Jake Carlisle

Jake Carlisle (born 1 October 1991) is a professional Australian rules footballer with the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Essendon Football Club from 2010 to 2015.

Early life

Carlisle was selected by Essendon with pick 24 in the 2009 National Draft. Like fellow draftee Jake Melksham, he is a local to the Essendon area. He played with the Calder Cannons in the TAC Cup and Craigieburn in the EDFL. He represented Vic Metro in the 2009 AFL National Under 18 Championships and was part of the 2009 Premiership team.^[1]

AFL career

Carlisle made his debut in Round 20 of the 2010 AFL season, against Collingwood, a game which the young team lost by 98 points. Essendon coach Matthew Knights claimed that Carlisle and fellow debutant, Stewart Crameri, will have "come away from the match with enormous knowledge of how hard they have to train now and how hard they have to work in the off-season to keep building their football."^[2]

He had a break-out 2012, his consistency in the back-line did not go unnoticed, earning an AFL Rising Star nomination against Greater Western Sydney in Round 9.^[3] While Jake spent the majority of his time on the last line of defence, he also enjoyed the odd cameo role up forward. Fearless around packs and a strong contested mark, his impressive season was cut short with a foot injury in Round 19.

Carlisle was a major factor of the Bombers' racing out to a 6-0 start and being 13-3 after Round 17 in 2013, his switches to the forward line providing an X-Factor in getting the bombers over the line, such as in Round 14 against the West Coast Eagles, where Carlisle kicked two late goals, including one to level the scores with under two minutes remaining, as the bombers earned a 7-point victory.

In September 2015 Carlisle requested a trade out of Essendon after delaying contract talks until the end of the season. It had been reported during the season that he had appeared disenchanted as the supplements scandal continued to heavily impact on the club, and in their Round 19 loss to Greater Western Sydney, Carlisle was reported to have yelled "This club is fucked" as he walked to the interchange bench.^[4] In October 2015, after much deliberation, Carlisle nominated St Kilda over Carlton as the club he wished to be traded to from Essendon.^[5] He was officially traded to St Kilda on 21 October.^{[6] [7]}

On 12 January 2016 Carlisle was named as one of 34 past and present Essendon players found guilty over their use of illegal supplements during the 2012 AFL season. As a result, Carlisle was suspended for twelve months, effective from November 2015, meaning he will miss the entire 2016 AFL season.^[8]

Personal life

Carlisle grew up in Craigieburn, a northern suburb of Melbourne. He is the second youngest of five children and has four sisters. He attended Willmott Park Primary School in Craigieburn before going to Niddrie Secondary College.

Carlisle has several tattoos. He has an ambigram tattoo of "mother" and "Darlene" on his arm, "Carlisle" on the right side of his back and his sisters names, "Erin 85", "Shelley 88", "Tiffany 90" and "Mel 96" on his left ribcage.^[9]

Controversy

Carlisle drew controversy when the Nine Network's television program A Current Affair broadcast footage on 21 October 2015, the same day he was traded to St Kilda, of a man suspected to be Carlisle snorting a white substance.^[10] A statement released the following morning by Carlisle confirmed it was him in the footage and he admitted that he had "made a very poor decision" and was "truly sorry".^[11] In November, he received a strike under the AFL illicit drugs policy, a two-match suspension for the start of the 2016 season, and forfeited $50,000 in marketing money.^[12][13]

Statistics

Statistics are correct to the end of Round 20, 2015.^[14]

References

External links

• Jake Carlisle's profile on the official website of the St Kilda Football Club
• Jake Carlisle's statistics from AFL Tables