Jonathan Simpkin

Jonathan Simpkin (born 28 October 1987) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club, Hawthorn Football Club and Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Nicknamed "Joffa", his younger brother, Tom Simpkin was also a professional Australian rules footballer who played for St Kilda.[1]

Jonathan Simpkin
Simpkin in July 2014
Personal information
Full name Jonathan Simpkin
Date of birth (1987-10-28) 28 October 1987
Original team(s) Geelong Falcons
Draft No. 16 2006 Rookie: Sydney
No. 56 2011 Rookie: Geelong
Height 181 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight 82 kg (181 lb)
Position(s) Midfielder
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2012 Geelong 04 0(1)
2013–2015 Hawthorn 33 (15)
2016 Essendon 04 0(1)
Total 41 (17)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2016.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

AFL career

Sydney

Originally from Colac, Victoria, Simpkin was first rookie listed by the Sydney Swans with the 16th selection in the 2006 AFL Rookie Draft after playing junior football for the Geelong Falcons in the TAC Cup. Simpkin spend the 2006 and 2007 season playing for the Sydney Swans reserves team that won the 2006 and 2007 AFL Canberra premierships. Despite being elevated to their senior list for the 2007 season,[2] he was delisted by the Swans at the end of the 2007 season without having played in the AFL. He trained for a period late in 2007 with Melbourne but was not drafted to their squad.[3]

Geelong

He returned to play for the Colac Tigers in the Geelong Football League.[1] During 2008 he also managed to play 8 games for Geelong in the Victorian Football League (VFL) on permits.[4] In 2009, he was a full-time member of the Geelong (VFL) squad and in 2010 he represented the VFL against WAFL. In December 2010 in the 2011 Rookie Draft he was then selected by Geelong.[5] He continued to play for Geelong in the VFL and despite performing well consistently throughout the season, winning the team's best and fairest award,[6] he was unable to break into the AFL side.

Prior to round 9 of the 2012 AFL season, Simpkin was promoted off the rookie list as a replacement for Nathan Vardy.[7][8] He then made his debut against Western Bulldogs, coming on as the substitute player at three-quarter time.[9] Simpkin again won the Geelong (VFL) best and fairest award in 2012 and also was part of the winning Geelong (VFL) premiership side the same year. Geelong had to reduce the number of rookies from six to four because of new AFL rules, so they decided not to re-new his contract and that he became eligible to be on the AFL Delisted Free Agency list.[10]

Hawthorn

Hawthorn secured former Geelong rookie Jonathan Simpkin during the 2012 AFL Delisted Free Agency Period.[11]

He played his first game for Hawthorn against Adelaide in Adelaide, South Australia, in round six 2013 and finished the season with 13 games. Owing to injury to Brendan Whitecross he was selected for Hawthorn's grand final team and was subbed on at three quarter time winning a premiership medal when the Hawks defeated Fremantle, in his first season at the club. He also played in Box Hill's VFL premiership team winning the Norm Goss Memorial Medal for his best on ground performance that day.

Simpkin played only one AFL game for Hawthorn in 2015 (a round 7 win over Melbourne) and he was delisted In October.[12]

Essendon

In January 2016, Simpkin signed with the Essendon Football Club as a "top-up" player due to the supplements controversy.[13]

Statistics
[14]
Legend
 G  Goals  B  Behinds  K  Kicks  H  Handballs  D  Disposals  M  Marks  T  Tackles
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game)
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2012 Geelong 46410221335870.30.05.53.38.82.01.8
2013 Hawthorn 32146512310422749310.40.48.87.416.23.52.2
2014 Hawthorn 32189515213929166390.50.38.47.716.23.72.2
2015 Hawthorn 32100347220.00.03.04.07.02.02.0
2016 Essendon 524103341741360.30.08.310.318.53.31.5
Career 41 17 10 333 301 634 138 85 0.4 0.2 8.1 7.3 15.5 3.4 2.1

References
  1. Gullan, Scott (26 February 2011). "Simpkin brothers Jonathan and Tom show resilience to keep their AFL dreams alive". Herald Sun. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  2. Hinds, Richard (26 October 2006). "Changes leave four spots on Swans list". Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  3. Breen, Daniel (9 November 2007). "Colac footballer hopes to impress the Dees". Geelong Advertiser. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  4. Auciello, Michael (14 February 2008). "Simpkin aims to kickstart VFL career".
  5. Rielly, Stephen (8 December 2010). "Demons give ruckman lifeline". The Australian. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  6. Simpkin Cats VFL best Archived 20 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  7. Walsh, Courtney (25 May 2012). "The absence of Matthew Scarlett was the difference in the loss to Collingwood". The Australian. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  8. Wade, Nick (25 May 2012). "Persistence pays for Cat Joffy Simpkin". Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  9. Cats Dig Deep To Defy Dogs Archived 20 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  10. http://www.news.com.au/national/former-geelong-players-tom-gillies-and-jonathan-simpkin-find-news-homes-at-melbourne-and-hawthorn/story-e6frfkp9-1226516099513
  11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 November 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. King, Travis (30 October 2015). "Hawks dump premiership midfielder Jonathan Simpkin". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  13. "Simpkin signs". essendonfc.com.au. Bigpond. 27 January 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  14. "Jonathan Simpkin stats". AFL Tables. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
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