“I obviously didn’t see my Dad play, but from what I’ve been told he was a pretty fair type of player – so it wasn’t his fault, put it that way.”

The speaker is David Rhys-Jones, a recent inductee to the Carlton Hall of Fame and unquestionably one of the game’s most unpredictable characters.

Rhys-Jones’ was a triumphant if tempestuous career with more than its fair smattering of highs and lows.

It began in South Melbourne, ended at Carlton and took in Sydney in between. In the end it afforded him 182 games in total, 106 of them at Carlton, and a Premiership Medallion and Norm Smith Medal to show for it.

Known on a first-name basis with the Tribunal Chairman, he’s fondly remembered here at Carlton as the blonde bloke in the No. 26 guernsey known simply as “Rhys”.

In this interview for the series of “Our History” podcasts for www.carltonfc.com.au, Rhys-Jones discusses;

•        his difficult decision to leave Sydney;

•        how a clause in his contract effectively allowed him to get to Carlton as a free agent;

•        a crucial meeting with the then coach David Parkin, which convinced him to make the move;

•        first impressions of the Carlton Football Club;

•        the challenge of standing Dermott Brereton in the 1987 Grand Final; and

•        the irony of his Norm Smith Medal win

To listen to David Rhys-Jones in the latest “Our History” podcast, click here.