Work brought Lad Jones to Tamworth from his childhood home, Wee Waa, and a desire for a more rural existence brought him to Kootingal and one of the great passions of his life.
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As the Roosters' longstanding president, Jones has steered the club through a golden era in their proud history. He is the latest recipient of the Leader's Unsung Sport Heroes accolade.
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The club had second division and league tag teams when he was elected president five years ago: now there are first grade, reserve grade, league tag and under-18 sides.
And as a Group 4 board member, he has been a key actor in a transformative period in the organisation's history after a major shakeup of its structure was initiated in order to reverse a first-grade malaise.
Born into a sports-mad Wee Waa family and born Clarence Jones, after his father and grandfather (he has been known as Lad since childhood), Jones has settled wonderfully into the Kootingal community. (The married father three actually lives just outside Kootingal.)
He has been at the Roosters for a decade - going there in order to satisfy his desire to play footy after arriving in Tamworth for a job at Chubb Fire and Security about 13 years ago (he still works for the company, plays reserve grade for Kooty and intends to have an assistant coaching role at the club next season).
He described Kooty supporters as being like "family". And, as such, he never felt "big pressure" from them to perform - "as long as we give 100 per cent when we're on the field: don't give it away".
He continued: "If we're winning, they're the best supporters and community and club around. And the same when we're losing. Like I said, as long as we give 100 per cent in everything we do, they're more than happy."
Jones believes that the Roosters' standing as a leading first-grade side was the fulfilment of promise. "I haven't told too many people this. But when I first went to Kooty, and when I first took over as president, I always imaged Kooty playing first grade."
He continued: "And that's not putting anything down on second division - it was a great comp as well. But I just thought that the talent that Kooty had at the time and what we could attract [talent wise] .... we'd make a fist of first grade, and it's been proven that we have."
Jones has been on Group 4's board for three years and helped oversee the launch of the inaugural Wests Entertainment Group 9s at Scully Park on Saturday. A healthy crowd watched the month-long competition's opening round.
"The product spoke for itself on Saturday night," Jones said. "A lot of good football played, the crowd was very happy. I didn't expect it to be so successful, but I'm getting phone calls, left, right and centre, about it ... very positive. It's a great initiative that the board's come up with."
