38 Facts About Jobe Watson

Jobe Watson was born on 8 February 1985 and is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League.

Jobe Watson was one of thirty-four players suspended as part of the Essendon Football Club supplements saga for using the banned performance-enhancing substance Thymosin beta-4 during the 2012 AFL season.

Jobe Watson originally won that season's Brownlow Medal as the league's best and fairest player, but was later ruled ineligible in 2016 as a result of the suspension and subsequently handed back the medal.

Jobe Watson was suspended for the entire 2016 AFL season, before returning the following year; he then played for one more season before retiring.

Jobe Watson is currently an AFL commentator for the Seven Network, following in the footsteps of his father Tim.

Jobe Watson played junior football with the East Sandringham Junior Football Club and the Sandringham Dragons in the TAC Cup.

Jobe Watson was initially coached as a key forward by Kevin Sheedy, who coached his father Tim.

Jobe Watson's poor kicking by AFL standards drew criticism, and it was determined that he would be more suited to the midfield at Essendon.

Jobe Watson had a consistent season in 2009, polling ten Brownlow Medal votes and winning the Essendon best-and-fairest award, the Crichton Medal.

Jobe Watson polled 335 votes in 15 of the 21 games he played in the 2009 season, with only one game missed due to an ankle injury.

Jobe Watson was 46 votes ahead of runner-up Dustin Fletcher, who polled 289 votes.

Jobe Watson was announced as Essendon captain on 21 December 2009, taking over from retired goalkicker Matthew Lloyd.

Jobe Watson was a consistent performer in an inconsistent season for the Bombers, polling 16 Brownlow votes from a total of 43 received by Essendon players, including a three-vote game in his 100th AFL game, finishing equal-seventh in the 2010 Brownlow Medal count, and having the highest number of votes for a player from a team finishing outside the final eight.

Jobe Watson was awarded the Crichton Medal, earning 291 points, which was 50 points clear of runner-up Heath Hocking.

Jobe Watson had a relatively good season in 2011 despite missing six weeks with a hamstring injury, earning 15 Brownlow votes and finishing runner-up in the Crichton Medal, losing out to up-and-coming third-year midfielder David Zaharakis.

Jobe Watson completed an outstanding 2012 season by winning the Brownlow Medal with 30 votes.

Jobe Watson missed three weeks with a broken collarbone in 2013, but had another consistent season, earning 17 Brownlow votes, finishing runner-up in the Crichton Medal to former St Kilda utility Brendon Goddard, and being named on the interchange in the 2013 All-Australian team.

Between 2006 and 2013, Jobe Watson finished all but one season in the top two for votes for the Crichton Medal.

Jobe Watson had a good start to the 2014 season, but he injured his hip flexor in round 12 and consequently missed ten weeks.

Jobe Watson later returned to play in the final three games of the home-and-away season and Essendon's elimination final loss to North Melbourne.

Jobe Watson then went on to poll eight Brownlow votes, behind up-and-coming midfielder and future captain Dyson Heppell.

Jobe Watson was selected in the Australian team for the first time in his career to play in the 2014 International Rules Series.

Jobe Watson was among the best players in the one-test series, which Australia won by ten points.

In 2015, despite controversy surrounding the team's lack of fitness and a tough first half of the season for Essendon, Jobe Watson continued to lead his team well early in the season despite his own injury clouds.

In Round 14, Jobe Watson played his 200th AFL game in what proved to be a torrid day for the Bombers, as they lost to St Kilda by 110 points.

Jobe Watson was later banned for the 2016 season as part of the club's supplements saga.

Jobe Watson then made a successful return to football with a dominant game against Hawthorn in a 25-point win.

On 9 August 2017, with three rounds left in the home-and-away season, Jobe Watson announced that he would retire at the end of the season.

Jobe Watson then played in three of Essendon's last four matches, with his final game coming in the 65-point elimination final loss to Sydney at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Jobe Watson played 20 games in his final season, which is the most he had played in a season since 2012, to finish on 220 games for Essendon.

In 2025, Jobe Watson was named at Number 17 in Don The Stat's Top 100 Essendon Players Since 1980.

On 24 June 2013, while the Essendon Football Club was being investigated by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority over the legality of its supplements program during the 2012 AFL season, Jobe Watson admitted on the Fox Footy program On the Couch that he believed he was given the substance AOD-9604 during the 2012 season with the assistance of the club.

Jobe Watson was retrospectively ruled ineligible for the award by the Commission, and the medal then awarded to the next-highest vote-getters, Richmond's Trent Cotchin and then-Hawthorn player Sam Mitchell, under the normal rules regarding ineligible players in Brownlow Medal counts.

Jobe Watson had pre-empted the decision by announcing on 11 November 2016 that he would hand back the medal.

Whilst being unable to play in 2014 due to a hip flexor injury, Jobe Watson did commentary work for the Seven Network as a boundary rider for one match; he later returned in 2019 for a home-and-away match and final.

Jobe Watson filled in for co-host Craig Hutchison on the episode of Footy Classified immediately following the final home-and-away round of the 2017 season, and was a guest panellist on Talking Footy in 2019.

Jobe Watson joined Seven's commentary team on a more permanent basis in 2020.

In June 2019, Jobe Watson participated in the Big Freeze at the 'G alongside several former AFL footballers and Australian sportspeople to raise money for the Cure for MND Foundation.