Robert Warnock wears the No.11 of Carlton premiership players Bruce Doull and Earl Spalding, the latter ironically having put Warnock through his paces when the ruckman was Aaron Sandilands’ understudy at Fremantle.
“Earl was my rucks coach at Fremantle in my second and third years there. He was a great man, I had a lot of time for him, and a lot of people at Carlton have so many great things to say about him,” Warnock said.
Fast forward to Round 6, 2007, Brisbane versus Fremantle at the Gabba, and Warnock’s much-anticipated debut. Then 20 years and 107 days old when he turned out for the Dockers, his was the first of 21 matches for the team which ultimately traded him across the Nullabor to Carlton at the conclusion of the 2008 season.
“It definitely hasn’t come around quick,” said Warnock of his impending 50-game milestone during the week. “Not that I’m one for counting games - 42, 43 and the like. It’s a nice little achievement, but it’s not necessarily the sort of thing I aim for. The overall goal in footy is to be part of the ultimate, which is a flag. Milestones are good when they come along, but being part of a premiership is what you play footy for.”
On Friday night, Warnock becomes the 45th Carlton player to get to game 50 after opening his account with another league club. At 24 years and 212 days old, he becomes the 17th youngest to get there.
Don’t get the big fella wrong, Warnock was always happy to head west. As he said, “It’s the dream of every young kid to get drafted and I was happy to go anywhere”.
“I went over with an open mind and I really enjoyed my time over there, but I’m really enjoying my time here at Carlton, that’s for sure, and I’m so happy with the way it’s panned out given where we’re going.”
Warnock’s is an old head on young shoulders. He knows that the best days of his football life will hopefully play themselves out in the next 50 games and the next 50 and the next - particularly now that he’s resettled in his home state and no longer finds himself bunkered in Sandilands’ sizeable shadow.’
Asked his reasons for wanting to return to his hometown of Victoria, and Warnock not surprisingly volunteered family and friends, “but with Aaron Sandilands there getting plenty of game time, the reality was that I wasn’t going to get many games”.
“Now that I’m here I’ve just got to keep playing games, because if you look at the best players in the competition they’re the ones with experience and games in them,” Warnock said.
“And if you look at ruckmen, a number of them seem to take longer to develop, and some of the good ruckmen don’t really hit their stride until they’re at least 50 games on.”
Fifty games from now, who knows what’s in store for Warnock? At the very least, he’ll be sharing doorspace with Messrs Doull, Spalding and co.
