Jacob Dawson Southport: Former Gold Coast Suns midfielder dominating VFL
Let go by Gold Coast Suns in 2020, Jacob Dawson has become a state league champion. At 25 he dreams not about the AFL, but of a premiership with Southport Sharks.
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Now come on Jacob Dawson.
Did you belt Jack Toner?
A laugh.
“Jack’s played on me a few times,’’ Southport champion Dawson says of the Williamstown midfielder.
“There was nothing in it. A little elbow. And, yeah, I’m $250 poorer because of it.’’
Dawson appeared on the VFL MRP sheet earlier this week, reported for striking Toner in last Saturday’s Sharks-Willy match. An early guilty plea allowed him to get off with the fine and a reprimand, and maintain his record of never having been suspended.
After the game, Williamstown thought it got off too, in its case lightly from Dawson’s normal influence on a match.
Tailed by Toner, he had 25 possessions, which is good going for most players, but below Dawson’s customary 30-plus tallies.
He’s averaging 35.3 disposals this season, again putting him in contention for the JJ Liston Trophy and the VFL Coaches’ MVP.
When the award went into camera after Round 16, Dawson was leading with 84 votes.
He won it in 2022, was runner-up in 2023 and was third last year; there’s a copper-bottom to his consistency, despite being tagged most weeks. Sometimes, he says, he “gets lucky’’ when AFL reserves teams leave him be. “That’s a privilege,’’ he says.
“I’ve got the best ruckman in the comp,’’ Dawson replies when asked how he so frequently stack up such large numbers. He’s referring to big Brayden Crossley, with whom he is sharing the Southport captaincy this season.
“That’s the start. You get 10 or 15 because he puts it exactly where you need it. That’s the biggest advantage I’ve got and a real blessing. I’m also lucky I get put in a position to be trusted to get the footy as many times as I can. Bit of a product of my environment, I think. Playing in a good team certainly helps.’’
As does Dawson’s endurance. He runs from contest to contest, bores in for the ball and gives it off to grateful teammates with hands as clean as a pick-pocket.
“He’s just so damaging,’’ Williamstown coach Justin Plapp says of Dawson.
“We just have to tag him, because he’s such a big part of their game.’’
*****
The question has been asked often since Southport joined the VFL in 2021: why didn’t Jacob Dawson play more games for Gold Coast?
Rookie-listed a few weeks after playing in Palm Beach Currumbin’s senior premiership in 2017, he had three years and nine AFL matches with the Suns.
A midfielder in his first season, he made the switch to the backline in his second, once finding himself one-out in the forward 50 with Charlie Cameron.
“They (the Suns) obviously had a talented, young midfield that was coming through and I didn’t see an opportunity to break into that,’’ Dawson says.
“I tried my luck as a defender. I just didn’t end up getting an opportunity. I think that happens a lot. There are a lot of good players who never get on a list. There are some good players who get on a list and for whatever reason don’t get the opportunity to get backed in. That happened to me and I’m OK with that.’’
He worked closely and enjoyably with Suns assistants Nick Malceski and Josh Drummond. He was not so tight with senior coach Stewart Dew. “No,’’ he says.
Delisted at the end of 2020, Dawson left with no regrets. He has a “real comfort’’ about his time in the AFL.
“I knew I gave absolutely everything I had and the cards just didn’t fall my way, for whatever reason.
“There will be no person at the Gold Coast Suns who said I had anything else to give.’’
The AFL scene is often described as a “bubble’’.
When Dawson emerged from it, his eyes opened.
“Coming out of the AFL system, you don’t realise how much time you have when you’re in there,’’ he says.
“You get out into the real world and you get a job, and it’s like ‘Holy crap, now you’re an adult’.’’
Still, he was “super-hungry’’ and motivated to get a second chance elsewhere.
It didn’t come. He joined Southport and after two seasons with the Sharks switched his main focus from football to his career with TechnologyOne.
What a set play from the @SouthportSharks that sees Jacob Dawson slot the snap!
— VFL / VFLW (@VFL) August 20, 2022
Stream the #VFL: https://t.co/3V9lTlahLkpic.twitter.com/4AJBEIhaj9
Jacob Dawson is the inaugural winner of the rebel Coaches MVP for the Smithy's VFL ðŸ…
— VFL / VFLW (@VFL) September 12, 2022
Dawson was a runaway winner of the award, polling 120 votes to finish 33 clear of runner-up and teammate Boyd Woodcock.#VFLAwardspic.twitter.com/bsaYpNRO5Y
Since then he has not bothered nominating for AFL drafts.
“I’m not super-interested in playing AFL now,’’ he says.
“I’m interested in pursuing the corporate career I’ve got. I love playing for Southport and love living where I do (Miami). The AFL dream probably isn’t for me anymore.’’
Success for the Sharks drives him.
He’s formed a deep attachment to the club and loves playing with his best mate, Crossley.
Juggling football and work is demanding for the Southport players; they train three nights a week and travel to Victoria every fortnight for games. And they’re not exactly paid handsomely for it: the salary cap for so-called standalone teams is less than $300,000 (“We certainly abide by it,’’ Dawson says).
In his case, work and football create his own QClash.
“There will be weeks, like last week, when I can’t get to training at all because of my job,’’ Dawson says. “I did a session with our (strength and conditioning) coach, Matt Palmer, in the pouring rain last Wednesday night. Luckily the club is supportive and allows me to keep trying to play at the highest level I can.’’
Southport champ Jacob Dawson at it again in the VFL.... pic.twitter.com/p0W1zGaDMa
— Paul Amy (@PaulAmy375) July 12, 2025
Whenever VFL followers look up Dawson’s stats, there is a name either above or below his: Boyd Woodcock.
The Dawson-Woodcock midfield combination is the best in the VFL.
Dawson won the Sharks’ best and fairest from 2021-23. Former Port Adelaide player Woodcock won it last year, when he was third in the Liston. He was runner-up in 2023 and, with Dawson, equal-second in 2022.
“He’s a good man, Boyd,’’ Dawson says. “He’s a special footballer.’’
Both are again at the heart of Southport’s push for a first VFL premiership.
The Sharks made the 2022 and 2024 grand finals.
Can they win it this year?
“Bloody oath we can,’’ Dawson says. “We’ve lost two, so we’re due. Absolutely we can. We’ll see if we’re the real deal this weekend when we play Box Hill, the best team in the comp.’’
DAWSON’S SHARKS TO WATCH
Nick Williams
“A bloody good player and works his arse off. He’s as professional as you’ll find. A good size in the backline, tough. He deserves to be on an AFL list.’’
Tai Hayes
“Out on a wing for us. A left-footer, he’s only 19 and came out of playing Under 18 footy or senior footy at Palm Beach. He’s been super, super impactful. He’s got great skills.’’
Campbell Lake
“I think he’s got what it takes. His GPS stuff is incredible. It looks like what AFL small forwards’ looks like in terms of the ability to run at high speed.’’
Max Pescud
“His ability to run and kick goals and impact in the air and on the ground is awesome.’’
Originally published as Jacob Dawson Southport: Former Gold Coast Suns midfielder dominating VFL
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