BROWNIES are the new salad rolls.

It was 10 years ago when Nick Duigan - the esteemed Carlton cult hero, Sir Nicholas Duigan - was on the way to the MCG grandstand before being called back minutes before the 2013 elimination final to be the latest of inclusions for Brock McLean.

As the oft-told story goes, an injured McLean came from the ground at the end of the warm-up as Duigan was munching into a salad roll. Hours later, Duigan was the unlikeliest of protagonists, breaking Richmond hearts with a four-goal haul on the way to a famous Carlton win.

Fast forward to Saturday 15 July 2023, and Jesse Motlop assumed that very mantle as a last-minute call-up for Matthew Owies — with an identical scoreboard return to Duigan a decade ago.

Speaking post-match alongside dad - and former Port star - Daniel, Jesse could’ve hardly imagined how his day was going to pan out.

“I thought I was going to rock up as emergency, go to the meeting but then chill up in the box. I found out otherwise on the field, but I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Motlop told Carlton Media.

“I had just had a brownie before the game and had written my day off.”

Is it the way of the future?

“There might be something in that! Just have a little treat before the game and you play alright.”

Only joking.

But there’s certainly something in the fact that Motlop’s career-best showing to date came against the team where his old man spent the majority of his career. Even more so considering Daniel was in the crowd.

Wanting to catch his son’s team come up against one of his old sides, Daniel and family were given quite the treat with the show that Jesse put on . . . even if some members of the Motlop clan were hedging their bets.

“It was exciting for us as a family: we drove over just to support him, mainly because he hasn’t been in for a few weeks. We came over to say hello — then he ended up dominating the game!

“There were [some conflicting emotions]. The youngest boy came with both tops on just in case Port won. We go for Carlton now to support Jesse but we’ve got a big history with Port, so it was exciting for us.

“Carlton is a great club and he’s lucky enough to be here and enjoying it. Hopefully there’s more to come.”

Given everything, it’s probably no surprise that the generational Motlop celebration was on the back burner on Saturday. 

Jesse didn’t have time to practice it, after all.

“Everything happened way too quickly: I was just in the moment! I thought I’d just go wild and just enjoy it with my teammates, so there was no celebration.

“It was all unexpected.”