{"id":420292,"date":"2026-01-18T02:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T02:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/420292\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T02:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T02:06:10","slug":"former-north-melbourne-winger-resumes-playing-career-following-brutal-afl-exit-afl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/420292\/","title":{"rendered":"Former North Melbourne winger resumes playing career following brutal AFL exit – AFL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Heavily scrutinised ex-North Melbourne speedster Jared Polec<\/a> will pull the football boots on for the first time since his AFL<\/a> delisting at the end of 2022 for Hoppers Crossing in the WFNL.<\/p>\n

After his exit from Arden Street with one year left on his deal, Polec signed as a playing assistant coach with the Yarraville Seddon Eagles in the WFNL ahead of 2023, but failed to play a game.<\/p>\n

He moved to rivals, Hoppers Crossing, as the senior coach at the end of the year, and led the club to a premiership in 2024,\u00a0pipping Werribee Districts by one point in a grand final thriller.<\/p>\n

Polec has yet to play for Hoppers but has been announced as a playing-coach in 2026, returning to the football field for the first time in four years.<\/p>\n

“We’re excited to announce Jared Polec<\/a> has signed on as a Player & Coach for the upcoming season,” the statement read.<\/p>\n

“Bringing elite-level experience, leadership and professionalism, Jared will play a key role both on the field and in driving standards, development and performance across the playing group.<\/p>\n

“A major addition to our club on and off the park.<\/p>\n

“Go Warriors.”<\/p>\n

The left footer exited the AFL<\/a> at the end of 2022, following three stints at the Kangaroos, Port Adelaide and Brisbane, spanning 12 seasons and 148 games.<\/p>\n

Hoppers Crossing bowed out in the second round of the 2025 finals to Yarraville Seddon Eagles by eight points after finishing fourth on the ladder.<\/p>\n

They kick off their new campaign against Point Cook Centrals in front of a home crowd on April 11.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heavily scrutinised ex-North Melbourne speedster Jared Polec will pull the football boots on for the first time since…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-420292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}