A PUSH IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION WAS ALL JAMAINE JONES NEEDED
AS a kid, Geelong rookie Jamaine Jones just needed a piggyback.
Someone he could talk to, a father figure who could be a role model and push him in the right direction.
Jones credits his journey to mentor Andrew Eade, with whom he was paired as a student as part of the Standing Tall program — the one former Victorian Premier Denis Napthine joined a four-day awareness campaign walk from Warrnambool to Geelong.
Adopted at age 10 by Geelong woman Sue Lovett, who also cared for Jones’s older brother who he had never met, it was the first kickstart in the then lonely child’s life.
Until then, Jones had lived in a group home in Mildura, battling to make a connection with any of the adults who looked after the home. It was at the Lovett household Jones first pulled on the boots.
“My first game, my mum now — Sue Lovett — said, ‘You’re playing your first game of footy,’ and I said, ‘I’ve never played footy in my life’,” he recalled.
“My first game was out at Modewarre (for the Belmont Lions), and I remember I kicked my first goal and everyone just ran over. I played most of my juniors there and then at Heywood.
“We moved to Heywood (30km north of Portland), she obviously got a job in Heywood, and then I started school there. And that’s when I was asked if I wanted to join this Standing Tall program and I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll give it a crack’.”
It was then Jones, in Year 9, crossed paths with Eade, who became the role model in his life.
“The first day I knew, as soon as he walked in, ‘That’s my mentor’,” Jones said.
“We just connected. I was happy I signed up to that program — someone just to be there, another male figure in my life.
“I guess that’s what I was missing because I never knew my dad that much, so for him to be there and do that was awesome.”
While playing for Heywood, in a senior premiership team at 16, the electric small forward was discovered by North Ballarat Rebels talent manager Phil Partington.
“I didn’t really take my footy that serious — I didn’t think I was going to make it — but there was one year where I made the Rebels as a bottom-age (player),” he said.
“I was home one night and ‘Parto’ called up and goes, ‘G’day mate, Parto here, you’ve been selected in the Rebels team’.
“Mum started crying, everyone started crying, it was awesome.
“Then I made it the second year, that’s when I started to get noticed actually by a few clubs, so that’s when I thought I could make it here. I just put my head down and kept going.”
And it was following one game at Hampden football league club Portland that Jones earned selection for interleague duties.
As the story goes, he was meant to be emergency. Luckily for him, and Geelong, he found himself starting in front of Cats recruiter Stephen Wells.
“I went to every training for interleague. They said there was one spot, it was out of me and another kid, I forget his name,” Jones said,
“Then I got a phone call saying, ‘You’ll start, you made the team, you’ll be emergency,’ and then I got on the bench and they said, ‘You’ll start on the bench’.
“I ended up starting on the ground and played a blinder.”
Since being selected in last year’s rookie draft, Jones has taken professional football in his stride.
He moved in with Eade’s daughter Britta and her fiance Jake in Highton, making the move all the more seamless.
Without the Standing Tall program, Jones doubted he’d be where he was. “I’d say I wasn’t the easiest to handle at school, but all I needed was a little bit of guidance and that’s what Andrew did,” he said.
“At school, one teacher thought it was a waste of time, but it’s good for the kids. It’s a good program if you stick to it; it’s not just for the naughty kids, it’s for everyone, it’s there to get help and for guidance.
“It creates pathways and opportunities if you stick to it and get to know the right people.”
Napthine, along with a team of Standing Tall mentors, made the 200km walk across from Monday to Thursday in the hope of adding more mentors to the program.
To find our more, visit StandingTallIW.com.au.