41 Facts About Jack Viney

Jack Viney was born on 13 April 1994 and is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League.

Jack Viney played top-level football at a young age playing in the first XVIII at Prince Alfred College at fifteen and was a bottom-aged player in the TAC Cup for the Oakleigh Chargers.

Jack Viney made his debut in 2013, receiving a nomination for the AFL Rising Star and was awarded the Harold Ball Memorial Trophy.

Jack Viney was named as Melbourne's best and fairest player in 2016, winning the Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Trophy.

Jack Viney was born to Todd and Meg Jack Viney in Melbourne, Victoria; his father played 233 games with the Melbourne Football Club and is a former captain, two-time Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medallist, Melbourne Hall of Fame member, a part of Melbourne's Team of the Century and a one-time caretaker coach for five matches in 2011.

Jack Viney played his junior football with the Ashburton Redbacks and would often play in the grade above his age group due to being "too rough".

Jack Viney played alongside future AFL stars Toby Greene and Tom Mitchell.

Jack Viney spent part of his childhood in Echuca, where he befriended future Brownlow Medal winner Ollie Wines.

Jack Viney moved to Adelaide, South Australia in 2009 after his father became an assistant coach at the Adelaide Football Club and he attended Prince Alfred College for years nine and ten.

Jack Viney received state-honours in the 2010 under-16 championships by representing South Australia and captained the side to the winning title, he was named the state's most valuable player.

Jack Viney represented Victoria Metro in the 2011 AFL Under 18 Championships and despite being one of the youngest players, he was lauded for his leadership on and off the field.

Jack Viney played eight matches for Oakleigh in 2011 including the losing grand final to the Sandringham Dragons, in which he was named best-on-ground; his coach, Greg Doyle, praised Viney for his physicality and readiness to play senior football at seventeen years of age.

Jack Viney was named in the level two squad for the 2011 intake in the AIS-AFL Academy, and was commended for his performance in the Academy match against the Box Hill at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in March 2012, after recording sixteen disposals, including ten contested, six tackles and six clearances.

Jack Viney received permission to play in the Victorian Football League in 2012 for Melbourne's affiliate team, the Casey Scorpions; he suffered a broken jaw in two places during his debut match after a high-bump from then-Geelong player, David Wojcinski; in a separate incident, Wojcinski was charged with striking Jack Viney, which resulted in an overall four-match suspension.

Jack Viney received mid-year state honours and represented Victoria Metro in the 2012 AFL Under 18 Championships, he missed the start of the championships through his jaw injury and played in the final two rounds of the championships, including the winning final against Western Australia.

Jack Viney made his debut in the first round of 2013 against Port Adelaide at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, despite losing the match by seventy-nine points and the team being labelled as "embarrassing", Jack Viney was praised by the media for his performance in the match and his leadership on and off the field.

Jack Viney was praised by then-Melbourne caretaker coach, Neil Craig, for his competitive mindset and Craig drew comparisons between Viney's mindset and 2016 Brownlow Medallist, Patrick Dangerfield's.

Jack Viney managed thirteen matches in his debut season after missing eight matches in the middle of the season through a toe injury.

Jack Viney's season was rewarded with the Harold Ball Memorial Trophy as Melbourne's best young player and he finished fourteenth overall in the best and fairest count.

Jack Viney had a delayed start to the 2014 season after having an injury-interrupted pre-season due to foot and hip issues.

Jack Viney played his first match for the season in the thirty-two point loss against Greater Western Sydney in round three at Spotless Stadium.

Jack Viney received widespread news coverage during the season after an incident in round seven where he collided with Adelaide player, Tom Lynch, resulting in a broken jaw to Lynch.

Jack Viney was referred directly to the AFL Tribunal, bypassing the match review panel and the opportunity of an early plea.

Jack Viney was initially suspended for two-weeks with the rationale given by AFL legal counsel, Jeff Gleeson, that he could have "spun out" of the impending collision, rather than brace for contact.

The AFL chief executive officer at the time, Andrew Demetriou, weighed into the debate by stating Jack Viney was very unlucky to be suspended.

Jack Viney played in the first two matches for 2015 before fracturing his fibula in the round two loss to Greater Western Sydney at StarTrack Oval.

Jack Viney returned in round nine against Port Adelaide at TIO Traeger Park and played the remainder of the season.

Jack Viney's season was rewarded with a second-place finish in the Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal, finishing one vote behind the winner, Bernie Vince, despite playing six less matches, he received the Norm Smith Memorial Trophy and James McDonald Trophy and it was labelled as his breakout season by Fox Sports Australia journalist, Adam Baldwin.

Jack Viney finished the season playing in twenty-one out of a possible twenty-two matches and averaged a career high 26.1 disposals, six clearances and seven tackles and ranked fourth in the AFL for tackles, sixth in centre clearances and eleventh in overall clearances.

Jack Viney's season was rewarded with the Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal as the club best and fairest, finishing eight votes ahead of club captain, Nathan Jones and he was the recipient of the Ron Barassi Jnr Trophy.

Jack Viney certainly plays in the same vein [as Joel Selwood].

Jack Viney had a delayed start to the 2017 pre-season after requiring surgery on his hip at the end of the 2016 home and away season.

Jack Viney was praised in particular for his match against Collingwood in the Queen's Birthday clash, in which he recorded twenty disposals, ten contested possessions, three clearances and seven tackles to be named one of Melbourne's best players by Anna Harrington.

Two weeks later, he was the sole captain of Melbourne for the first time after Nathan Jones injured himself the week before and Jack Viney helped the club defeat West Coast in Perth for the first time in fifteen seasons with a three point win.

Jack Viney's leadership drew high praise, with Simon Goodwin saying "he's just an incredible player around the contest and he was unbelievable as our skipper" and Viney drew comparisons to Joel Selwood and Michael Voss by Garry Lyon, Dennis Cometti and Brad Sewell.

Jack Viney received the maximum three Brownlow Medal votes in the match, meaning he was adjudged the best player on the ground by the field umpires and was named in AFL Media's team of the week.

Jack Viney missed just two matches and returned in the twenty-three point win against Port Adelaide at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in round eighteen, recording a game-high ten clearances, in addition to twenty-five disposals, seven tackles and six inside 50s which led to teammate, Dom Tyson, saying "he's just so important, he's our captain and you just walk that little bit taller when he's on the field with you" and he was named in AFL Media's team of the week for the fifth time in the season.

Jack Viney played the next three matches before pulling up sore in his foot during the twenty-four point win against St Kilda at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in round twenty-one.

Jack Viney was forced to miss the remaining two games of the season after the club missed finals by 0.5 percentage points.

Jack Viney is currently studying a Bachelor of Commerce at Deakin University.

In 2021, Jack Viney was named as Deakin University's Male Sportsperson of the Year.