	148	96
Coaching Career
Club
Years	Team	Gms	W	L	D	W%
2009	Richmond	11	3	8	1	27

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.

Contents 1 Playing career 1.1 Hawthorn 1.2 Western Bulldogs 1.3 Kangaroos 2 Coaching career 3 Personal life 4 External links 5 References

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Hawthorn

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.

[edit] Western Bulldogs

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 didn't 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.

[edit] Kangaroos

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.

[edit] Coaching career

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 August 25, 2009 the Richmond Football Club appointed Damien Hardwick as their new senior coach. Thus Rawlings was not retained for the 2010 season. On September 15, 2009 Rawlings was appointed as assistant coach of Brisbane Lions under Michael Voss for the 2010 season.

[edit] Personal life

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 plays for the North Melbourne Football Club. In the latter stages of Rawlings' career, he was drafted by the Kangaroos, his brother Brady was one of the reasons that saw this move occur

[edit] External links

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

[edit] References

Preceded by Terry Wallace

Richmond Football Club coach 2009 (Caretaker)

Succeeded by Damien Hardwick