Neville Jetta

Neville Jetta
Jetta with Melbourne in July 2019
Personal information
Full name	Neville Jetta
Date of birth	(1990-02-12) 12 February 1990 (age 34)
Place of birth	Bunbury, Western Australia
Original team(s)	Swan Districts (WAFL)
Draft	No. 51, 2008 national draft
Debut	Round 1, 2009, Melbourne vs. North Melbourne, at MCG
Height	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	82 kg (181 lb)
Position(s)	Defender
Playing career^1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
2009–2021	Melbourne	159 (24)
Representative team honours
Years	Team	Games (Goals)
2020	All-Stars	1 (0)
International team honours
2017	Australia	2 (0)
Coaching career
Years	Club	Games (W–L–D)
2025–	Fitzroy Stars (NFNL)
^1 Playing statistics correct to the end of round 15, 2021. ^2 State and international statistics correct as of 2017.
Career highlights
Jim Stynes Community Leadership Award: 2018
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Neville Jetta (born 12 February 1990) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is the current senior coach of the Fitzroy Stars in the Northern Football Netball League (NFNL).

Playing career

Jetta was drafted by Melbourne with the 51st selection in the 2008 national draft. He had previously been playing with Swan Districts in the West Australian Football League (WAFL). In September 2008 he was awarded the Mel Whinnen Medal for being the best player in the Swans colts grand final win.[1]

Both Jetta and fellow Melbourne draftee Jamie Bennell come from Bunbury and attended the same primary school. Jetta is the cousin of Lewis Jetta of the West Coast Eagles and also a distant cousin of Leroy Jetta, who played for Essendon.[2]

Jetta and Bennell were both named to make their AFL debuts together in the opening round of the 2009 AFL season.[3]

During the 2013 AFL season, Jetta fell out of favour at the Demons, playing only five games due to form and being unable to find a permanent position. This led to Jetta being delisted at the season's end. Due to the appointment of Paul Roos as senior coach, Jetta was provided with another chance and was redrafted as a rookie for the 2014 AFL season.

During the 2014 AFL season, Jetta was promoted to the senior list due to injuries to Jesse Hogan and Mitch Clark. Jetta cemented a spot in Melbourne's back six where he arguably played the best football of his career playing as a small defender, successfully negating small forwards such as Eddie Betts, Chad Wingard and Luke Dahlhaus.

In 2018, Jetta was awarded the Jim Stynes Community Leadership Award for his work supporting Indigenous youth through various school-based programs as well as his ambassador roles with Red Cross and Headspace.[4]

Neville was the first Melbourne Football Club player to win the Jim Stynes Community Leadership Award, named in memory of Melbourne great Jim Stynes.

On 27 September 2021, Jetta announced his retirement from the AFL.[5]

Coaching career

Following his retirement as a player, Jetta joined Collingwood as a development coach.[6]

On 8 October 2024, he was announced as the senior men's coach of the Fitzroy Stars Football Club for the 2025 Northern Football Netball League (NFNL) season.[7]

Statistics

Statistics are correct to the end of round 15, 2021[8]

Legend

G	Goals	K	Kicks	D	Disposals	T	Tackles
B	Behinds	H	Handballs	M	Marks

Season	Team	No.	Games	Totals							Averages (per game)
				G	B	K	H	D	M	T	G	B	K	H	D	M	T
2009	Melbourne	39	15	7	8	115	64	179	43	39	0.5	0.5	7.7	4.3	11.9	2.9	2.6
2010	Melbourne	39	6	6	1	47	36	83	15	26	1.0	0.2	7.8	6.0	13.8	2.5	4.3
2011	Melbourne	39	9	5	3	56	64	120	34	42	0.6	0.3	6.2	7.1	13.3	3.8	4.7
2012	Melbourne	39	6	1	0	39	21	60	21	15	0.2	0.0	6.5	3.5	10.0	3.5	2.5
2013	Melbourne	39	5	0	1	26	18	44	9	20	0.0	0.2	5.2	3.6	8.8	1.8	4.0
2014	Melbourne	39	16	1	0	100	108	208	50	60	0.1	0.0	6.3	6.8	13.0	3.1	3.8
2015	Melbourne	39	16	1	0	76	116	192	43	41	0.1	0.0	4.7	7.3	12.0	2.7	2.6
2016	Melbourne	39	21	0	3	163	172	335	78	63	0.0	0.1	7.8	8.2	16.0	3.7	3.0
2017	Melbourne	39	22	3	0	151	164	315	94	68	0.1	0.0	6.9	7.5	14.4	4.3	3.1
2018	Melbourne	39	25	0	1	142	155	297	75	79	0.0	0.0	5.7	6.2	11.9	3.0	3.2
2019	Melbourne	39	7	0	0	39	36	75	19	20	0.0	0.0	5.6	5.1	10.7	2.7	2.9
2020[a]	Melbourne	39	6	0	0	14	23	37	6	8	0.0	0.0	2.3	3.8	6.2	1.0	1.3
2021	Melbourne	39	5	0	0	20	20	40	13	7	0.0	0.0	4.0	4.0	8.0	2.6	1.4
Career			159	24	17	988	997	1985	500	487	0.2	0.1	6.2	6.3	12.5	3.1	3.1

1. The 2020 season was played with 17 home-and-away matches per team (down from 22) and 16-minute quarters with time on (down from 20-minute quarters with time on) due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Personal life

Jetta has a daughter and a son. He married his partner Samantha on 20 October 2013.[9]

References

1. "Whinnen Medalists". Retrieved 5 February 2018.
2. McFarlane, Glenn; Dees swoop on Nick Naitanui's mates; 30 November 2008
3. Matthews, Bruce (27 March 2009); Kick it to me, Jamie Bennell
4. "Community Leadership Award". Jim Stynes Foundation. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
5. "Neville Jetta calls time on career in red and blue". Melbourne Football Club. 27 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
6. Beveridge, Riley (22 May 2024). "Coaching, playing, caring: Why Neville Jetta still gets a kick out of footy". AFL.com.au. Archived from the original on 15 September 2024. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
7. "SENIOR COACHING ANNOUNCEMENT". Facebook. Fitzroy Stars Football & Netball Club. 8 October 2024. Archived from the original on 17 November 2024. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
8. "Neville Jetta". AFL Tables. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
9. Melbourne Demon marries in glam vintage wedding at Red Scooter

External links

• Neville Jetta's profile on the official website of the Melbourne Football Club
• Neville Jetta's playing statistics from AFL Tables