The family connections in our game are something special. We’ve had numerous brothers, cousins, uncles, grandsons, and fathers and sons who have all graced the VFL/AFL playing fields.
They add an amazing dimension to our game, and at a rate not evident in many other sports.
In particular, the sight of a son of a former great running out on to the field takes us back to times past, and allows for wistful reminiscing.
Our game is indeed blessed to have had so many wonderful family combinations.
A few of these famous footballing sons have been in the news throughout the year.
Gary Ablett junior for all the right reasons – another standout season, milestone games, seven straight All-Australians; another (record) fifth AFL players’ association MVP award and probably another Brownlow, all leading to the continual question of who is better, he or his father?
Jobe Watson has had a tough year with the off-field focus on the supplements saga, his candid admission in a television interview and the exclusion of the club he captains from the finals.
Dustin Fletcher has managed to avoid most of the attention of the supplements saga, after wisely choosing not to participate in the program.
However, as has been the case for as long as can be remembered, the perennial question of will he or won’t he go around one more time had to be asked again.
The answer, it seems, is that at age 38 he can do it again.
There has also been the good news story of Tom Liberatore, who, after his off-field drama in 2012, made good this year and came second in the Bulldogs’ best and fairest award and had the most clearances in the AFL during the home-and-away season.
There was also another youngster, Joe Daniher, who excited fans when he finally made his debut for Essendon and, despite playing only a handful of games, showed enough promise to indicate he has a bright future.
These players, and many other sons of former players, will once again take us back in time when season 2014 comes around.
But there is one son of a gun, who has slipped out the back door with very little fanfare or fuss, much the same as the way he has played the game over the past decade.
Shane Tuck played his 173rd and last game in Richmond’s elimination final loss against Carlton. This game was also the 599th combined game between he and his father Michael, meaning they have narrowly missed becoming only the second father-son combination (behind the Fletchers) to reach 600 combined games.
While Shane’s tally seemingly pales into insignificance when compared with his father’s, his career has been noteworthy nonetheless: seven top ten finishes in Richmond’s best and fairest; 104 consecutive games (2005-2009); a career average of 23 possessions per game and countless contested possessions; 10 Brownlow votes in season 2012, a year after it looked like he was gone, and the 2012 CGU ‘Unsung Hero’ award.
He also seemed to enjoy considerable respect from his teammates and fans alike.
But the road was not always easy – delisted from Hawthorn’s rookie list without playing a senior game; surviving the cut after his first year at Richmond; not establishing himself as a senior player until the relatively late age of 23, being floated as trade bait a couple of years later, and (unsuccessfully) seeking to be traded at the end of 2009 when his options at Richmond appeared limited.
He has also endured family tragedies and faced health challenges over the years.
In addition, he was dropped on occasions for reasons that were not always apparent to an outsider, but he would go back to the VFL and fight to regain his spot, never seeming to drop his bundle.
In the age of deals and counter-deals, he seemed content with one year contracts, negotiated at season’s end.
In a fitting reward for a seasoned warrior, eventually he got to play his first final, and while named in the best players, it was over all too quickly, with his team on the wrong side of the result.
At the end of the game there was no ride on his teammates’ shoulders back to the change rooms but just a quiet farewell leading the team in.
No fanfare, no fuss – just as he played the game. A team man to the end.
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