Fox Footy expert Sarah Jones has been a dominant figure within AFL broadcasting for close to a decade now; a sport that by her own admission she “lives and breathes”.

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But like so many, her story in front of the camera started many years before a “big break” in 2016.

“(I was) watching the Seoul Olympics as a six-year-old with my mum, and I remember loving all the coverage, and being really enthralled by it all,” Jones begun by telling foxfooty.com.au.

“I remember her turning to me and saying: ‘I think that’s what you should do when you grow up. You love talking, you love sport — you should be a sports broadcaster.’

“Looking back now, it’s pretty incredible, because that was 1988, and there weren’t many women broadcasting sport. But clearly, she could envisage something that I couldn’t, and pretty much from that moment on, I wanted to be one.”

Born and raised in Echuca — the home of AFL stars such as Port Adelaide’s Ollie Wines and former Carlton gun Andrew Walker — Jones would quickly come to realise her passion for the sport of Australian rules, which mixed perfectly with her dream of being a sports broadcaster.

“Being a Victorian, I absolutely loved my footy. I grew up in the country in Echuca, and I loved coming down to Melbourne to watch the (Essendon) Bombers play,” explained Jones.

“It was just something I never really wavered from wanting to do; I was quite determined to become a sports broadcaster, and clearly, when you’re a Victorian there is no bigger sport than footy.

“Because I knew really early on what I wanted to do, I could kind of put things in place — baby steps — to get me there. For instance, I did public speaking all the way through high school, which while it wasn’t the most popular thing to do, it was definitely was a skill set I’ve found really useful.”

After graduating school, Jones successfully enrolled in RMIT’s journalism course and a strong portfolio already building in her back pocket.

Written articles that were “kindly” published back in her local Echuca newspaper were a big green tick in the eyes of both RMIT and future employers, who were quick to provide Jones with a plethora of work experience as her studies progressed.

“I did work experience at the Herald Sun, I did work experience at Channel 7; I was lucky enough to do work experience on the Australian Open, and even the Sydney Olympics,” she revealed.

“I then got offered a full-time job as a production assistant when Fox Footy first began, during the absolute initial set up of the channel. I still remember December 15, 2001 was my first day!

“I was a teenager and still at university, but Fox was really great; they allowed me to duck off when I needed to go to uni and submit coursework. I managed to juggle working full-time and uni full-time and get the degree finished.”

Time in front of the camera was “very incremental” in Jones’ early days at Fox Footy, with writing continuing to be a strong point as she refined her on-air skillset.

“A teenager from the country doesn’t look or found polished enough to be an on-air presenter, you need to have experience and the skill set, so it was a very gradual build up to going out to press conferences and writing my own stories,” she noted.

“Then, I got an opportunity to do stand-ups, but not live. From there, I got an opportunity to do a live news update with three little intros … I reckon that would’ve been in about 2006.

“But my big break through came in 2016, when I got to host a Thursday night game … I think Port Adelaide may have been playing, but I can’t remember.”

And what a breakthrough it was.

Eight years on from her first match-day hosting role, Jones was awarded life membership with the AFMA (Australian Football Media Association) alongside colleague Anthony Hudson.

When prompted as to what she felt her greatest skill was, Jones noted that she prides herself on a good post-match interview with players and coaches.

An emotional post-match talk with Ken Hinkley in late June of this year went viral for all the right reasons, with the Port Adelaide coach relieved his side could scrape through in a tight win after a strong wave of criticism.

And similarly earlier this year back in April, Melbourne’s Clayton Oliver had a powerful moment of self-reflection with the host during their gritty win over Port Adelaide in Gather Round.

“That’s tricky … I pride myself on doing an interview that captures the moment and the excitement, but also the stories and the narrative, and have an eye on: ‘What will people be talking about tomorrow? What are the papers going to have on their back page?’” Jones said.

“Even being able to interview Mac Andrew after he kicked the after the siren goal, I was personally a bit disappointed he did it against the Bombers, but I pride myself on it!”

The dynamic of the AFL media landscape has shifted significantly for the better in the last decade or so, with a much greater on-air representation of women in the industry.

Waiting for opportunities was a challenge admits Jones, but as tough as it was, working out her strengths and weaknesses to help mould a role that best suit turned out very beneficial.

And she says the Kayo Call Up is an opportunity far too good to refuse for aspiring broadcasters.

“For a big part of my career, there weren’t opportunities for women to be part of football broadcasting, but thankfully, that’s really changed, and that’s phenomenal,” Jones stated.

“The change has been incredible, when there was no one doing what I’m doing 10 years ago.

“I’m the mum of two daughters; they turn on the TV now, and they expect to see women a part of the broadcast, they expect to see women involved in all different levels. They would be surprised to know that there was a time when we weren’t part of it.

“Hopefully, more young women see this as a viable career path for them in the future. I hope lots of young girls sign up for the Kayo Call Up, because I would have loved an opportunity like this when I was coming through the ranks.

“It’s a golden ticket; it is such a rare and wonderful opportunity to get your foot in the door … to live your dream for a short while, and if you impress and are brilliant at what you do, I’m sure it won’t be the last we see of you in this industry.

Many media personnel prepare for each round, game and segment differently — but the one common denominator, is they all work extremely hard.

For Jones, it comes extremely naturally given her great live for the game; consuming as much content as possible… even when exercising!

“I live and breathe footy; I’m watching all of the Fox Footy shows, I’m watching nine games a week, I’m reading all the articles, listening to all the interviews — I’m just doing that because I love the game so much,” Jones revealed.

“We obviously work with Champion Data, who give us stats packs to really drill down into the issues of the game, and then work with the producers and the other on-air people as to what we’re going to talk about.

“In footy season, a lot of it’s by osmosis … I’m doing a little bit every day. I go for a run, and I’m listening to press conferences of the games that I’m working on, that kind of stuff.

Jones was also extremely grateful for the support she’s received from many colleagues across her time at Fox Footy, noting that the respect of her teammates means a lot.

“So many people have been really amazing across my journey … like Jason Dunstall, who I’ve worked a lot with, and David King and Joey Montagna; being able to form a camaraderie and a chemistry with them on the air has been amazing,” she thanked.

“Going back even further, I’ve done a lot of work with Gerard Healy, who has always been a great sounding board and mentor over the years.

“Obviously off air as well, we have an amazing production team, who I’ve worked with a lot over the years. Even now, our boss Steve Crawley is so wise and experienced in broadcasting, and having been able to have him coach, mentor and give tips and tricks is invaluable.”

And some parting words of wisdom for emerging broadcasters looking to break into the industry?

“You have to do the work; you have know your stuff, love what you do, and put the work in. Because while there are more opportunities now than what there has been in the past, you’ve still got to earn them and own them when you get them,” Jones ended by saying,” Jones ended by saying.

“It’s an amazing job — there’s so many unbelievable moments, but you also have to do the hard yards before you get there.”