A highly decorated Victorian football star looks set to wed in a popular reality show on commercial television later this month.
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Darley premiership player and 2013 Henderson medallist, as the league's best and fairest player, Jake Edwards has been heavily promoted as a groom for the upcoming season of Married at First Sight.
Media speculation has been rife on the next roll call of brides and grooms who will marry a stranger on national television and a date has finally been set for the premiere on February 22, following Australian Open finals.
Edwards, a former Carlton AFL player, is not Ballarat's first footballer to seek love on reality TV.
He follows in the footsteps of former North Ballarat Rebel Taite Radley, who won Ali Otejen's heart and final rose on The Bachelorette three years ago. Ms Oetjen had moved to Ballarat until the couple split last year.
Radley, who also had a fling on First Dates, is now warming up for Ballarat's Dancing with Our Stars charity gala event for The Ballarat Foundation in March. Celebrity magazines have reported there was plenty of fan interest in Radley's "mystery woman" on his social media accounts until he clarified this month it was his dancing partner.
It is unclear how or if MAFS will impact Edwards on the football field this year.
The Courier has confirmed Edwards was training with the Devils before Christmas and remains a part of the playing squad.
The BFL released its draw late last week and the spotlight is firmly on the Devils, who are set to take on eastern rival Sunbury under lights at Darley Park in the opening round on April 17.
A well-known community mental health advocate, Edwards is founder and chief executive officer of Outside the Locker Room, an organisation he launched in 2015 to deliver education and welfare programs via sporting clubs.
Outside the Locker Room has been running a mental health and suicide prevention program, fully funded, for 30 Ballarat sporting clubs under the Ballarat Suicide Prevention Based Trial.
The community-wide trial officially launched in August with Ballarat City FC one of the first club's to take part in an Outside the Locker Room program.
Our aim is that by raising awareness of mental health challenges and promoting frank conversations about how to help one another, members of the community will seek support sooner.
- Jake Edwards
"There still exists huge stigma around mental health conditions and suicide, particularly in regional communities. Our aim is that by raising awareness of mental health challenges and promoting frank conversations about how to help one another, members of the community will seek support sooner," Edwards said in the trial launch.
Edwards has been open about his personal struggles with depression, drug addiction and suicide in the wake of his AFL career.
His mental health advocacy was also linked with reality television show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here Australia with contestant and fellow former AFL footballer Robert 'Dipper' DiPierdomenico nominated Outside the Locker Room as his charity. Dipper and Edwards have hosted a weekly podcast together.
Edwards was drafted to AFL club Carlton in 2005 and played four games for the Blues. He lined up for the blues-aligned Northern Bullants against North Ballarat in the Roosters' 2009 Victorian Football League premiership and was delisted that year.
Edwards played in the 2011 VFL premiership with Port Melbourne before returning to Darley. He also had a two-year stint with Geelong's VFL team as captain, from 2016-17, before officially moving back to Darley Park.
