THERE’S something in the air near the Mornington Peninsula.
With Carlton drafting Billy Wilson last Tuesday night, the Blues added to their pool of players from the Dandenong Stingrays.
Wilson - who played his junior football for Dromana, then Rosebud - joins co-vice captain Jacob Weitering, Nic Newman, Tom De Koning (all Mount Martha) and Matthew Cottrell (Pearcedale) at the Blues.
Then there’s Jaxon Binns (Berwick), who Wilson played alongside in the 2022 Coates Talent League Grand Final for the Stingrays.
“It’s unreal. It’s going to be a good experience with them now, to relate back to where they came from,” Wilson told Carlton Media this week.
“Dandenong will always be there for me, I’m sure it is for them. I can’t wait.”
They’re just a few of the new teammates who Wilson can’t wait to work with. He caught what Head of List Management Nick Austin had to say after the national draft on Tuesday night, saying that Wilson was recruited as a midfielder — and would be treated as such.
That means when Wilson’s first pre-season gets underway, he can expect to be rubbing shoulders with the likes of Patrick Cripps, Sam Walsh, Adam Cerra et al.
His response? A disbelieving shake of the head, to start with.
“If that’s what they think, I’m more than willing to take it on! I can’t wait. I can’t believe it, it makes me laugh every time I think of it. I’m so excited with the bunch of blokes in there . . . it’s going to be awesome to learn from them.
“At Dandenong, I started at half-back and got used to it — it was a new position [for me]. I went through the midfield at the end of the year and I was pretty happy with that: I showed a bit more of me, I got to play with a bit more freedom but also more competitive in there.”
One place where there’s no competition is the Wilson household, which was formerly an Essendon household.
‘Formerly’ being the key word in that sentence.
“I saw the replay and the boys were talking about Dad dropping the Bombers like that straight away to be honest. I didn’t know too much about it, it was pretty funny!
“Growing up, I had a little bit of banter between me and my mates that barracked for Carlton. To be here and be part of it now, it’s unreal.
“It’s definitely a Carlton family.”
