Relaxing on his 80-foot boat on Hamilton Harbor, multi-award winning Gold Coast developer Noel Mewett has more than enough time to reflect on his life and times as a Carlton footballer.

That was more than 40 years ago, in the drought-breaking premiership season of 1968, when Mewett traversed Bass Strait on the sayso of the club’s 119-game former wingman and fellow Taswegian John Chick.

“At the time I was working on the family farm - an apple orchard at a place called Waterloo about 60 miles south of Hobart. I knew nothing about the big wide world at the time, and I was a passionate Collingwood supporter to be honest,” Mewett said.

“But ‘Chicky’ asked me if I wanted to sign a form four, I said ‘Show me the paper’, and I couldn’t sign quickly enough. In fact, I’d have paid them to come across.”

Though not overly tall, Mewett managed to tie down centre half-forward for the better part of his playing career at Hobart, during which time he was adjudged the Tigers’ best and fairest in ’68 “which proved that they (Carlton) got a fairly good buy”.

“They’d already taken out the ’68 premiership when they flew me over for a practice match and I think I had a pretty good couple of games,” Mewett said. “I remember kicking four or five goals on a half-forward flank on Peter Kerr, and I thought ‘Gee, how good’s this?’. But it was only a mock-up game.”

On relocating to the big smoke, Mewett was billeted out to the wife and family of the then Carlton thirds coach Bill Hoogen. He took up lodgings in a bungalow at the back of Bill’s house in Foch Avenue, Moreland, “and ‘Swan’ McKay boarded there after I left”.

“I was good mates with ‘Swan’, Bruce Doull, Barry Armstrong and Phil Pinnell because we all started around about the same time. We were all new kids on the block and we were all biding our time,” Mewett said. “But it was exciting to be part of it all. With “Nick”, “Loftsy” and Silvagni getting towards the end there was a really good blend of old and young and I was pretty confident I was going to experience a long career there.”

Mewett completed his senior his debut in the 8th round of 1969 against Richmond, with whom the old dark Navy Blues would later challenge for the ’69 pennant). Named 20th man alongside Kevin Hall, he finally got the call from coach Barassi in the third quarter, and took his first tentative steps onto the MCG.

“I vaguely remember my first game. I was 20th man, somebody got hurt (Syd Jackson, lacerated eye) and I came on as nervous as a kitten. I got a quarter and about four or five kicks and we won,” Mewett said.

Mewett and Hall again shared space on the pine for the round 9 match against Essendon at Princes Park, with the former replacing Garry Crane in the last quarter as the home team posted an emphatic 58-pioint victory in front of their own.

Omitted for the tenth round against North Melbourne at Arden Street, Mewett then won a recall for the 12th round contest with St Kilda at Princes Park, booting three goals off a half-forward flank - his only three goals for Carlton as fate would have it - in what was a hard-fought 12-point win.

He was part of the 20 that took Hawthorn to the cleaners at Glenferrie Oval in Round 13, and completed his last hurrah the following weekend, in what doubled as a narrow two-point triumph over the team then known as Footscray.

Five senior matches for five wins was the sum total of Mewett’s Carlton tenure, but how far could he have gone? “I was given to believe I was going to be a regular player and was quite confident I was going to enjoy a relatively long career there,” Mewett said.

“When I was in the army I got exceptionally fit, so that when I went to training I was about the only player who could outrun Brent Crosswell around the park. He came over from Tassie the year before me, Brent, and I know he was a bit hard to manage, but he was one of the great big-time players.”

Mewett is of the view that he was “the only Carlton player ever to get conscripted”.

“It happened in October 1969. I got conscripted as a Tasmanian so I got through the cracks,” Mewett said. “Not that it mattered, I didn’t have a lot going for me other than footy, I was a bit lost, and national service proved a great experience.”

Ironically, Mewett’s obligation to the army conspired against his playing career. In March 1970, en route from Laverton to Puckapunyal after participating in a pre-season practice match, Mewett nearly lost his life in a car accident.

“I was based at Puckapunyal at the time and I used to come down twice a week for training,” Mewett said. “Anyway, I’d played in the practice match this day and was up near Heathcote, driving along the highway. I was cruising around like King Dick in a new MGB with the hood down that I’d bought, when a car pulled out behind a truck and forced me down into the scrub.

“I basically went over a cliff and ended 40 feet up a gum tree. I smashed all my hip and copped 12 broken bones, punctured lungs, broken shoulders and several lacerations - so I was pretty knocked about.

“They told me that if I wasn’t as fit as I was I wouldn’t have survived it. It’s amazing how resilient the human body can be.”

Mewett returned to Tasmania to complete his long and painful recovery. He was retained on Carlton’s senior list, as he’d always harbored hope of playing again, and was at the G to see his old mates win the unwinnable on Grand Final day 1970, having been flown back at the club’s expense.

But the comeback never materialized for Mewett, who still gains solace in the knowledge that his Senior Coach believed in him.

“I really idolized ‘Barass’ and he was really good to me,” Mewett said. “He came over to see me in ‘Tassie’ after the accident and he was quite devastated about it. Barass had a high opinion of me and that was probably all that mattered.”

Mewett did, however, don the boots again for Tasmanian rural outfit Kermandie, and with great success. “They stuck me in a forward pocket and I kicked 100 goals for the year, but it was only country footy,” he said.

During this period of his life, Mewett landed work as a barman at a local bowls club. It was then that his life took another twist.

“I borrowed a bit of money when I was 20 or 21, and bought a rundown little hardware store in Jeeveston in the Huon Valley. I tried my hand in business, the locals helped me out a little and I ended up building a bigger one,” Mewett said.

“I relocated to the Gold Coast in 1987 and I suppose I made a few good business decisions. I’ve been involved in a number of property developments and I’m now sitting on a boat enjoying my life.”

Though his Melbourne sojourns are all too fleeting, Mewett’s love for Carlton remains.

“I’m still passionate about Carlton, as are my kids,” Mewett said. “They’ve worn my old Carlton jumpers and stuff and have handed them down to my grandkids, so it’s fair to say I’m building a Carlton dynasty.”