# Jordan Dawson

Jordan Dawson (born 9 April 1997) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Sydney Swans from 2016 to 2021. Dawson was named in the 2023 All-Australian team and is a dual Malcolm Blight Medallist and dual Showdown Medallist. He has served as Adelaide's captain since 2023.

## Early life

Dawson was born in Kingston South East, and grew up in Robe, south-east of Adelaide in South Australia. He moved to Adelaide in his youth and attended Scotch College during his teenage years.

## AFL career
### Sydney (2016–2021)

He was drafted by Sydney with their third selection and fifty-sixth overall in the 2015 national draft. He made his debut in the one point loss against Collingwood at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Round 3 of the 2017 season. After spending long periods of time playing in the NEAFL for Sydney, Dawson began to find form in 2020 at a time when the Swans were struggling. Dawson impressed rival clubs in his last game for Sydney, which was the 2021 elimination final against Greater Western Sydney. Dawson had 18 disposals and 8 marks in the narrow loss.
At the end of the 2021 AFL season, Dawson requested a trade to Adelaide, in his home state of South Australia, despite speculation that the Swan might end up playing for cross-town rivals Port Adelaide. He was traded on 13 October during the 2021 trade period.

### Adelaide (2022–present)

Round 3 of the 2022 AFL season saw Dawson win the Showdown Medal during Adelaide's 4 point victory over Port Adelaide, in which he kicked a goal after the siren to win the match. In his first season as a Crow, he finished second in the club's best and fairest award, behind the three-time winner and fellow Scotch College alumn Rory Laird. Dawson was made captain of the Adelaide Crows after Rory Sloane stepped down on 10 February 2023, following Sloane's 4th year in the role. Dawson won his second Showdown Medal in Round 3 of 2023 in his first win as captain. Dawson would go on to greatly succeed in the role, finding career-best form and winning the Malcolm Blight Medal in just his second season at the club.
2024 began with scrutiny directed at Jordan Dawson, with Adelaide's 0-4 winning record "epitomised" by Dawson's poor form. Dawson responded with back-to-back best-on-ground performances against Essendon and North Melbourne, the latter of which saw Dawson awarded with the ANZAC Spirit medal, given to the player adjudicated best-on-ground during the AFL's ANZAC Appeal Round. Dawson was forced to miss one game in the season following a head collision with Essendon forward Nate Caddy. His absent leadership was noticeable in a large loss to Hawthorn the following week. Despite the Crows once again missing finals, Dawson strung together some good form to lead the club in coaches' votes as well as in Brownlow votes for the second year in a row. Dawson won consecutive Malcolm Blight Medals, being a part of the first tie in the history of the award alongside Ben Keays. He was also awarded with Adelaide's Players' Trademark Award for the second year in a row.

## Statistics

Updated to round 1, 2025.
| Season | Team | No. | Games | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Votes |
| Season | Team | No. | Games | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | Votes |
| 2017 | Sydney | 34 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1.00 | 6.00 | 4.00 | 10.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 0 |
| 2018 | Sydney | 34 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 33 | 16 | 49 | 22 | 12 | 1.00 | 0.75 | 8.25 | 4.00 | 12.25 | 5.50 | 3.00 | 0 |
| 2019 | Sydney | 34 | 20 | 15 | 1 | 249 | 127 | 376 | 109 | 60 | 0.75 | 0.05 | 12.45 | 6.35 | 18.80 | 5.45 | 3.00 | 1 |
| 2020 | Sydney | 34 | 16 | 6 | 7 | 183 | 77 | 260 | 59 | 38 | 0.38 | 0.44 | 11.44 | 4.81 | 16.25 | 3.69 | 2.38 | 0 |
| 2021 | Sydney | 34 | 23 | 9 | 7 | 354 | 159 | 513 | 126 | 68 | 0.39 | 0.30 | 15.39 | 6.91 | 22.30 | 5.48 | 2.96 | 6 |
| 2022 | Adelaide | 12 | 22 | 10 | 6 | 408 | 133 | 541 | 146 | 65 | 0.45 | 0.27 | 18.55 | 6.05 | 24.59 | 6.64 | 2.95 | 8 |
| 2023 | Adelaide | 12 | 23 | 6 | 15 | 401 | 222 | 623 | 114 | 153 | 0.26 | 0.65 | 17.43 | 9.65 | 27.09 | 4.96 | 6.65 | 20 |
| 2024 | Adelaide | 12 | 22 | 10 | 6 | 365 | 174 | 539 | 110 | 134 | 0.45 | 0.27 | 16.59 | 7.91 | 24.50 | 5.00 | 6.09 | 18 |
| 2025 | Adelaide | 12 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 24 | 3 | 27 | 9 | 4 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 24.00 | 3.00 | 27.00 | 9.00 | 4.00 | |
| Career | Career | Career | 132 | 62 | 48 | 2023 | 915 | 2938 | 698 | 537 | 0.47 | 0.36 | 15.33 | 6.93 | 22.26 | 5.29 | 4.07 | 53 |
Notes
* ↑ 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.

## Honours and achievements

* Adelaide captain: 2023–present
* All-Australian team: 2023
* 2× Malcolm Blight Medal: 2023, 2024
* 2× Showdown Medal: 2022 (game 1), 2023 (game 1)

## Personal life

Dawson married his long-term partner Milly Dutton in January 2024.