Jordan Russell is one of two boundary umpires who have been promoted to the AFL list where he is joining the Western Australia panel in season 2022.
Jordan’s introduction to umpiring began via some friends who were umpiring on weekends and making some good money, so they encouraged him to come down and give it a try. And that is what he did with great success.
In 2017, Jordan umpired his first WAFL Colts game in round 9 and immediately impressed umpiring the 2017 Colts grand final. In 2018, he umpired his first league game and again finished the year at the top with his appointment to the WAFL grand final. In 2018, he got the opportunity to umpire in the AFLW competition and was rewarded with the AFLW grand final. He also continued umpiring in the state league notching up his second and third WAFL grand finals in 2019 and 2020.
Following a disrupted AFLW season in 2020, Jordan returned in 2021 and umpired his second AFLW grand final. He also added his 4th WAFL grand final to his list of achievements at the end of the 2021 season.
His career highlight to date has been his promotion to the AFL panel, however on field, it was the 2020 WAFL grand final which was played in front of a full house at a local football ground in Perth.
Jordan is motivated by his desire to continuously improve in any way he can by pushing himself to his limits and get the most out of what he is doing. His advice for up-and-coming umpires is to be curious, squeeze the most out of the coaches as you can, always look to improve and take on board any feedback you receive.
Jordan is studying secondary health and PE teaching at Notre Dame University in Perth and loves playing golf and sport in general, going fishing/camping and of course, running.
Congratulations Jordan on your promotion to the AFL panel for season 2022.