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Jackson Macrae (born 3 August 1994) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Western Bulldogs Football Club. At tall and , He plays as a ball-winning midfielder who can play on the inside or as a running outside midfielder. He grew up in Kew, Victoria while attending Carey Baptist Grammar School, where he won the best and fairest award while playing for their top team. He played top-level junior football with the Oakleigh Chargers in the TAC Cup and Vic Metro in the AFL Under 18 Championships. He previously played for the Western Bulldogs from 2013 to 2024 and was in the 2016 premiership team.
Macrae was drafted with the sixth selection in the 2012 AFL draft. He made his debut the following year in 2013. He received a nomination for the 2013 AFL Rising Star award in round 8 of the 2013 season. Since then, he has been an AFL Premiership player, three-time All-Australian midfielder, three-time Doug Hawkins Medallist, two-time Gary Dempsey Medallist and a Gary Ayres Medallist. He has polled a total of 106 Brownlow Medal votes in his career, and holds the all-time league record for most disposals in a season.
Macrae attended secondary school at Carey Baptist Grammar School, with future AFL players such as Jack Viney and Nathan Hrovat. Macrae was not selected to play for the Oakleigh Chargers in his bottom age year, meaning he had to continue playing school football. After having flown under the radar, excitement grew around Macrae after he began to rapidly improve. He hired former player Ian Aitken to improve his kicking technique after he completed Year 11, which he said helped him become a 'more damaging kick'. While playing for his school, Carey Baptist Grammar School, he was coached by former North Melbourne player David King; under his guidance Macrae won the best and fairest for the team despite being around 4 future AFL draftees.
Macrae was selected to play for the Oakleigh Chargers in the NAB League in 2012, and quickly became an integral part of their team. While playing for the Chargers, Macrae averaged 24.5 disposals, 15.7 kicks, 8.8 handballs, 5.2 marks and 2.1 tackles out of his 12 games with the Chargers. Becoming one of the Chargers' best junior finals players, he was named as one of the team's best on ground in multiple finals. In Oakleigh's 46-point semi-finals win against the Dandenong Stingrays in September 2012, he was named as one of the team's best players that game. He was then named best on ground in the Chargers' 83-point preliminary final demolition of the North Ballarat Rebels, where he kicked 3 goals. Finally, he was named as the most valuable player in the team's thrilling 1-point victory over the Gippsland Power in the grand final, where he kicked a crucial behind to secure the team's premiership trophy. He was named as the Oakleigh Chargers' best finals player, after averaging 28 disposals a game during the finals series, and came third in the club's best and fairest count with 68 votes, 15 votes away from obtaining first place.
He was also selected to play for Vic Metro in the AFL Under 18 Championships, where he played every game. He cemented his reputation as a dangerous player and boosted his draft chances after a six-goal game against Tasmania, including four goals in one quarter, claiming the best on ground title for that match. He averaged 19.4 disposals a game, at a 78.4% efficiency rate. Despite his consistent performances, he missed out on making the Under 18 All Australian team.
Macrae was predicted to be taken anywhere in the 2012 AFL draft between pick 6 and pick 13. He was recruited to the Bulldogs with the sixth selection in the 2012 AFL draft, one pick behind future premiership forward Jake Stringer.
Macrae's 2014 season was one of the best seasons by a second-year player in history, in contrast to the Bulldogs' mediocre 14th place season. Becoming a key part of the new Bulldogs' midfield, he recorded 25 or more disposals 15 times. Macrae started out the season with an impressive performance that saw him named best on ground in the ' 65-point loss to . He gathered 31 disposals, breaking his personal best from the 2013 season, and also got 2 goals, 7 marks and 3 tackles. Just two rounds later, Macrae was again named best on ground in the team's 2-point win over . He collected 30 disposals, 1 goal, 9 marks and 6 tackles. Macrae stamped his mark on the AFL in the ' 28-point victory against in Round 17, becoming the youngest player to record 40 or more disposals in a game. Macrae gathered 43 disposals while kicking 2 goals, taking 6 marks and 5 tackles. Macrae was named best on ground, and received lots of praise for his effort. He followed up his incredible performance with another solid 32 disposal effort the next round in the ' 7-point loss to . He also collected 1 goal, 7 marks and 4 tackles. Macrae was rewarded for his stellar second season with the Doug Hawkins Medal, awarded to the player who places runner up in the Western Bulldogs best and fairest voting. He collected 168 votes, 67 votes behind first-placed Tom Liberatore. He also claimed the Tony Liberatore Most Improved Player Award. He was named in the preliminary squad of the 22 Under 22 team, but narrowly missed out on making the team. Macrae also collected the highest number of Brownlow votes out of any Bulldog that season, with a total of ten. He picked up the maximum best on ground 3 votes twice, in Rounds 3 and 17, and picked up 2 votes twice in Rounds 12 and 18.
Macrae backed up his previous season with another solid season, averaging 26 disposals a game. With the Bulldogs making the finals for the first time since 2010, it was a year of improvement for both Macrae and the team. His first game for the season, the ' 10-point win over , saw him named as the Bulldogs' second best player in the match, behind Matthew Boyd. He collected 31 disposals and 8 marks in his impressive performance. In April that year, he signed a two-year contract extension alongside fellow 2012 draftee Jake Stringer, keeping him at the club until 2018. Despite averaging 21.3 disposals in the first 6 rounds of the season, and collecting 23 disposals the previous game, Macrae was omitted for the 7th and 8th rounds of the season. He was again kept out of the senior team in round 8, despite a 37 disposal, 6 tackle game for the reserves team the previous week. In his next game in the reserves he collected a game high 10 tackles and another above 30 disposal game, leading coach Luke Beveridge to put him back in the main side in the 9th round. His round 12 performance in the team's 72-point demolition of the saw him collect his highest disposals count that season, a total of 35, while also getting 6 marks and 4 tackles. This dominant game saw him earn 3 Brownlow votes. He had one of his best performances for the season in the team's 22-point win against in the 15th round of the season, after he collected 33 disposals, 1 goal, 2 behinds and 10 marks. Macrae earned another 3 Brownlow votes in his best on ground performance after he played his 50th career game in the ' 64-point sweep over in the 19th round of the 2015 AFL season. In the match, he collected 30 disposals, 2 marks and 2 tackles. Macrae placed in 8th position in the Charles Sutton Medal, 76 votes behind first-placed Easton Wood. Macrae improved on his Brownlow performance slightly from the previous year, obtaining 11 votes, putting him at second place in the club and 27th overall. He picked up maximum votes twice, in Rounds 12 and 19, as well as 2 votes in rounds 14 and 15, and 1 vote in round 10.
Macrae finished equal 7th in the Charles Sutton Medal voting with first-year player Caleb Daniel, with a total of 185 votes, 234 votes behind first-placed Marcus Bontempelli. He was named in the preliminary 22 Under 22 squad, but missed out on making the final 22.
The 2017 AFL season saw Macrae rapidly rise to the top of the Bulldogs midfield, improving his midfield work. He played every game of the season and averaged 27.5 disposals a game, while gathering 30 or more disposals in 8 games. Round 5 saw him perform as one of the best players for the Bulldogs in a 32-point comeback victory over the . In that game, he collected 29 disposals, 1 goal, 3 marks and 3 tackles. Macrae had a similarly good performance just two rounds later in Round 8, where he was named as one of the Bulldogs' best, collecting 32 disposals, 1 behind, 4 marks and 4 tackles. Round 12 saw Macrae be named as one of the Bulldogs' few good players in a 46-point loss to . He took 32 disposals, a team high for that game, and also 5 marks and 4 tackles. By around halfway through the season, it was clear how much of an impact Macrae was having, touted as one of the team's most valuable players that season so far. Macrae got better as the season went on, having one of his best performances in the Dogs' thrilling 1-point victory over in the 14th round, where he gathered 32 disposals, 5 clearances and 10 tackles. He earned 2 Brownlow votes for that game. In round 17, Macrae earned 2 Brownlow votes and collected above 30 disposals in the ' 20-point win over . He was named again as one of the best in Round 20, collecting 32 disposals againast . Rounds 22 and 23 saw him pick up a combine 3 Brownlow votes, as he hit a purple patch towards the late end of the season. He hit his highest disposals count for the season after a best-on-team performance in the team's loss against in Round 22, collecting 41 disposals. He once again earned two Brownlow votes for his performance in Round 23, after collecting 33 disposals, 3 marks and 7 tackles in the team's 9-point loss to .
Macrae finished third in the Charles Sutton Medal voting for 2017, winning the Gary Dempsey medal awarded to third place in the Bulldogs' best and fairest voting. He tallied up a total of 155 votes, 30 behind back-to-back winner Marcus Bontempelli. He recorded 8 Brownlow votes, thrice getting 2 votes and getting 1 vote twice. In November that year, Macrae signed a long term four-year contract, keeping him at the club until 2022. After signing, Macrae stated: "I've loved playing for the club and am excited about what the future holds, I'm proud to be on the verge of being a 100-game player at the club, and motivated to continue to improve my game every season." List manager Brendan McCartney said "Jackson took his game to another level in 2017, and has become one of our most consistent performers, while he is already an important member of our midfield, he still has massive upside, and it's fantastic to see him recommit for the long term."
Macrae was named in the preliminary squad of the 2018 All-Australian team, but missed out on making the final squad, which many considered unlucky due to his incredible performance all year. Macrae received the Doug Hawkins medal for the second time in his career after placing just 1 vote behind Lachie Hunter in the Western Bulldogs Charles Sutton Medal voting, tallying 190 votes over 19 games that season. He also won the John Van Groningen Domestique award for 2018, awarded to the player who places the team above themselves in games. Macrae secured 14 votes in the 2018 Brownlow Medal, placing equal-19th in the count.
Macrae had his most successful season to date in 2019 being selected in the All-Australian team and being placed high in the Brownlow Medal count at the end of the year. The pre-season saw him work hard to improve his skillset, stating "I pride myself on my performance year-in, year-out and there's still so many areas for myself to improve which is really exciting," Macrae had 36 disposals and a goal in the second round of the year, which saw the pull off a major comeback in the final quarter to defeat . He earned 3 brownlow votes for his performance. Apart from a 36 disposal performance against in Round 7, he had a relatively quiet start to the season. Round 14 was the first time he collected over 40 disposals that season, getting 41 disposals in the ' 9-point loss to to be one of the Bulldogs' best on ground. He earned two Brownlow votes in this game. Round 19 saw Macrae as one of the finest players in his team, taking 38 disposals, 7 marks, 5 tackles and 8 clearances, which resulted in him being given two Brownlow Medal votes for that match. This game would see him kickstart a run of five consecutive Brownlow vote winning performances, greatly pushing him into Brownlow Medal contention. Round 20 saw Macrae earn 2 Brownlow Medal votes in a dominant display over the , where he set his disposals record for that season at 45. He also collected 4 marks, 7 tackles and 12 clearances. Round 21 saw him earn another 2 Brownlow Medal votes in the team's 104-point anhliation of . He kicked 1 goal, and collected 38 disposals, 2 marks and 8 tackles. Round 22 saw him earn another 3 Brownlow medal votes, after he tallied up 39 disposals, his 10th consecutive time getting 30 or more disposals in a game. In that game, he also collected 1 mark, 3 tackles and 7 clearances. Another outstanding performance in Round 23 saw Macrae earn back-to-back best on ground honours, securing another 3 Brownlow Medal votes. The 34-point win over saw Macrae collect 1 goal, 35 disposals, 4 marks and 8 clearances. Macrae was also named as the Bulldogs' best in their disappointing Elimination Finals loss to , after collecting 32 disposals, a game high.
Macrae won a plethora of awards at the season's conclusion. He was awarded with his maiden All-Australian team honour, alongside teammate Marcus Bontempelli. The AFL player ratings system saw Macrae ranked as the 10th best player in the entire competition. He was named in the Herald Sun's top 50 players for 2019 with All-Australian teammate Bontempelli and young gun Josh Dunkley. He earned a career-high 22 votes in the 2019 Brownlow Medal, placing equal eighth in the count with teammate Marcus Bontempelli. Macrae also got his third top-place finish for the 3rd season in a row, winning the Gary Dempsey Medal with a total of 268 votes, 31 behind 1st placed Marcus Bontempelli. He also led the league for most disposals averaged per game, averaging 33.4 disposals over his 23 games that season.
Once again, Macrae amassed a number of awards at the season's end. He was selected for his second All-Australian team in a row, this time named on the wing. He polled 15 votes in the 2020 Brownlow Medal, placing equal 5th with other stars like Patrick Dangerfield, Luke Parker, and Dustin Martin. Despite polling the most votes out of any Bulldog in the Brownlow Medal count, Macrae placed 4th in the Charles Sutton Medal count with 154 votes, 51 votes behind first-placed Caleb Daniel.
Macrae began the 2021 AFL season in good form, collecting 35 and 41 disposals in his first two games, and being named in the Bulldogs' best in both matches. A 32 disposals, 1 goal round 4 performance against saw him again be named one of the team's best, nabbing 9 coaches votes to place him at equal-second in the count up to that point. Macrae obtained coaches votes in every single round up to and including Round 6, after a dominant Round 6 performance with 40 disposals, a goal and 8 inside 50s securing him 8 votes. Macrae drew praise from his coach Luke Beveridge after his dominant early season display, where he stated "Jack has had his best start to any season since I've been the senior coach". Macrae became just the second player ever to collect 30 or more disposals in the first 8 rounds of the season, the only other player being David Thorpe in 1971. After Macrae collected 31 disposals in round 16 against , he set the all-time record for most consecutive 30-disposal games in VFL/AFL history, with 15 in a row. Macrae performed strongly in the Western Bulldogs' finals campaign, winning the Gary Ayres Award as best player throughout the finals series.
Following his All-Australian years, Macrae fell out of favour at the Bulldogs, playing more prominently in the VFL and the starting substitute in AFL matches. A stand out performance in the VFL came early in the 2024 season when he collected 46 disposals and 16 clearances against . At the conclusion of the 2024 season, Jack Macrae requested to be traded despite being contracted until 2027. Macrae nominated and was officially traded on 16 October.
Macrae's brother, Finlay Macrae, was drafted by in the 2020 AFL draft. Macrae's father, David Macrae, died on 21 February 2021.
Macrae appeared in an advertising campaign for McDonalds that began airing on television throughout the early months of 2021. He has done charity work with Team Ladder, an official AFL player charity which works on using the power of players and industry to help improve the lives of young people.
|- | 2013 || || 11 | 13 || 3 || 1 || 100 || 133 || 233 || 35 || 35 || 0.2 || 0.1 || 7.7 || 10.2 || 17.9 || 2.7 || 2.7 || 0 |- | 2014 || || 11 | 21 || 9 || 5 || 302 || 260 || 562 || 119 || 86 || 0.4 || 0.2 || 14.4 || 12.4 || 26.8 || 5.7 || 4.1 || 10 |- | 2015 || || 11 | 21 || 5 || 6 || 287 || 267 || 554 || 97 || 117 || 0.2 || 0.3 || 13.7 || 12.7 || 26.4 || 4.6 || 5.6 || 11 |- | scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C | 2016# || || 11 | 22 || 2 || 4 || 271 || 336 || 607 || 104 || 96 || 0.1 || 0.2 || 12.3 || 15.3 || 27.6 || 4.7 || 4.4 || 1 |- | 2017 || || 11 | 22 || 2 || 5 || 260 || 345 || 605 || 100 || 127 || 0.1 || 0.2 || 11.8 || 15.7 || 27.5 || 4.5 || 5.8 || 8 |- | 2018 || || 11 | 19 || 8 || 5 || 299 || 324 || 623 || 110 || 102 || 0.4 || 0.3 || 15.7 || 17.1 || 32.8 || 5.8 || 5.4 || 14 |- | 2019 || || 11 | 23 || 5 || 2 || 342 || 425 || 767 || 101 || 120 || 0.2 || 0.1 || 14.9 || 18.5 || 33.3 || 4.4 || 5.2 || 22 |- | 2020 || || 11 | 18 || 3 || 3 || 205 || 268 || 473 || 50 || 72 || 0.2 || 0.2 || 11.4 || 14.9 || 26.3 || 2.8 || 4.0 || 15 |- | 2021 || || 11 | 26 || 6 || 4 || 435 || bgcolor=CAE1FF | 445† || 880 || 102 || 128 || 0.2 || 0.2 || 16.7 || 17.1 || 33.8 || 3.9 || 4.9 || 14 |- | 2022 || || 11 | 23 || 4 || 4 || 342 || 363 || 705 || 96 || 87 || 0.2 || 0.2 || 14.9 || 15.8 || 30.7 || 4.2 || 3.8 || 11 |- | 2023 || || 11 | 22 || 7 || 2 || 239 || 318 || 557 || 82 || 97 || 0.3 || 0.1 || 10.9 || 14.5 || 25.3 || 3.7 || 4.4 || 0 |- | 2024 || || 11 | 19 || 5 || 2 || 146 || 203 || 349 || 65 || 63 || 0.3 || 0.1 || 7.7 || 10.7 || 18.4 || 3.4 || 3.3 || 0 |- | 2025 || || 6 | 21 || 1 || 4 || 240 || 276 || 516 || 66 || 114 || 0.0 || 0.2 || 11.4 || 13.1 || 24.6 || 3.1 || 5.4 || 8 |- | 2026 || || 6 | 2 || 0 || 0 || 13 || 24 || 37 || 5 || 9 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 6.5 || 12.0 || 18.5 || 2.5 || 4.5 || |- class=sortbottom ! colspan=3 | Career ! 272 !! 60 !! 47 !! 3481 !! 3987 !! 7468 !! 1132 !! 1253 !! 0.2 !! 0.2 !! 12.8 !! 14.7 !! 27.5 !! 4.2 !! 4.6 !! 114 |}
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