 In 1980, as coach of the senior side, Jones (whose right ankle had been operated on at the end of the 1979 season ) used every persuasive trick that he could muster to convince the Carlton selection panel to allow him to play just one more match, in order for him to reach the 250 game bench-mark.Given his fitness levels at the time — he had continued to play sporadically for the first half of the Reserves matches before resuming his role as senior coach — the most he could have hoped for was to have been picked as 19th or 20th man.The selection panel refused to allow Jones to play just one more game, even refusing to pick him to play against the team's weakest possible opponent of the season; and many at the time thought that it was somewhat ungracious of the panel to treat such a faithful club servant in such a way — however, those with longer memories of the events of May 1968 (see below), might have understood it in a different way.