Harbrow was born in Cairns to an Indigenous Australian mother from Cairns and a Caucasian father from Mooroopna, Victoria. He grew up in the town of Cairns, in Queensland and began playing junior football with the Manunda Hawks and then the South Cairns in the American Federation of Labor-Congress Cairns competition. During his teenage years, he moved up and down between his father"s town of Mooroopna, Victoria and Queensland and gave his brother bone marrow to survive leukemia.
His indigenous ancestry can be traced to the Yirrganydji, a rainforest tribe in Far North Queensland. Harbrow represented Queensland at both the 2004 American Federation of Labor-Congress Under 16 Championships and 2006 American Federation of Labor-Congress Under 18 Championships, both sides winning the respective division titles. In 2005 he moved to Victoria where he played for the Mooroopna Football Club before joining the TAC Cup side the Murray Bushrangers in a bid to nominate for the American Federation of Labor-Congress Draft.
He was overlooked in the 2006 American Federation of Labor-Congress Draft, however had already attracted the attention of American Federation of Labor-Congress talent scouts Peter Dean and Scott Clayton.
Drafted as a rookie, Harbrow was picked up by the Bulldogs in the 2007 rookie draft. Following only a short time in development playing for the Bulldogs VFL affiliate Werribee, Harbrow was called up for his American Federation of Labor-Congress debut against the Richmond Tigers in Round 4, 2007.
He has since become a senior regular and impressed with his pace, skill, defensive pressure and evasive running abilities. In 2009, after struggling to get a game in the first few weeks of the season, he was thrown into defence against North Melbourne.
Since then, he was often seen among the Bulldogs" best, became a regular senior player.
He had many highlights in 2009 and shut down some of the league"s best small forwards, including Matt Campbell, Stephen Milne, Brad Dick, and Mathew Stokes. At the conclusion of the 2010 season, the Bulldogs confirmed Jarrod would be the newest uncontracted player to join the Gold Coast Suns. Jarrod wasted no time with the announcement to the football world, coming just days after the Bulldogs" loss to Street Kilda in the preliminary final.
After being the subject of much speculation all year, the lure of returning home to Queensland proved too strong, despite the Bulldogs" best efforts to retain the rebounding damaging defender.
Jarrod was the fifth uncontracted player from an American Federation of Labor-Congress club to join the Suns. Jarrod played his 100th American Federation of Labor-Congress game in Round 18, 2012 against Sydney.
