Hailing from a traditional St Kilda zone with a family of Essendon supporters, Shaun Grigg could be forgiven for being bewildered when he ended up at Carlton. But this former Under-18 All Australian is determined to make his mark at MC Labour Park in 2007 and to follow in the footsteps of some other famous Blues who have worn number 16 over the years. Mike and Dan caught up with Shaun after one of his regular gym sessions to find out about his induction to the Carlton Football Club and his goals for 2007.

You've inherited a pretty famous guernsey number, do you know much about the players whose names you see on your locker?

I actually caught up with Jimmy Buckley last Thursday at the Past Players golf day at the Keysborough Golf Club. It was great to meet him and have a chat, and obviously I grew up watching Campo and know how good a player he is. It adds a bit to the pressure, but I just want to get the job done when I get on the park.

Did you expect to be taken by the Blues on draft day?

There were suggestions that I may have gone to Adelaide at pick 14, but was rapt to get picked up by Carlton.

Your Mum is a Carlton supporter but you barracked for Essendon as a kid. That must have led to some pretty tense times in the Grigg household!

Mum is a fanatic, and has barracked for Carlton all her life, but the rest of the family is Essendon. Mum was obviously over the moon when I got picked up by the Blues, but the rest of the household was also rapt. Yeah I grew up in a divided household, the ’99 Preliminary Final was a pretty tense day and last year there was a draw so there’s a history of close ones between the teams.

We tend to forget how Essendon supporters must have felt at the end of the ’99 Preliminary Final. And let’s keep it that way…

You have got similar dimensions to Ang Christou, do you also have a booming left foot?

I don’t know if you could call my left foot booming, but I would love to be as good as Ang, he was a great player for the Blues over many years. If I have to kick on my right I will, but most lefties know how to weave their way out of trouble!

Which players at Carlton are really excelling at training?

There’s Michael Jamison who is a new recruit and really putting in at training. He is a key defender but he also loves to run up the ground like Bret Thornton. He’s having a fantastic pre season and really tearing up the track. He’s actually my housemate so I will get a plug in for him!

As payback for the plug, Mike and Dan are sure that it will be Michael Jamison’s turn to do the vacuuming and take out the garbage for the next few weeks.

There has been a bit of publicity about gambling recently. Did you get told in one of your many induction seminars about gambling?

All the new draftees had a camp where we ran through all the do’s and don’ts and the expected behavior standards of AFL players. As part of the camp, David Schwarz came and had a chat with us, and he obviously went through some pretty hard times with gambling so we are all aware of the pitfalls, danger signs and what to look out for.

Mike and Dan are betting that Shaun abides by the rules.

Realistically, what are your goals for 2007? Do you expect to spend most of your time at the Bullants, or do you think you can crack it for a few games at senior level?

I aim to get a senior game this year, for that to happen I’m going to need to do plenty of hard work and play consistent footy to get there. But I’d sure love to crack it for a game in the ones.

Ballarat City council promotes Ballarat as a place where 'history comes to life'. C'mon, give us a spiel about how great the town is and why we should visit it.

Well there used to be a lake there before it dried up! It’s a good little town and it’s got easy access to everything you need. It’s about 50 minutes to beach, an hour to the city and a great place to live.

At this stage, we start to think that Lavinia Nixon and John So better have got some serious spruiking competition in the tourism stakes!

We have got a multiple choice question for you: Ballarat is: a) A town full of descendents of wealthy farmers. b) A town full of descendents of skanky bogans. c) The capital of Sovereign Hill. d) All of the above.

*laughs* I think I’ll have to go with d), all of the above!

There is a great buzz amongst supporters with some exciting young recruits and with the board issues sorted out. Do you feel that excitement amongst the playing group too?

Yeah we definitely can feel the excitement building. The other boys have said it’s a really different environment to what it was in previous years. We are all pretty excited about the future and about taking a few steps forwards, and with our group of 2nd and 3rd year players starting to come through we want to make Carlton a force in the AFL again.

How are you going to celebrate your first goal in AFL football? Can we request a bit of air guitar action?

Well I actually had a conversation with Bryce Gibbs about this yesterday. When one of us gets our first goal we are going to do the ‘up and down potato’. I can’t tell you too much more but that’s the plan at this stage.

That sounds like something to look forward to! Anything else you want to say about your teammates and their unusual habits?

I can definitely say something about another one of the new recruits! Sam Jacob spends far too much time in front of the mirror grooming himself. I don’t want to say too much about the senior guys as they might pay out on me!

With an obvious enthusiasm for his new surrounds and a maturity that belies his years, Shaun Grigg is gearing for a successful transition from junior football to the rigors of AFL. We look forward to seeing this young player rise through the ranks, and hope that the ‘up and down potato’ features prominently in the highlights reels in 2007!