Jonathan Brown (Australian footballer)

Jonathan Brown
Brown at a game in September 2012.
Personal information
Full name	Jonathan Brown
Nickname(s)	Browny, Jon, Jono, JB
Date of birth	(1981-10-29) 29 October 1981 (age 35)
Place of birth	Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia
Original team(s)	Geelong Falcons (TAC Cup)
Draft	#30 (F/S), 1999 National Draft, Brisbane Lions
Height / weight	195cm / 103kg
Position(s)	Centre half-forward
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
2000–2014	Brisbane Lions	256 (594)
Representative team honours
Years	Team	Games (Goals)
2008	Victoria	1 (3)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2014. 2 State and international statistics correct as of 2008.
Career highlights
3× AFL Premiership: 2001, 2002, 2003 2× All-Australian team: 2007, 2009 All-Australian team vice-captain: 2007 3× Merrett–Murray Medal: 2007, 2008, 2009 Coleman Medal: 2007 5× Brisbane leading goalkicker: 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 Brisbane Lions captain: 2009–2012 Brisbane Lions co-captain: 2007–2008, 2013 3× Robert Rose Award for Most Courageous Player: 2007, 2008, 2011 Marcus Ashcroft Medal: 2013 2× AFLPA Best Captain Award: 2007, 2009 AFL Mark of the Year: 2002 NAB Cup: 2013 Victoria representative: 2008 Victoria captain: 2008 Alastair Lynch Trophy: 2010 Brisbane Lions Best Clubman: 2005 Marcus Ashcroft Most Professional Player: 2009 Brisbane Lions Most Improved Player: 2001 2× Brisbane Lions Best Forward: 2007, 2008 2× Shaun Hart Most Courageous Player: 2007, 2010 Brisbane Lions Members' Player of the Year: 2010 The Courier-Mail Player of the Year: 2007

Jonathan Brown (born 29 October 1981) is a former professional Australian rules footballer and a former captain of the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League. Brown stepped down from the co-captaincy on 23 January 2014.

Previously widely regarded as one of the premier players in the competition, Brown is a three-time club best and fairest winner, two-time All Australian (2007 and 2009), one-time Coleman Medallist and three-time AFL premiership player.

Brown was born in Warrnambool in Victoria in Victoria's south west, to mother Mary and father Brian (former Fitzroy and Essendon player). He is the eldest of three brothers.

Brown grew up on the family property and attended school at Emmanuel College Warrnambool. He grew up a Fitzroy fan and began playing Australian rules at an early age, playing school football with the Emmanuel College Hawks and also cricket. Brown began his senior football with South Warrnambool Football Club at the age of 15. He began senior cricket at about the same time and was a stand-out left-arm fast bowler. He played A-Grade cricket with Wesley CBC where he was Cricketer of the Year two years in a row and played in a senior premiership. He was also invited to play in the Victorian under-17 squad. However, he focused on Australian rules, pursuing a dream of following Ted Whitten to represent Victoria in State of Origin. Brown drew the attention of AFL recruiters while playing under-18 representative football for the Geelong Falcons in 1999 at the national carnival in Brisbane when he was named as an All-Australian.

Brown was selected by the Brisbane Lions in the 1999 AFL Draft under the Father-Son Rule and subsequently made the move to Brisbane and was immediately groomed as the club's centre half-forward. The next year he played his first senior game for the Lions as an 18-year-old, against the Adelaide Crows, in Round 5 of 2000. His best game in his opening year came against Fremantle in the final round of the season when he had 23 disposals and scored two goals.