Round 8 Player of the Round: Clint Jones

Clint Jones might have fallen one-game short of reaching the 150-game AFL milestone with St Kilda, but as he is about to reach 150 matches in the WAFL, he is doing so in as good a form as ever having led Perth to a gritty win on Saturday against Swan Districts.

Jones will bring up his 150th WAFL appearance this Saturday when his Demons take on Subiaco at Leederville Oval and he will go into the milestone appearance in outstanding form, but that should be no surprise since there's no drop off really at any point over the past 15 years.

He might now be 35 years of age, but there's been no sign of decline in his body, in his attitude to compete all day, his ability to find the ball and his ability and willingness to run all day, and simply outlast his opponents.

His remarkably decorated career in both the AFL and WAFL has included plenty of Grand Finals and premierships, but not for a long time, and since he joined Perth what he has been craving is to be part of the return to finals action for the Demons.

That took another step to reality with Saturday's win against Swan Districts and he played a crucial hand in that producing a best on ground display made up of 42 possessions and 11 entries inside the forward 50.

That continues a season where Jones might have handed over the captaincy to Corey Yeo, but where he continues to lead the front in inspirational fashion averaging another 27.9 possessions a game.

Jones' career now reaches another milestone this Saturday against Subiaco when he reaches the 150 games in the WAFL.

It's a journey that started at South Fremantle back in 2002. It was a different role back then for Jones with him stationed out on the wing where he would go on to win two fairest and best awards with the Bulldogs, represent Western Australia and play in the 2005 premiership.

That saw him earn a chance in the AFL following his 84 games at South Fremantle. He was drafted to St Kilda at the end of the 2006 season after playing six games in debut 2007 AFL season, he never looked back.

Cementing his spot as a run-with player and becoming one of the best at it in the game, Jones would go on to play 143 games in the AFL over the next seven seasons including the Grand Final against Geelong in 2009, and both against Collingwood in 2010.

He fell agonisingly short of 150 games at the Saints, with his career ending on 149 with his last game coming in the last round of 2014 against Adelaide where he still played well with 21 possessions.

Jones remained in Melbourne in 2015 playing in the VFL for Sandringham before returning home to WA in 2016 and joining Perth. 

It had been a tough first three seasons in terms of team success, but not individually for Jones who has been tremendously consistently throughout that whole time with the Demons this time largely as an inside midfielder.

Jones has captained Perth and added to his fairest and best, and State jumper collection in his time with the Demons that has now totalled 65 games.

It will become 66 games in the red and black on Saturday as he reaches 150 games in the WAFL and add in 149 AFL games, his state appearances and time in the VFL, and it's a remarkable thing that Jones is still going so strong and will be at the forefront of Perth's continued push to play finals.