The long journey of Jono Giles
Battling ruckman Jonathan Giles will become Greater Western Sydney’s first milestone man this weekend – on the occasion of his 50th game the Centrals premiership player and delisted Port recruit talks to Peter Argent about his journey from the Kapunda Bombers.
At 26 Jono Giles’ journey has been full of peaks and troughs.
“It was always a dream for me to play AFL and am very fortunate to be able to do something I love every day,” Giles said this week.
“My brother David (An A grade country footballer at the Kapunda Bombers) was no doubt the biggest influence on me growing up.
“I would’ve watched Dave play every weekend when I was younger.
“There’s been lots of ups and downs and what I’ve learnt is to never give in. I’ve tried to learn from every experience good or bad, and keep ploughing forward.”
Football started for Giles at the Kapunda Bombers with his junior colts coach Phil ‘Charlie’ Brown.
“I recollect that he was always a good mark overhead, could read the play and was solid skill wise,” Brown said.
“He certainly had something, which is why he was drafted as a 17-year-old.
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“His resilience showed through by the way he stuck at it, especially after he was dumped by the Power.”
After playing underage football at Kapunda, Giles ventured down to Elizabeth, where he spent the 2005 season in the Central District under 17s, winning the best and fairest (pictured below).
His coach in ’05 was current Barossa, Light and Gawler umpire Rob Polito.
He called Giles an intelligent footballer, with a good temperament and the required passion.
“‘Joffa’ came down as a second-year under 17 and what I admired about him was his discipline,” Polito said.
“In one of our best wins for the year against Glenelg, (Crows and Melbourne footballer) James Sellar was dominating the match and I asked Jonathan to sacrifice his game for the team.
“His efforts went a long way to winning that contest.”
Despite being picked as a “left field” selection (number 70) in the 2005 AFL draft, Giles never played a senior game for Port Adelaide, although he did participate in a handful of pre-season cup matches and an exhibition fixture in London against Geelong in 2006.
In many people’s eyes he was considered lucky to be involved in the Bulldogs’ golden era, playing as a second ruckman to Jason MacKenzie in the 2008 and 2009 flags.
“It is a great achievement for a skinny kid from Kapunda,” said 2008 Jack Oatey medallist MacKenzie, who is currently coaching Kapunda.
“For someone his size, ‘Joffa’ was always a good kick.
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“He had plenty of footy smarts and when he went to Sturt he started to build some real size.”
Giles transferred across to the Double Blues at the beginning of the 2010 season in the hope of reigniting his AFL chances.
Although he almost certainly missed out on a third premiership medallion, he won the “PT Morton Medal” as the best and fairest at Sturt.
Then Sturt coach Luke Norman explained he had showed skill and composure as a forward during the 2009 finals series with the Bulldogs.
“We went and had a chat with Jonathan after the 2009 Grand Final, which was amusing and also frustrating in a way,” Norman said.
“He was laughing and smiling; it certainly hurt from our perspective as we were the bridesmaids to Centrals in the ’09 Grand Final.
“I said I’d give him every opportunity as a ruckman, but he was competing against two entrenched league level ruckman, Jacob Bowen and Angus Kurtze.
“‘Joffa’ grabbed the opportunity and really worked hard, being driven to be our number one ruckman.
“His 2010 season was amazing, dominating in the middle and then going forward and kicking goals for us.
“He had an impact in every game and was easy to coach.
“It was a watershed season for him, culminating in the club best and fairest.”
From this point he still had to wait two years for a crack at the AFL.
Not secured in the main draft, he had to wait for the rookie draft before his name was re-entered onto an AFL list with Greater Western Sydney.
Giles spent the 2011 season playing in the newly formed North Eastern Australian Football League, in many low profile football destinations, to prove his worth to the Giants.
Finally, for the 2012 campaign, he was elevated to the senior list and has been one of the Giants most consistent performers.
He played a pivotal role in the Giants first win over Gold Coast, kicking three goals back in round seven of 2012.
With at least 100 AFL games left in him, saving injury, Giles is keen for the Giants win-loss ratio to improved from the 10 per cent it has been through his first half a century.
