Jayden Foster was hanging out with a few blokes at his mate’s house in Moonee Ponds when he heard his name called with Carlton’s fourth round draft selection at 63. Though he lives with Peter, mother Shelley and older sister Morgan at nearby Essendon “I had to get out of the home and have a few of the boys around me”.
“It was awesome when my name was called out. My old man was pretty pumped too, even more pumped than I am. He’s pretty emotional,” Foster said.
“He’s watched me since when I was a young guy and always believed in me when I probably doubted myself sometimes, so yes he’s rapt.”
The old man is of course Peter Foster, Fitzroy’s seven-game player who in another life at Footscray held down key positions through 163 senior appearances from 1983-’93.
Those 163 games of course meant that Foster Mark II was eligible for selection by the Western Bulldogs under the father/son rule.
But the Dogs overlooked the 19 year-old Calder Cannons forward, and Foster bears no malice.
“With them in the situation they are at the moment, probably rebuilding, it probably just didn’t work out with the picks. But I bear no grudge with them and while it obviously would have been nice, I didn’t really care where I went.”
A key position player himself, young Foster rated himself as a little more agile than his father, the big “go-to” man as opposed to the up-the-ground mover.
“I’ve probably got a bit more athleticism than him and a bit more to offer up the ground with my running ability,” he observed.
“And now I’m just rapt to have got my foot in the door.”
