Jesse Motlop’s season hadn’t even begun when he collapsed on the field in agony.

The Carlton forward had just returned from the Christmas break and was enjoying being back at the club. He had started playing contact footy again during pre-season training when his knee suddenly gave out after side-stepping a teammate.

The pain was excruciating. “Whatever you think an ACL feels like. That’s what it feels like,” he says now.

Suddenly, the 2026 season looked completely different for the 22-year-old. He has found the isolation of rehabilitation to be the toughest part. “You’re on a different schedule most of the time from the main group, and yeah, it can be a bit annoying because a lot of the new boys, it’s been hard to kind of be as close to them as I’ve wanted,” he says.

According to research in the Open Access Journal of Sports Medicine, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in the AFL occur at a consistent rate of about 0.8 to 1.0 injuries per club per season, with roughly 5 percent of elite players sustaining an ACL injury during their career. This means almost every AFL club is losing one player for a whole season.

Motlop’s mum, Jade Adams, was devastated when she heard he would be out for such a long period. “Just for him, the frustration and knowing the amount of work he’d put in, and it was just heartbreaking,” she says.

Growing up in a footy family

Motlop was born into a famous football family. His dad, Daniel Motlop, played at the highest level for North Melbourne and then Port Adelaide from 2001 to 2011, as did his uncle Steven Motlop, who played for Port Adelaide and Geelong. Even his grandfather, Eddie Motlop, had played locally in the Northern Territory and New South Wales.

Growing up in Melbourne, all young Jesse wanted to do was play footy. “I was probably kicking a footy before I could walk,” Motlop says. “I’d go to Dad’s games, and you get front row seats, but I was just a little kid and had no idea what it was about. So, it probably wasn’t until he retired when I started appreciating how much I love the game and how special it was.”

When he was six, Motlop moved to Perth with his mum. Adams says her son had wanted to play AFL for as long as she can remember. “It’s always been what he’s wanted to do, and that never changed,” she says.

About a year after arriving in WA, Motlop pulled on his boots at South Coogee Junior Football Club. “It was a sense of community when you’re playing with people who are your teammates at the start, and they end up becoming some of your best friends, like a big family,” he says. “With junior footy, everyone knows that’s just some of the best times you have in football.”

His then coach Mark David remembers young Jesse not just for his on-field ability. “He showed leadership early and is genuinely a good guy for someone who had talent early; he never flaunted it,” he says. “He wasn’t a difficult guy to coach or anything like that. He got along with everyone, all of his teammates and was very respectful.”

Motlop eventually started playing with South Fremantle Football Club, in the Western Australian Football League (WAFL), while attending Aquinas College.

Making it to the big league

At 18, he was drafted by Carlton. Motlop was still waiting to hear about the draft when he got a call from Michael Voss, the Carlton coach at the time, welcoming him to the club. It was then he realised the televised draft was a few minutes behind the rest of the country.

“I didn’t even realise I was drafted yet, and then out of nowhere, my name got read out on the TV, and it was just all a big whirlwind,” he says.

More than 985 players were nominated for last year’s 2025 national draft. About 80 players are drafted every year, which converts to about 0.3 per cent making an AFL list, according to AFL.com.au.

“I’m very grateful to Michael Voss, Nick Austin and the Carlton Football Club, they all gave me an opportunity,” Motlop says.

His mother ran the gamut of emotions the night he was selected. “All of these dreams had come true, all the hard work, everything that we had put in, and for him to realise that he was going to do what he’d always dreamt of was exciting,” Adams says.

Up until the season-ending injury, Motlop had played 66 games in a variety of roles, kicking 59 goals and becoming one of the league’s most exciting small forwards.

He says the 2023 semi-final against the Melbourne Demons was the best moment of his career so far. “Probably one of the most euphoric experiences I’ve ever been a part of – 90,000 Carlton supporters going off at the MCG,” he says. “We were down by nine points, with not long left, and we ended up kicking two goals in a short space of time and won the game. I remember when that siren went, it was just crazy.”

Looking to the future

Motlop can’t imagine doing anything other than playing footy, a focus he took to his rehabilitation. With help and persistence, he slowly began walking, then running again.

“As long as you can have that work ethic to overcome things, then have that passion and determination to get through it, you’re going to be just fine,” he says. “It’s just about playing the game that you love. And to be honest, I would happily go back and play local footy at South Coogee in a heartbeat, if it meant I could just play footy again.”

With the 2026 season now wrapped, and his team on the rise after turning a disastrous start into a seven-game winning streak to make it to the finals, Motlop has his sights firmly set on next year.

“He definitely knows who he is, and he loves that he is a Motlop, and he absolutely loves that his dad and his uncles played the game, but he never wanted to just be the next Motlop,” Adams says. “He always wanted to be able to prove himself and know that he got there off his own hard work and dedication.”

Motlop is mindful of everything his family has done for him, too. “I want to do the legacy proud and make it better,” he says.