At the MCG against Collingwood on Friday night, McInnes will don the guernsey worn with distinction by the Carlton premiership players David Rhys-Jones, Jim Clark, Jim Park and George Calwell.
Initially hailing from Devon Meadows and recruited to Carlton by way of the Dandenong Under 18s, McInnes was secured as part of the trade involving Adelaide and Sam Jacobs.
He was taken in the fourth round of the 2010 NAB AFL draft at selection 67 - the selection relinquished by the Crows with pick 34 in the Jacobs transfer.
Carlton General Manager - Football Operations Andrew McKay said McInnes had earned senior selection following a succession of stirring performances for the Northern Blues.
“Macka’s been a very solid as a key defender these past four games,” McKay said. “He comes into our team with the same mindset being a really good, honest and strong defender and it’s terrific to see him get his chance.
“He’s more of a traditional defender. He beats his man, he can play on taller or shorter guys and he’s a good runner, so he should be able to match up with anyone they put down on the forward line.”
Footnote: in a recent interview, Jim Clark, reflected on the significance of the No.26 guernsey McInnes will wear for the first time on Friday night.
Now 87, Clark inherited the No.26 after news came through that its previous wearer Jim Park had been killed by the Japanese in New Guinea during the Second World War.
Clark remembered being captivated by a photograph of Park which hung from the old brick walls of what was once the players’ change rooms deep within the bowels of the since-demolished Robert Heatley Stand.
The photograph, captured by a newspaper “snapper” at Princes Oval in the 1930s, featured Park, Carlton’s 128-game premiership defender, completing an extraordinary chest mark - his left foot planted firmly in the back of his hapless Melbourne opponent, his right leg extended outward to retain balance.
“We used to look at that photo, in the club, of Jim Park, who was a full-back for Carlton in the time of Rod McLean and those fellows,” said Clark, who wore the No.26 in 161 senior matches, more than any other Carlton player before or since.
Carlton Coach Brett Ratten presents Andrew McInnes with his player pin.
“It was a famous photo of him taking a mark with his foot in the back of ‘Tarzan’ Glass, a ruckman. It was a famous one, published around the world it was.”
The power of the Park image only served to heighten the reverential awe that impressionable kids like Clark held for the man, who in the Grand Final of 1938 kept Collingwood’s legendary full-forward Ron Todd to the uncharacteristically paltry return of three goals.
Once can only imagine how Clark must have felt in the lead-up to his senior debut in July 1943, when Harry Bell threw him the coveted No.26 guernsey.
“About a month after Jimmy Park was killed in the war, Mr Bell ,the secretary, came over to me in the clubroom and said ‘Jim, we’re going to take your number off you that you’ve got and give you Jimmy Park’s number,” Clark said.
“Talk about an honour. To be given Jimmy Park’s number out of respect for Jimmy Park was an honour that was hard to believe.”
