Where are they now? Jonty Neaves

Jonty Neaves playing for Eaglehawk during the 2017 season.

 

Jonty Neaves started his footy career with the Bellingen Bulldogs, playing for the club for three years from 2009 to 2011 in Under 11 and Under 13. In 2012 he moved to the Sawtell Toormina Junior Saints to play in the Under 15.5 competition, and then on to the Sawtell Toormina Senior club where he won the AFL North Coast Under 18 Best & Fairest in 2015 and became a premiership player.

In 2016 the Neaves family moved to Bendigo to pursue footy opportunities for the boys, and Jonty played for the Bendigo Pioneers in the TAC Cup.

Jonty played for Eaglehawk in the Bendigo Football League in 2017 after deciding to defer from Uni for the year. He had a slow start to the season, missing the first three games following hand surgery, and played his first game of the season in Reserves. The following week he was promoted to the Senior team where he spent the rest of the season as the leading ruckman.

Eaglehawk won 15 straight games through the season, making it all the way to the Grand Final. Unfortunately for Jonty and the team they went down in the decider to Starthfieldsaye by 32 points.

Jonty’s efforts have been recognised by VFL club Coburg Lions and has been invited to take part in the pre-season training program. Jonty has recently moved to Melbourne so that he can be part of the program and is hoping that his efforts during the pre-season will be rewarded with the chance to join the team in 2018.