No surprise then that the sons of Carlton’s 100-game footballers - the likes of Dorotich, Rice, Sexton, Silvagni and Williams - seemed to fit hand in glove as they trained at Visy Park this week, as invitees to the club’s newly-established father/son academy program.
Over the past week, around 20 invitees participated in a series of activities overseen by Development & Academy Manager Darren Harris and Development Coach Luke Webster - the 8-12 year-olds on Monday and Tuesday, with the 13-18 year-olds on Thursday/Friday.
Standing from left to right, Joel Madden (son of Justin),
Jordan Dorotich (son of Jon), Mitchell Gleeson (son of Adrian),
Jack Meldrum (son of Paul), Bailey Rice (son of Dean).
Kneeling are Billy Alvin (son of Tom), Charly Williams (son of Greg),
Joseph Sexton (son of Michael) and Jack Silvagni (son of Stephen).
Charly Williams fires off a handball on Carlton’s no.1 oval.
The invitees were also addressed by the club President Stephen Kernahan, Assistant Coach Alan Richardson, captain Chris Judd and of course Waite, whose late father Vin was a 153-game dual premiership player for Carlton.
The captain addresses his captive audience as
Rod Ashman watches on intently.
Carlton Player Development Manager Rod Ashman, who oversaw the program, said the sessions were called as a means of assisting the boys with their development as players, if football was the career path they ultimately chose to take.
“The reaction from the young blokes has been fantastic. The younger guys certainly enjoyed the experience, while the older kids got a bit more of a heads-up in terms of how they can improve themselves as footballers . . . but it was all about having fun,” Ashman said.
Max Hanna, son of the 1995 Carlton premiership player
Milham Hanna, in action at the Visy Park redevelopment.
