Port Adelaide assistant coach Jarrad Schofield’s son Taj wants to play for Power
Port Adelaide 2004 premiership player Jarrad Schofield says his teenage son Taj, a star on the rise, has his heart set on following in his footsteps and playing for the Power.
Port Adelaide premiership player Jarrad Schofield says his teenage son Taj, a star on the rise, has his heart set on following in his footsteps and playing for the Power.
An All-Australian under-16 player this year, Taj Schofield has relocated from Perth to Adelaide with his family and is available to Port as a father-son selection at the 2020 national draft.
The 16-year-old has joined SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens, where he will play alongside fellow Power father-son prospects Jackson Mead and Trent Burgoyne, who are eligible for next year’s draft.
Taj also will join the pair at Henley High School next year where he has been accepted into the school’s prestigious specialist sport football program — the program that has helped produce the two brightest talents in this year’s draft, Eagles’ Jack Lukosius and West Adelaide’s Izak Rankine.
“There’s been a lot of talk about Taj,’’ said Jarrad, who has joined Port as an assistant coach after leading WAFL club Subiaco to three premierships.
“He’s still got two years ahead of him (before he is eligible for the draft) and if it was to happen it would be fantastic for him.
“If you ask him, he would definitely say his heart is close to Port Adelaide and I dare say he’d love to wear these (Power) colours.
“But we will cross that bridge when we get to it.’’
Schofield earned All-Australian under-16 selection playing for Western Australia this year and finished the season on a high by winning a colts premiership with Subiaco.
He has been selected in the South Australian hub of the new-look AFL Academy squads, along with Mead and Burgoyne, and is a member of Port’s Next Generation Academy.
Jarrad played 131 games as a midfielder for the Power from 1999-2004, winning a flag in his last season at the club, after starting his career with West Coast.
He left Port to spend two years at Fremantle.
The Power is the only club Taj is eligible to join under the father-son rule.