Jarrod Witts

Jarrod Witts
Witts in March 2026
Personal information
Born (1992-09-13) September 13, 1992
Sydney, New South Wales
Original team St Ives/Sydney University
Draft No. 67, 2011 national draft
Height 208 cm (6 ft 10 in)
Weight 111 kg (245 lb)
Position Ruck
Club information
Current club Gold Coast
Number 28
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2012–2016 Collingwood 40 (18)
2017– Gold Coast 177 (29)
Total 217 (47)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of round 22, 2026.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Jarrod Witts (born 13 September 1992) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Gold Coast Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).[1] He previously played for the Collingwood Football Club from 2012 to 2016. Witts was appointed Gold Coast co-captain along with David Swallow from the 2019 season.

Early life

Witts was born in Sydney and grew up in the northern suburb of Normanhurst. He attended Barker College on the North Shore of Sydney.[2] His first sporting interest was Australian rules football and he would often attend Sydney Swans home games in his youth. In 1999, Witts was in attendance at the Sydney Cricket Ground the day Tony Lockett broke Gordon Coventry's all-time goal kicking record and ran onto the field after the historic achievement.[3]

Despite his early interest in Australian rules football, Witts switched allegiances later in childhood and took up rugby union in winter and cricket in the summer months throughout his adolescence. At the age of 15, he was convinced by school friends to try Australian rules football again and joined the under-16 side at the St Ives Football Club. In just his third game for St Ives, Witts was scouted by Collingwood employee Rod Carter, who informed the Magpies' recruiting manager Derek Hine of Witts' potential. A week later, Hine offered Witts a NSW scholarship to join Collingwood and the deal was accepted.

In 2009, he joined Sydney University's under-18s team and continued his development. As a part of the NSW scholarship program, Witts played numerous games for Greater Western Sydney's TAC Cup team in 2010. The following year saw him elevated to Collingwood's senior list and his AFL journey began.

AFL career

He made his AFL debut for Collingwood against St Kilda in Round 6 of the 2013 AFL season. At the conclusion of the 2016 season, he was traded to the Gold Coast Football Club.[4]

On 16 January he signed a contract extension until the end of the 2024 season, where he'll be an unrestricted free agent. In February 2019, Witts was named as Gold Coast co-captain, alongside David Swallow.[5] Standing at 209cm, Witts is the tallest captain in AFL/VFL history. A record formerly held by Steven King at 202cm. At the end of the 2019 AFL season, he broke the record for the most hitouts in a home-and-away season (excluding finals) with 1008.

As of the start of the 2022 AFL season, Witts was the equal-fourth-tallest player in the AFL.[6]

Statistics

Updated to the end of round 22, 2026.[7]

Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
H/O
 Hit-outs
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T H/O G B K H D M T H/O
2012Collingwood15 0————————————————0
2013Collingwood15 7532935642320740.70.44.15.09.13.32.910.60
2014Collingwood15 20841089119957703750.40.25.44.610.02.93.518.80
2015Collingwood15 1154585711523412450.50.45.35.210.52.13.722.30
2016Collingwood15 201881638310.00.54.04.08.01.54.015.50
2017Gold Coast28 182411212824046646820.10.26.27.113.32.63.637.91
2018Gold Coast28 222615614430046868540.10.37.16.513.62.13.938.82
2019Gold Coast28 2233188132320646710070.10.18.56.014.52.93.045.81
2020[a]Gold Coast28 1703987217037284760.00.25.84.210.02.21.628.02
2021Gold Coast28 30124174198870.00.38.05.713.73.02.729.00
2022Gold Coast28 22421641292935563833†0.20.17.55.913.32.52.937.94
2023Gold Coast28 214215113929051558240.20.17.26.613.82.42.639.2†0
2024Gold Coast28 168311310922239636000.50.27.16.813.92.43.937.51
2025Gold Coast28 244411918730638821040†0.20.25.07.812.81.63.443.33
2026Gold Coast28 1221666112718233610.20.15.55.110.61.51.930.10
Career 217474113941309270350967874890.20.26.46.012.52.33.134.514

Notes

  1. ↑ The 2020 season was played with 17 home-and-away matches per team (down from 22) and 16-minute quarters with time on (down from 20-minute quarters with time on) due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

  1. ↑ Cordy, Neil (22 November 2011). "Collingwood snatch rising ruck prospect Jarrod Witts from under nose of Sydney Swans and GWS". The Daily Telegraphy.
  2. ↑ Chen, Torin (8 May 2013). "Our juniors Jarrod Witts and Will Sierakowski hit the AFL big time in super style". North Shore Times.
  3. ↑ Developing Collingwood ruckman Jarrod Witts making the most of his opportunity
  4. ↑ "Big Pie joins Suns, Dogs and Gold Coast swap picks". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. 20 October 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  5. ↑ Whiting, Michael (25 February 2019). "Suns shock: Former Pie co-captain, ex-Cat a leader". afl.com.au. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  6. ↑ "Tallest & Shortest AFL Players Full List". 19 December 2023.
  7. ↑ "Jarrod Witts". AFL Tables. Retrieved 13 August 2026.
Wikimedia Commons logo
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jarrod Witts.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.