Round One was stacked with debuts, with four boundary umpires taking the stage for the first time at AFL level.
Boundary Umpire Jaco Jansen Van Rensburg made his AFL debut on Saturday the 15th of March, officiating the Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium. Jaco was promoted to the senior AFL list at the end of the 2024 season, having made the move from Perth to Melbourne to pursue his dream of making it to the top level. He now becomes one of six boundary umpires in the AFL system from Western Australia.
Jaco umpired the 2023 and 2024 WAFL Grand Finals while completing the Elite Transition Program. He also umpired in the 2023 AFLW Grand Final and capped off his time in the WAFL with the Devine medal at the end of last season.
Saturday also saw Lachlan Menara umpire his first game between Collingwood and Port Adelaide. Lachlan umpired both the 2023 and 2024 VFL Grand Finals.
Sunday’s clash between Adelaide and St Kilda featured two more boundary umpire debuts, Adrian Pretorius and Ben Williams.
Adrian ran the boundary for the 2023 AFLW Grand Final and was selected as AFLW All-Australian boundary umpire. He continued his good form into 2024, umpiring the VFL Grand Final.
Ben is a two-time SANFL Grand Final umpire (2021 and 2023).
The AFLUA would like to congratulate all the debutants on the successful beginning of their AFL careers.
Article by Patrick Sexton
Featured image: Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos