Chicago City Wire

The Chicago Hounds have announced that flanker Maclean Jones has signed a contract extension with the team, securing his place through the 2026 Major League Rugby (MLR) season.

Jones, who stands at 6-foot-1 and weighs 225 pounds, was first acquired by the Hounds in December 2022 ahead of their inaugural MLR season. He made his debut for Chicago on February 18, 2023, against Old Glory DC and became known as Chicago Hound No. 8.

Since joining the Hounds, Jones has played in 49 matches, starting in 46 of them and accumulating a total of 3,551 minutes on the field. He has been recognized as one of the top flankers in the league with All-MLR honors in consecutive seasons and holds several franchise records.

Originally from Brisbane, Australia, Jones has contributed significantly to the team's offense over three seasons by scoring 16 tries for a total of 84 points. His performance peaked during the 2025 season when he scored nine tries—four of which came in the first five weeks—and achieved eight clean line breaks along with nine beaten defenders from his 116 ball carries. On defense, he completed more than 180 tackles over three years and set a new personal best with 222 successful tackles in the latest season.

In his first year with Chicago, Jones appeared in all fifteen games and played over 1,120 minutes. He continued this consistency into the following year by again starting fifteen games and logging more than a thousand minutes.

Across his MLR career since entering the league in 2021, Jones has earned seventy-one caps—including sixty-six starts—and played more than five thousand minutes. He has recorded eighteen tries (including three seven-pointers) for ninety-six points. Offensively, he tallied nearly fifteen hundred meters from three hundred fifty carries while beating forty defenders and making twelve clean line breaks; defensively he is credited with eight hundred ninety-four tackles out of one thousand thirty-five attempts—including thirty-eight dominant tackles. He received Second-Team All-MLR recognition for both the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

Before joining Chicago, Jones spent two years playing for Austin Gilgronis during their own MLR campaigns in 2021 and 2022. Earlier in his career he served as vice-captain for Australia’s U-20 team at a Junior World Cup before earning a rugby scholarship to University of Queensland; he then debuted professionally with Super Rugby's Waratahs in 2019.

Previously signed to an extension on July 3, 2024 that would run through to end of the following two seasons, Jones’ deal was updated after changes were made to MLR structure during this past offseason.