Aaron Joseph’s 50th – the story so far
Taswegian Aaron Joseph will follow a long line of household names of 50-game Carltonites who were either born and/or played on the Apple Isle.
On the cusp of his 50th senior appearance this Saturday, against the old adversary on football’s greatest stage, the Taswegian Aaron Joseph will follow a long line of household names of 50-game Carltonites who were either born and/or played on the Apple Isle - the likes of Arthur Hodgson, ‘Percy’ Jones, Brent Croswell and, believe it or not, Jarrad Waite.
Seems so long ago since late 2007, when in fronting up for the Tassie Devils against Collingwood at Bellerive Oval, Joseph got the gig on the Magpies’ seasoned centreman Paul Licuria.
The kid from Glenorchy had already earned All-Australian honours in the Under 18 championships, having forged an early reputation as a high-possession winger/midfielder. But this was different, as Carlton’s Assistant Recruiting Manager Shane Rogers recalled.
“I remember ‘AJ’ lining up on Licuria when Licuria turned out for one of his last games,” Rogers said. “Tassie gave him the job on Licuria, ‘AJ’ terrorized him and I remember thinking ‘Gee, I reckon this bloke could also play as a tagger’.
“Anyway, the draft was held, AJ missed out and he was as dirty as ten men. We then invited him across to take part in pre-season and he trained here for a week.”
Carlton duly took Joseph with its first round selection (No.2 overall) in the 2008 Rookie Draft, but the jury was still out.
“There were still a doubt on whether he was good enough, and it came down to a game against Port Melbourne in late 2008,”Rogers said. “I said to him ‘Could you play Robin Nahas as a tagger?’ and he said ‘I don’t know’. I said ‘You’re on your last legs pal, do whatever it takes’ and AJ’s eyes started rolling. He said ‘I’ll kill him’ and Nahas didn’t get a possession. ‘Ratts’ saw that and the rest as they say is history.”
Joseph made the cut for Carlton’s seniors in the opening round match of 2009 against Richmond at the MCG and promptly strung together a further 42 in a row - claiming the scalps of the likes of Gary Ablett in the process.
The sequence was broken in last season’s Round 21 match against Geelong at Etihad Stadium. Joseph then returned for the Fremantle match and the subsequent eliminator with Sydney at ANZ Stadium, and for various reasons has only appeared in four of the past 15 senior contests.
But now AJ’s back . . . and on what bigger stage than the MCG and a full house?
