“HE DID draft me. He was a tough negotiator, too: he didn’t put a great contract in front of me, I’m not sure how I signed it. It was $500 for a loss and $1500 for a win, and we didn’t win much.

“No, they were great memories. He was a great mentor in the early parts of my career and gave me a lot of great guidance. He’s a fantastic Carlton person.”

That quote is attributable to Carlton’s AFL Senior Coach, Michael Voss. The subject? A man as Carlton as anyone, Shane O’Sullivan. 

And the man known by all as ‘Shane O’ maintains that he “thought it was good money in those days”.

It’s 30 years since O’Sullivan, as the General Manager of Football at the Brisbane Bears, selected Michael Voss under a rule which saw the club able to draft three Queensland locals.

Alongside fellow premiership player Clark Keating as well as the late Brent Green, Voss walked into training at the Bears — and instantly, O’Sullivan and coach Robert Walls knew what they were dealing with. 

For someone like O’Sullivan, who has spent over four decades in the game, first impressions are more important than most. And there was one early training session which set up what was to come in a glittering football career.

“It was one of his first nights at training: he came down so ‘Wallsy’ could have a look,” O’Sullivan told Carlton Media.

“We were standing on the sideline and they were doing a mini practice match kind of thing. The ball got kicked and ‘Vossy’ is running the wrong way towards the pack - like Jonathon Brown or Nick Riewoldt - and takes this mark before the pack knocks him over.

“Mind you, this was in training against his teammates: it wasn’t even in a game. He was fair dinkum from day one. 

“‘Wallsy’ and I just looked at each other and said ‘Well, I think we’ve got one’. That’s the way he played right through his career: he was such a courageous player.”

O’Sullivan spent six seasons at the Bears, overseeing their establishment into the competition and laying the foundations of the playing list as well as the coaching staff and training base. 

In a time where the team was still looking to make a name for itself and lay a marker for the future, a number of players who would turn out to be premiership players at the Lions - Voss, Marcus Ashcroft and Daryl White to name a few - all walked through the doors. 

For O’Sullivan, Voss was the kind of profile of player the club needed to put Queensland footy on the map. And did he ever.

“He was a fantastic young fella to have at the Club,” he said.

“In those early days when the Bears were trying to establish themselves, some of the young players possibly got games a bit early. But we needed to get a really good foundation with them.

“People like ‘Vossy’ and Marcus Ashcroft were young players that ended up playing in lots of premierships for the Lions, which was just fantastic.”

Of course, O’Sullivan saw Voss burst onto the scene back in 1992 as the youngest player to debut for the Club, on his way to the 1996 Brownlow Medal.

Long before then, however, Voss was in his own backyard, emulating his heroes in the Navy Blue: namely, Ken Hunter and Wayne Johnson. For O’Sullivan, who in a past life supported Collingwood and channeled his inner Des Tuddenham and Terry Waters (“Those days are long gone!”), it serves as a reminder for how just about everyone started out. 

In 2021, O’Sullivan is the manager of the Spirit of Carlton, liaising with the bevy of past players which he has seen come through and leave the doors of IKON Park. And he knows there’s one player in particular who loved Voss’ anecdote from his opening press conference.

“I’ve spoken to ‘Johnno’, and he was pretty pumped. He was great, I think he was glad someone remembered him,” he laughed.

“I haven’t spoken to Kenny, but I’m sure he’d be pretty chuffed. When ‘Vossy’ said that day that he’d be Wayne Johnston and the next day he’d be Kenny Hunter, it brings you back to when you’re young yourself and kicking the footy, pretending to be your heroes. 

“They were two really good ones to look up to at Carlton, that’s for sure.

“I think it’s an exciting time for not only Carlton, but for ‘Vossy’ himself to be involved with the football club.”

This is part one of a two-part story with O’Sullivan on the new AFL Senior Coach. For the next instalment, come back to carltonfc.com.au tomorrow.