After a breakout first season in the Smithy’s VFL, Will White capped a whirlwind 12 months with a last-minute call-up to Carlton’s AFL list.
The 179cm goalkicker, who turns 21 next month, had a terrific debut VFL season for Carlton, playing all 18 matches and finishing third in the club’s best and fairest award.
His efforts culminated in him being invited to train with Carlton’s AFL squad over the summer months.
However, his hopes of earning a contract as a pre-season supplemental selection looked dashed when the Blues chose to sign former Geelong and Port Adelaide forward Francis Evans on Friday prior to the SSP deadline.
But when No. 3 draft pick Jagga Smith suffered a devastating knee injury during the match simulation loss to St Kilda on Saturday, White proved the beneficiary.
The Blues and Melbourne both lobbied the AFL to extend the SSP deadline to allow them to replace players injured during match simulations over the weekend, with White getting the green light to become the 18th player recruited from the Smithy’s VFL since the start of the 2024 SSP.
The small forward was one of the shining lights in a difficult 2024 for the VFL Blues, booting 21 goals while averaging 13.7 disposals and 3.1 marks in a struggling team – normally not the most conducive place for a forward pocket.
White put himself on the Blues’ radar with a couple of dominant performances for South Warrnambool in 2023.
He snagged eight goals against Hamilton and six against Hampden League powerhouse Koroit as a 19-year-old a year, after kicking seven goals in 11 outings for the GWV Rebels in the Coates Talent League.
“Will is a quick player and can shut down opponents on the run and is always happy to put in the repeat efforts to help his team,” Carlton head of list management Nick Austin told the Carlton website.
“On the field Will is full of life. H is always bursting with energy, and that’s exactly how he is off the field as well.
“It is a unique circumstance in which Will has earned an opportunity but it is one we are looking forward to giving him every chance of taking with both hands.”
White was the third player from the VFL to be selected as an SSP, following Werribee’s Norm Goss medallist Jack Henderson who went to Melbourne last week and Southport’s Ben Jepson who was picked up by the Gold Coast Suns.
Werribee teammates Riley Bice (Sydney Swans) and Aidan Johnson (Melbourne) and Richmond’s Sam Davidson (Western Bulldogs) were picked up in the 2024 Telstra AFL Draft in November.
Jack Hutchinson (Collingwood to West Coast Eagles), Max Hall (Box Hill Hawks to St Kilda), Cooper Lord (North Melbourne to Carlton), Saad El-Hawli (Northern Bullants to Essendon), Campbell Gray (Essendon to Richmond) and Ned Long (Collingwood promotion) were taken in the 2024 Mid-Season Rookie Draft.
Meanwhile, last year’s SSP delivered Lachie Sullivan (Footscray Bulldogs to Collingwood), Marty Hore (Williamstown to Melbourne), Mykelti Lefau (Richmond promotion), Josh Eyre (Collingwood promotion), Ethan Phillips (Port Melbourne to Hawthorn) and Tyler Sellers (North Melbourne promotion).
