Like many Australian families, the parents of this year’s top draft prospects have had a significant influence on which AFL team they support.
Foxfooty.com.au last month asked 20 draftees which AFL teams they barracked for – and there’s a good chance some of the players will land at the clubs they’ve supported for most of their lives.
There’s the two top father-son prospects in Jordan Croft (Western Bulldogs) and Will McCabe (Hawthorn), who are both expected to land at the respective clubs they’ve supported their entire lives.
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McCabe, the son of ex-Hawk and current Hawthorn director Luke McCabe, said he has “grown up around it and I was born into it – and I saw that pretty good era”.
“It’s weird to think about (playing for the Hawks) because I’ve grown up watching them,” McCabe told foxfooty.com.au at last month’s AFL draft combine.
“If I ever get the chance of putting on that guernsey, it’d be a pretty cool feeling because it’s such an awesome club in the sense that it’s had such great success in the modern era. I feel like with the young talent they’ve got there, they’re headed in that similar direction.
“Sam (Mitchell) is a great coach, so I’d love to do that.”
Croft, the son of former Bulldogs defender Matthew Croft, said he grew up a “mad Doggies supporter” and looking up to Aaron Naughton and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan.
“I think it‘d be a really great honour to be able to play for the club that you’ve grown up supporting and loved for so long,” Croft told foxfooty.com.au.
“To be able to give your all to the club, if I get the opportunity, I definitely will be able to. I think that’s what I’ll be looking forward to if I was lucky enough to get drafted to the Bulldogs.”
Asked about the prospect of sharing the same forward line as Naughton and Ugle-Hagan, Croft said: “It’d be an honour to play alongside those players. Learning off them would be really good. If I was able to get on the same list as them, it’d be unreal.”
Both Croft and McCabe are expected to receive bids in the middle stage of the first round. Both the Bulldogs and Hawks are well prepared to match bids on their respective players come draft night.
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Elsewhere, Launceston’s Arie Schoenmaker, who’s in the late first-round and early second-round mix, credits his father for the fact he barracks for Carlton, which currently holds Picks 22 and 28.
“Dad’s a crazy supporter and all of Dad’s mates go for the Blues,” Schoenmaker told foxfooty.com.au.
“I used to go for the Hawks when they were on that massive three-peat, but then went over to the dark side.
“We went alright this year. Halfway through the year when I was down and out I wasn’t really following them, but then all of a sudden we kept on winning games and became hot going into finals. It was a great run. I just hope we don’t go into next year and finish 14th again.”
Sandringham Dragons’ Ollie Murphy, by his own admission, is “a huge Saints fan”. The Saints have two first-round selections in this year’s draft: Picks 13 and 21, which will almost certainly be pushed back several spots. Murphy is in the middle to late first-round mix.
“Dad was barracking for them when I was born, so I joined in. It’s been a few years of misery,” he told foxfooty.com.au.
“That’d be amazing (to play for St Kilda). It’d be a lifelong dream, but I can’t get too ahead of myself. I could be anywhere.
“But if it was, I couldn’t put words to it.”
Murray Bushrangers’ Darcy Wilson is a North Melbourne fan because “Dad kind of pushed me into it”. But also his great uncle was ruckman Mick Nolan – aka the ‘Galloping Gasometer’ – who was North’s premiership ruckman in its inaugural 1975 premiership.
“All my family grew up barracking for North because of Mick,” Wilson said.
Wilson is a mid first-round draft prospect, but whether he’ll be on the board come the Kangaroos’ glut of late first-round selections – Picks 15, 17 and 18 – remains unclear.
Glenelg’s Ashton Moir supports West Coast – “my mum’s from WA and she’s got all her family there, so I thought I’d follow Mum” – and has been linked to the Eagles at one of their later picks in the draft.
Clarence’s Jack Callinan is the son of former Crows player Ian Callinan – and therefore supports Adelaide.
“Dad’s still got some great relationships with some of the boys there, so whenever they come to Tassie or we’re in Adelaide we catch up with them,” he told foxfooty.com.au.
Callinan, who looms as a later national draft pick, says his dad has still “got a good relationship with Hamish Ogilvie” – Adelaide’s recruiting manager – but the Crows have Picks 10, 14 and 20.
No. 1 favourite Harley Reid is a Geelong man – “Dad just barracked for them and I just got on, but I’m not complaining because they’re always in the run for finals every year” – but obviously isn’t getting to the Cats on draft night.
And then there’s top-10 prospect Ryley Sanders. The Tasmanian product is linked to North Melbourne via its Next Generation Academy and has boarded at Melbourne Grammar.
But Sanders – the son of Adam Sanders, who played 284 NTFL games before taking up coaching and development roles in Tasmanian football – is a Gold Coast supporter.
“Dad coached a few of the boys that went there, so they gave me lots of gear when Dad would catch up with them. And Gary Ablett’s just my all-time favourite. I just love him. He’s an absolute jet,” Sanders told foxfooty.com.au.
Sanders vividly remembers running out alongside Ablett at UTAS Stadium for a Suns-Hawks game last decade.
“To meet one of my heroes was really cool,” he said.
“I was only around eight or nine, but that was an unreal experience … We ran out and Gary stopped at the banner to wait for everyone – and I ran through! So I ran through then stopped, looked behind and thought ‘where is everyone?’ And then they came running through. It was cool.”
But as for the gun Suns academy trio, it’s a mixed bag.
Freak 200cm utility Ethan Read has been loyal to Gold Coast since the club entered the AFL competition, but Jed Walter and Jake Rogers are Eagles and Magpies fans respectively.
“I’m originally a West Coast supporter because I’m from WA. But now I’m on the Gold Coast, so it’s a bit hard,” Walter told foxfooty.com.au.
“I have a soft spot for the Suns as well, but still a strong West Coast lean.”
Rogers in September proudly watched his Magpies claim this year’s premiership alongside 30 fellow Collingwood supporters.
Star small forward and Collingwood fan Nick Watson said “the flag was unreal”.
“I got a bit nervous towards the end when (Joe) Daniher kicked that goal, but they handled it well. I reckon they’ve got a good team coming up for the next couple of years,” he told foxfooty.com.au.
“Dad and Mum go for the Pies, so I had no choice. I’m not complaining though. I don’t support them as much as I did when I was younger, but it’s always good seeing Collingwood up there.”
Like Sanders, Subiaco star Koltyn Tholstrup had a childhood banner experience with his favourite AFL team St Kilda – his choice, again, heavily influenced by family.
“Dad went for the Saints and it sort of rubbed off on me,” Tholstrup told foxfooty.com.au.
“I remember running out through the banner with Nick Riewoldt. They got absolutely pumped by the Eagles that day!”
Tholstrup was referencing Round 8 of the 2016 season, which saw West Coast defeat St Kilda by 103 points after a nine-goal Eagles first quarter that featured five Josh Kennedy majors.
Claremont’s Daniel Curtin was central to a brief family tussle over which WA team to barrack for.
His Dad, of course, won the battle.
“I was born into Freo supporters, so I’ve been going for them for a while,” Curtin told foxfooty.com.au.
“I didn’t have any choice. Dad started going for them.
“I remember the first game I went to, Mum and my uncle – who’s a mad Eagles supporter – took us to an Eagles game – and Dad kind of set the record straight after that: ‘You’re a Freo support, no more of them.’”
Star Murray Bushrangers utility Connor O’Sullivan, who lives in Albury, jumped on the Sydney Swans’ bandwagon.
“It started because they were the first New South Wales team and I think everyone got on board with that in the family and now I’ve ended up a Swans supporter,” he told foxfooty.com.au.
“It’s been good to see them make finals most years since I’ve been alive, so pretty lucky.”
And then there’s Tasmania’s James Leake, whose reason for supporting the Western Bulldogs is, well, very simple.
“To be honest, when I was four or five-years-old, I just liked dogs – and there’s not much to it,” Leake said with a laugh.
“The 2016 flag was one of the highlights of my life watching them win it. Love the Doggies.
But there’s also a growing trend among future AFL players to avoid pledging allegiance to an AFL team.
Rather, prospects like Colby McKercher have enjoyed watching and studying players, rather than riding the emotional rollercoaster that is supporting a club.
“I don’t go for a team,” McKercher told foxfooty.com.au.
“I used to go for Carlton when I was a kid, but I just started watching like every game on a weekend when I was a kid and I didn’t really barrack for a team after that.”
Gippsland Power’s Zane Duursma, like McKercher, doesn’t support a team. He labels himself “a bit of a student of the game”.
“I watch players and I’m a bit of a footy head, so I just watch footy for the fun of it,” Duursma told foxfooty.com.au.
“I love watching the Bont, love watching Dusty. I did love watching Buddy Franklin play – he’s one of my favourite players ever – and Nat Fyfe.
“I like to watch players that play my position. There’s not a whole lot of players that play my position in the AFL, but I do like to study what the forwards are doing.”
Northern Knights’ Nate Caddy – the nephew of dual premiership Tiger Josh Caddy – said he “never really got solidified on just one team”.
“This year I’d say North Melbourne because I grew up with Cooper Harvey. But I kind of find myself following players, not just a team,” he told foxfooty.com.au.
“That’s probably because I had to move around all the time with Josh.”
But Caddy, like all his 2023 peers, will soon be all in on one club next year.
