“I would play for nothing and if you asked any player they’d say the same thing,” Yarran said after completing his training commitments at Visy Park.
“We’ve all got to be employed, but footy’s such an enjoyable game that I’d play it just for fun. I love playing with 21 other blokes each week for the camaraderie because you make such good friendships out of it.”
Now over the fashionable “turf toe” and on the cusp of a return for his 50th game for Carlton, “Yazz” looks back on the first 49 as “a bit of a journey”.
“It took me a little while to kick-start my career at Carlton because I only managed six games or so in my first year and built up to 17 or 18 games the following year. I then had to switch to down back and have been reasonably happy with how it’s gone. You could say it’s been a long four years, but an enjoyable for years,” he said.
“I’ve had four good pre-seasons now and I’m really starting to establish myself in the back six.”
If Cathy Freeman was the official giver of joy at the 2000 Olympiad in Sydney, then Chris, with his silky skills and nifty movements, elicits that same sensation at old Carlton town. He’s always smiling, is “Yazz”, and that’s because he still finds the game fun despite its unrelenting nature.
“Footy is such a demanding game to play and I just want to enjoy it as much as I can while I have my time in the game,” he said.
“It’s such a fantastic game and I’m enjoying every minute of it, but I am an enjoyable character and I like to have a laugh every now and then.”
The support of his Carlton contemporaries - the likes of Eddie Betts, Jeff Garlett, Mitch Robinson and Andrew Walker - and the well-wishes of his mother and siblings back in Perth also help Chris’s cause.
“Mum rings me every night to say goodnight. She’s been fantastic to me over the years and if it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be here,”” he readily admitted.
“My brother and sisters have also been supportive of me over the journey to get me where I am today, so I thank them sincerely for it.”
It’s fair to say that Chris tries to put on a show for them whenever he takes the field, for as he readily admits homesickness did kick in through that maiden season of 2009.
“But Carlton is such a magnificent club that the more you’re around the more you enjoy it,” he said. “I was always keen to play AFL footy, that was the life I chose and I’m thankful for the opportunity Carlton has given me.”
Supporters can break out into a Yarranesque smile when they read the post-script to this story too - for the man in the No.13 guernsey harbors a burning ambition to get his name on the locker with Vin Gardiner, Jack Howell, Graham, Donaldson and Milham Hanna.
“At some stage I do wish to return home, but I want to be a one-club player and hopefully Carlton can renew my contract soon,” he says.
“We’re very close - the two parties just have to agree to terms and hopefully we can get the deal done sooner rather than later.”
