Jackson Mead has been training as a defender over the pre-season. Image: Matt Sampson.

In his seventh year of AFL football, Jackson Mead is embracing a new role in defence, and is enjoying fresh leadership in the football department.  

Under new senior coach Josh Carr, Mead has made the move to the backline after spending most of his time in the AFL system as a mid-forward. 

The 24-year-old spoke to the Adelaide media on Monday, touching on his off-season gains, his positional move, and how he’s enjoying pre-season. 

Mead on pre-season 
“It’s good. It’s nice to have a bit of a change and play a bit more half back, down in defence. So enjoying that for a change. And there’s plenty of new coaches and new ideas around so it’s enjoyable, it’s nice and fresh.” 

Mead on his move to the backline 
“We sort of posed a question in my exit meeting last year. I have been playing as a midfielder for the last sort of six years, training there, and always game day, you know, ended up on a wing or half forward. So, we just asked the question, how can I better use my time and either train fully as a wing or how about playing half back? And yeah, rolled with that and I feel like we’ve got a good position and I’ve got good traits where I can slot in there and add to the team. So, yeah, it’s going good so far.”

Mead said he is enjoying the positional move, having spent some time there in the last couple of games in 2025. Image: Matt Sampson.

Mead on enjoying the positional move 
“I’m really enjoying it. We’ve got a good group down there to learn from. We’ve got Kane Farrell and Connor Rozee who are exceptional high half backs. So a lot of good characters to learn from there. And as I said, I feel like I can slot in nicely and add to the team. I played probably the last two and a half games (down back), so I was able to finish the year there which added to the end of season convo that we had. But, I’m happy to play wherever. I’ve played, obviously mid and wing for a bit over the last few years, and then started up half forward as well. I’m really enjoying playing at half back at the moment. 

“My first few years I obviously slotted in wherever I needed to, like training as a midfielder for the whole time here, and then under Kenny, obviously playing a bit more wing and half forward. And you know, I was happy to do that, and really love that, because you get to learn so much about yourself and get to add to yourself as a footballer as well. But yeah, obviously now it’s half back and really enjoying that now too.” 

Mead on the skillset required for the backline 
“It’s obviously an emphasis on contest so I really thrive on that. And obviously using my skills and probably going at the game a bit more, I think it helps me just to be a bit more direct and get the ball moving forward rather than sideways. So that’s something that I’ve been working on over the last six weeks of training.” 

Mead believes the backline will complement his skill set, allowing him to transition the ball more forward than he has in the past. Image: Matt Sampson.

Mead on the evolving game style 
“I think it’s going to be probably just a bit more free flowing… a bit more freedom in offence to play what you see, and take the game on, whoever’s hands the ball’s in. And then defensively, just a bit more in tune, defending as a team, and probably just trying to work on that connection from, midfield to forward, to forward to backs, to backs to mid. So having a full sort of in tune mentality and doing everything together.” 

Mead on his off-season gains 
“There’s been a bit of an emphasis to get bigger and stronger as a whole group. In the contest, we got bullied a little bit last year and probably the last few years. So it was an emphasis for the whole group to attack the gym and really get after it. But obviously, me just getting older, another year, another pre-season, that obviously helps quite a bit as well.” 

Mead on the academy boys training last week 
“I think it was a bit different when I was coming through, like the academy wasn’t as dense. There was, I think, me and Trent Burgoyne came through, and then Taj Schofield, so there were probably only two or three around my age, whereas, the other day, there was probably, like, eight boys here. So it was good for them to come in as a group and probably feel a bit more comfortable. And I think the boys do it really well now where we get around them and make them feel at home. So, yeah, it’s really good to have those guys coming through.” 

Mead on breaking out from his dad’s shadow 
“I think early days you probably feel like you’re someone’s son, and I guess until you sort of play a few games of AFL and feel comfortable, you know, that kind of goes. Obviously for me, Jase (Burgoyne) and Horny (Jason Horne-Francis) to an extent, you’re known as that name, but it’s normal for me now.” 

Mead on the enjoyment of pre-season  
“Yeah, it’s good, as I said, there’s no sort of certain way with how we want to play, but it’s good to have a bit more freedom in offence and just play what you see. And you know, all the boys are thriving and obviously pre-season is a pretty fun time where you just get to work really hard and work on game plan stuff and (work on) connection with the boys from up the field. So yeah, everyone’s having good fun.”