AFL Player # 6: Jye Caldwell

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06 - caldwell.jpg
Contract Status: Out of contract 2024
My Boy Draft 2024: Pick 2, eth-dog
 
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What a stud
 

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our best on ground, i don't care. his work effort was amazing.

having been studying animal farm in my year 10 english class i'm teaching (it's boring), he is synonymous with boxer, he works harder, and harder, and harder, and doesn't give up
 
Just a very hard man. Reminds me of Devon Smith without the big mouth.
 
BOG. What a stud
 

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Yoda_ said:
eth-dog

in terms of pure our selections we handed over, we gave up our 2020 second rounder (after bids matched = 36 I think = Charlie Lazzaro)

and 2021 second rounder (what did these equal ?


be curious how we're tracking for Adrian pulling ahead in this trade
Click to expand...
James Willis, who has yet to debut
 

Essendon midfielder Jye Caldwell opens up on difficult start to career with GWS and finally making his mark on the AFL​

Jye Caldwell was selected by GWS at 11 in the ‘super draft’ of 2018. After a disrupted early career at the Giants, Caldwell tells Jon Ralph he is intent on making up for lost time.


Jye Caldwell relished the belief his co-captain Phil Davis placed in him when he labelled the GWS Giants draftee a talent worthy of a 10-year deal.

The No.11 draft pick felt “special” to be given such affirmation as he embarked upon what he expected to be a long and decorated career in western Sydney.
And yet as the years went on for the nuggety inside-mid from Bendigo, nothing went to plan.

He played just 11 games in two years at the Giants before a trade to Essendon, where a hamstring injury decimated his first season at a club that handed over pick 18 for his services.
If that Davis comment was not exactly an albatross around his neck, the performances of his draft alumni increased the pressure to perform.

[PLAYERCARD]Jye Caldwell[/PLAYERCARD] was taken by the Giants at pick 11 in the ‘Super Draft’ of 2018. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

Jye Caldwell was taken by the Giants at pick 11 in the ‘Super Draft’ of 2018. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

Taken in an AFL "super draft", that year’s No.1 pick, Carlton’s Sam Walsh bolted to 61 games to Caldwell’s 13 after three years as Connor Rozee and the King brothers, Ben and Max, also showcased their talent.

Caldwell will run onto the MCG today after the best fortnight of his AFL career, steeled by the lessons of those four challenging seasons. He has finally separated his football identity from his self worth through intensive work with a mental skills coach and psychologist.

He now knows a poor game doesn’t mean he is a bad person.
A player squeezed in between Zak Butters and Nick Blakey in that 2018 national draft has taken down Tom Liberatore in round 5, then played an expansive 26-possession, 10-tackle game when handed more significant midfield time against Adelaide.

Having learnt the challenging lessons of those early games, Caldwell is intent on making up for lost time.
“I think it’s just believing in myself,” he told the Herald Sun ahead of his third Anzac Day contest this week. “I feel like I can make it at the top level. Last year was a step in the right direction, playing consistent footy, but I had come off a low base. I played 13 games in three years and I was trying to get out on the track and play every week. But I have gone past that point. I want to have an impact at Essendon, but also in the AFL.

“Going to the Giants and not playing much footy up there then getting injured in my first year at Essendon; you are up with fairly high draft picks and everyone else around you has played 50 or 60 games and I have played 13. It’s hard.
“You get stuck talking and imagining what it could be like for you: ‘I could be doing this, or I could be doing that’. But as a player it builds a lot of resilience, to front up and get it done.
“I don’t take playing football for granted because I realise how bad it is when you can’t play.”

ye Caldwell in action for the Bendigo Pioneers in 2017. Picture: Robert Prezioso/AFL Media/Getty Images

ye Caldwell in action for the Bendigo Pioneers in 2017. Picture: Robert Prezioso/AFL Media/Getty Images

THE ROAD TO SUCCESS
Caldwell’s journey to AFL acclaim has taken some twists and turns – from the Bendigo Pioneers and a burgeoning junior boxing career to Geelong Grammar, to the Giants, and then Essendon ahead of rival bidder St Kilda at the end of 2020.
It was Dons recruiter Adrian Dodoro who sold occasions like Anzac Day as a lure to Caldwell when the Saints were also coming hard.

Finally, after 41 games across his past two seasons, he has been given the midfield time he has craved in the past fortnight, with the rewards obvious.
“Probably both years to start the season, I have played more of that half forward role. We have good availability in (the midfield). So when the opportunity does come to play midfield and do the centre bounce stuff, I try to grab it with both hands and make it mine.

“Libba is an interesting one. He has got very, very good hands. Obviously our midfield coach Gia (Daniel Giansiracusa) spent time at the Dogs and speaking to him through the week I watched the majority of his centre bounce stuff. To be able to go to one of their better stoppages players, it’s not a tag, but it brings you into the game. And then it’s making him more accountable to me as well.”

Caldwell soon after signing with the Bombers at the end of 2020. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett

Caldwell soon after signing with the Bombers at the end of 2020. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett

Davis still remembers those early days when Caldwell and Tom Green dominated intra-club scrimmages.
“(Caldwell) was a tough inside-mid and we never quite got to see the best of him. He was also trying to force his way into a team with too many inside-mids,” the 192-game veteran said this week.

“He always had a great upside, but he has that natural instinct to compete and win the ball and we are starting to see that. Part of the game we sometimes overlook is midfield balance.
“If you have a couple of inside-mids ahead of you, you can’t play. Jackson Macrae (at the Bulldogs) is the pin-up boy for that.

“It’s taken a while for Jye to jump that hurdle and crack into the two or three best inside-mids (at Essendon). His hands in close are getting better and now we are starting to see why he was taken so early.”

MENTAL STRENGTH
Caldwell says his days off are about finding balance, then reels off an incredible list of extra-curricular activities he does to prepare for the game. Many Essendon players have also embraced the methods of new mental skills coach Ben Robbins, but Caldwell has gone all-in.

“During the week, I make sure I do everything right to play and perform on the weekend,” he said. “I see Ben Robbins, I have done a lot of visualisation. I got to a psychologist here and there away from the club. Not about footy, broadly about life stuff.

Caldwell claimed the scalp of Tom Liberatore when the Bombers played the Western Bulldogs. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Caldwell claimed the scalp of Tom Liberatore when the Bombers played the Western Bulldogs. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

“You can get caught up in footy, footy footy. I have never had any mental illness (issues), but it’s good to have someone to talk to about life and general stuff.
“You can hold in your performances. How you are going with your form and you can take it personally. I am not playing well, am I a bad person? Things like that.

“It’s totally not the case and it’s good to speak to someone about that. Your performances don’t reflect you as a person.”
“Football games come around very quickly. If you hold onto it, you can spiral pretty quickly. I am quick to play, do your review, work on what you need to, watch some clips and push that game out of the way, because there is another coming in four or five days.”

Days off include massages, catching up with mates, swimming and most weeks a stint at The Breath Haus, a Windsor clinic that explores the power, healing qualities and benefits of a patient’s breathing.
“I have been going for a little while now. It’s like meditation. It’s for your central nervous system, you do breathing and breath holds. I recommend it, it’s really good,” he said.

Caldwell’s greater perspective that “your performances don’t reflect you as a person,” has allowed him to be a better football. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Caldwell’s greater perspective that “your performances don’t reflect you as a person,” has allowed him to be a better football. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

ANZAC DAY MATCH-UP
If Caldwell has an Anzac Day tag coming up on Nick Daicos or Jordan De Goey coming he certainly isn’t revealing it.
But it was exactly these kind of midfield battles that the Dons recruited him for as he displays the rugged physicality that is the hallmark of his game.

“With the tackling and pressure stuff, that is part of my game,” he said.
“I like to get pretty aggressive. There are heaps of moments in the game where you have the choice to do that and I try to put that at the forefront of my mind.


​

 
I Remember Bluey said:

Essendon midfielder Jye Caldwell opens up on difficult start to career with GWS and finally making his mark on the AFL​

Jye Caldwell was selected by GWS at 11 in the ‘super draft’ of 2018. After a disrupted early career at the Giants, Caldwell tells Jon Ralph he is intent on making up for lost time.


Jye Caldwell relished the belief his co-captain Phil Davis placed in him when he labelled the GWS Giants draftee a talent worthy of a 10-year deal.

The No.11 draft pick felt “special” to be given such affirmation as he embarked upon what he expected to be a long and decorated career in western Sydney.
And yet as the years went on for the nuggety inside-mid from Bendigo, nothing went to plan.

He played just 11 games in two years at the Giants before a trade to Essendon, where a hamstring injury decimated his first season at a club that handed over pick 18 for his services.
If that Davis comment was not exactly an albatross around his neck, the performances of his draft alumni increased the pressure to perform.

Jye Caldwell was taken by the Giants at pick 11 in the ‘Super Draft’ of 2018. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

Jye Caldwell was taken by the Giants at pick 11 in the ‘Super Draft’ of 2018. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

Taken in an AFL "super draft", that year’s No.1 pick, Carlton’s Sam Walsh bolted to 61 games to Caldwell’s 13 after three years as Connor Rozee and the King brothers, Ben and Max, also showcased their talent.

Caldwell will run onto the MCG today after the best fortnight of his AFL career, steeled by the lessons of those four challenging seasons. He has finally separated his football identity from his self worth through intensive work with a mental skills coach and psychologist.

He now knows a poor game doesn’t mean he is a bad person.
A player squeezed in between Zak Butters and Nick Blakey in that 2018 national draft has taken down Tom Liberatore in round 5, then played an expansive 26-possession, 10-tackle game when handed more significant midfield time against Adelaide.

Having learnt the challenging lessons of those early games, Caldwell is intent on making up for lost time.
“I think it’s just believing in myself,” he told the Herald Sun ahead of his third Anzac Day contest this week. “I feel like I can make it at the top level. Last year was a step in the right direction, playing consistent footy, but I had come off a low base. I played 13 games in three years and I was trying to get out on the track and play every week. But I have gone past that point. I want to have an impact at Essendon, but also in the AFL.

“Going to the Giants and not playing much footy up there then getting injured in my first year at Essendon; you are up with fairly high draft picks and everyone else around you has played 50 or 60 games and I have played 13. It’s hard.
“You get stuck talking and imagining what it could be like for you: ‘I could be doing this, or I could be doing that’. But as a player it builds a lot of resilience, to front up and get it done.
“I don’t take playing football for granted because I realise how bad it is when you can’t play.”

ye Caldwell in action for the Bendigo Pioneers in 2017. Picture: Robert Prezioso/AFL Media/Getty Images

ye Caldwell in action for the Bendigo Pioneers in 2017. Picture: Robert Prezioso/AFL Media/Getty Images

THE ROAD TO SUCCESS
Caldwell’s journey to AFL acclaim has taken some twists and turns – from the Bendigo Pioneers and a burgeoning junior boxing career to Geelong Grammar, to the Giants, and then Essendon ahead of rival bidder St Kilda at the end of 2020.
It was Dons recruiter Adrian Dodoro who sold occasions like Anzac Day as a lure to Caldwell when the Saints were also coming hard.

Finally, after 41 games across his past two seasons, he has been given the midfield time he has craved in the past fortnight, with the rewards obvious.
“Probably both years to start the season, I have played more of that half forward role. We have good availability in (the midfield). So when the opportunity does come to play midfield and do the centre bounce stuff, I try to grab it with both hands and make it mine.

“Libba is an interesting one. He has got very, very good hands. Obviously our midfield coach Gia (Daniel Giansiracusa) spent time at the Dogs and speaking to him through the week I watched the majority of his centre bounce stuff. To be able to go to one of their better stoppages players, it’s not a tag, but it brings you into the game. And then it’s making him more accountable to me as well.”

Caldwell soon after signing with the Bombers at the end of 2020. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett

Caldwell soon after signing with the Bombers at the end of 2020. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett

Davis still remembers those early days when Caldwell and Tom Green dominated intra-club scrimmages.
“(Caldwell) was a tough inside-mid and we never quite got to see the best of him. He was also trying to force his way into a team with too many inside-mids,” the 192-game veteran said this week.

“He always had a great upside, but he has that natural instinct to compete and win the ball and we are starting to see that. Part of the game we sometimes overlook is midfield balance.
“If you have a couple of inside-mids ahead of you, you can’t play. Jackson Macrae (at the Bulldogs) is the pin-up boy for that.

“It’s taken a while for Jye to jump that hurdle and crack into the two or three best inside-mids (at Essendon). His hands in close are getting better and now we are starting to see why he was taken so early.”

MENTAL STRENGTH
Caldwell says his days off are about finding balance, then reels off an incredible list of extra-curricular activities he does to prepare for the game. Many Essendon players have also embraced the methods of new mental skills coach Ben Robbins, but Caldwell has gone all-in.

“During the week, I make sure I do everything right to play and perform on the weekend,” he said. “I see Ben Robbins, I have done a lot of visualisation. I got to a psychologist here and there away from the club. Not about footy, broadly about life stuff.

Caldwell claimed the scalp of Tom Liberatore when the Bombers played the Western Bulldogs. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Caldwell claimed the scalp of Tom Liberatore when the Bombers played the Western Bulldogs. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

“You can get caught up in footy, footy footy. I have never had any mental illness (issues), but it’s good to have someone to talk to about life and general stuff.
“You can hold in your performances. How you are going with your form and you can take it personally. I am not playing well, am I a bad person? Things like that.

“It’s totally not the case and it’s good to speak to someone about that. Your performances don’t reflect you as a person.”
“Football games come around very quickly. If you hold onto it, you can spiral pretty quickly. I am quick to play, do your review, work on what you need to, watch some clips and push that game out of the way, because there is another coming in four or five days.”

Days off include massages, catching up with mates, swimming and most weeks a stint at The Breath Haus, a Windsor clinic that explores the power, healing qualities and benefits of a patient’s breathing.
“I have been going for a little while now. It’s like meditation. It’s for your central nervous system, you do breathing and breath holds. I recommend it, it’s really good,” he said.

Caldwell’s greater perspective that “your performances don’t reflect you as a person,” has allowed him to be a better football. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Caldwell’s greater perspective that “your performances don’t reflect you as a person,” has allowed him to be a better football. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

ANZAC DAY MATCH-UP
If Caldwell has an Anzac Day tag coming up on Nick Daicos or Jordan De Goey coming he certainly isn’t revealing it.
But it was exactly these kind of midfield battles that the Dons recruited him for as he displays the rugged physicality that is the hallmark of his game.

“With the tackling and pressure stuff, that is part of my game,” he said.
“I like to get pretty aggressive. There are heaps of moments in the game where you have the choice to do that and I try to put that at the forefront of my mind.


​

Click to expand...
this is a great read, really down to earth young man. i think what’s most important about the AFL life for new(er) players is having an existence outside of football. when i was doing my undergraduate degree at swinburne, a few of my first year classes had richmond players in them (as they were (still are?) a sponser of the club, which i thought was a genuinely great initiative to have. the fact of the matter is, a lot of AFL players won’t make it, and while they’ll still be good footballers, having the skills/education from a university that you’re also studying while training is incredibly important for the rest of your life.

i think a good thing about our playing crop currently is that so many of them are incredibly down to earth and mature about their positions
 
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AFL Player # 6: Jye Caldwell

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