WHEN Carlton ruckman Tom De Koning and his younger brother and resident Geelong full-back Sam go hammer and tongs at the MCG this Saturday night, proud parents Terry and Jackie De Koning will doubtless be watching on... but not from the terraces in cold old Jolimont.

The De Konings will instead be viewing proceedings from Mickey's Sports Bar in the more hospitable environs of Nusa Lembongan - one of three tropical islands located southeast of Bali.

The pair you see had long ago planned their holiday away, after COVID-19 had thwarted three previous attempts over the past two years.

“In the end we said, ‘Nah, we’re going’ - and we’ll be watching on from Mickey's, one of the many Aussie bars in Bali,” Terry said in a phone chat from the island hotel this week.

“Funny thing, we landed on the island just as the Carlton-West Coast match was starting and we ended up watching it on delay. We didn’t know any scores, but that game worked out pretty well.”

Terry De Koning of course turned out for Footscray in 31 matches through 1980 and the Carlton back-to-back premiership seasons of 1981 and ’82 - 69 games shy of the 100-game quota required by the Western Bulldogs to take Sam and Tom under the father/son rule.

Not that it was of any concern to Terry, the Bulldogs’ 700th senior League footballer whose three seasons at ‘The Kennel’ came under the watch of the then coach Royce Hart. As he revealed in the lead-up to Tom’s first game for Carlton back in August 2018, his allegiances weren’t particularly torn as he himself supported the mighty Blues as a kid – a throwback to the late 1960s when he followed his father Martin on his delivery runs.

“Now this is a good story,” Terry explained at the time. “My father, who’s passed away sadly, was mad Carlton. He had a trucking company which delivered groceries to Sergio Silvagni’s shop.

“In the holidays I used to follow Dad around on his runs and I used to love going into Serge’s because he’d always say ‘Go and get yourself a can of drink young fella’ - and Dad used to say to me ‘Serge must have liked you because he was always tight’.”

In any event, Terry and Jackie are incredibly proud of their boys’ progressions at their respective Victorian clubs.

“With Sam, the talk of him as a Rising Star came on quickly and if you look at all the stats he understandably deserves that recognition . . . but we didn’t see that coming,” Terry said.

“With Tom, I keep saying to him, ‘Small steps mate’ and he’s certainly taking them. He’s getting a good return for his work because he’s working very hard.”

While Terry and Jackie will be watching on between cocktail sips at Mickey's, it’ll be no easy exercise. Not surprisingly, another of their sons Matt has already arranged for each of his boys to wear split Carlton-Geelong guernseys to reflect the families divided loyalties.

But Tom has put his foot down.

To quote Jackie: “I think Tom’s got the whole family sitting in the Carlton enclosure . . . and I reckon Sam’s girlfriend sitting in there because he (Tom) wanted her to be part of the family”.

In closing, Terry and Jackie were asked to declare which of the two teams – Tom’s or Sam’s – they’ll each be supporting come Saturday night eastern standard time.

Both will be backing the blue and white... but a tied contest (for them) would be just fine.