John McCarthy's introduction for his first game of the season meant there were eight players in the Magpies 22 (McCarthy, Heath Shaw, Travis Cloke, Andrew Krakouer, Ben Reid, Luke Ball, Jarryd Blair and Dale Thomas) who were descendents of a great grandfather, grandfather or father who had also played League football.
Six of those eight played in Collingwood's 2010 premiership. Of the eight, McCarthy, Ben Reid and Luke Ball have a father, grandfather and brother who have played League football. Cloke and Krakouer were born while their father was still playing AFL football.
Whether it is a record or not is near impossible to determine. However, allowing for the fact that the pool of people who have played League football increases with the passage of time, it is fair to say it is something we have rarely seen.
It's certainly a detail only Collingwood can match or beat this year, having two other descendants of former players on their list who are yet to make their debut. Jonathan Ceglar's father David played seven games with North Melbourne while Paul Seedsman's great grandfather was the legendary Jim Sharp who played a remarkable 179 games, 161 games and two premierships (1904-1905) with Fitzroy, and 18 games with Collingwood, including one in 1917 when he was president of the club. Considering Jaxson Barham (son of Ricky who played 151 games with Collingwood) and Shane O'Bree (whose grandfather Arthur Edwards and great grandfather Frank 'Dolly' Aked played for Footscray) left the club at the end of 2010 it's not unreasonable to say the Collingwood list has a defining trend, however unintentional.
So, Collingwood has 10 players on their list in the descendants' category this season with the next closest club being the Bulldogs who have seven, with five (Ryan Hargrave, Liam Jones, Tom Liberatore, Liam Picken and Callan Ward) playing on the weekend. Richmond also had all five players with fathers or grandfathers who played League football on their list play in last Saturday's team. Brett Deledio, Nathan Foley, Brad Miller, Alex Rance and Shane Tuck are in that category and all played on Saturday night.
A spot check of past sides full of father-sons such as Geelong in 2007 fails to throw up an obvious challenger. The Cats had Tom Hawkins join the Ablett brothers, Gary and Nathan, Mark Blake and Matthew Scarlett to be one of five father-sons in the team when Hawkins made his debut in round 2, 2007 while the Hawks had eight players on their list in 2004 fitting the category (Matthew Ball, John Barker, Campbell Brown, Tim Boyle, Tim Clarke, Ben Dixon, Adrian Cox and Doug Scott) but they never played together as a group.
Of the Collingwood eight, the list of forebears is impressive, however only David Cloke had previously played in a premiership team.
McCarthy's father Shane played three games for Geelong in 1970-71 and his brother Matthew 22 games with the Cats between 2003-2006. His grandfather Alan Olle played 51 games with St Kilda from 1946-1951.
His record is less glorious than Heath Shaw's father Ray, who captained Collingwood in his 146-game career, or Travis Cloke's father, David, who played 114 games with the Magpies and 219 with Richmond (in two stints), including a premiership.
Recruiting Andrew Krakouer has added to the numbers in 2011. His father is the brilliant Jim Krakouer, who played 147 games with North Melbourne between 1982-1991 and remains one of the most electrifying talents the game has ever seen. Andrew's uncle of course was Phil Krakouer, who played 141 games with North Melbourne and seven with Footscray to just pip his brother in the career games' tally. Andrew needs to play another 40 games to pass them both.
Full back Ben Reid is the son of Bruce Maxwell Reid, who played 119 games, 86 with Footscray, leaving two years before Mick Malthouse arrived to coach the Bulldogs, to continue his career with Carlton, where he played 33 games. Reid's grandfather Bruce also played 28 games with Footscray in 1950-51 while his brother Sam has played nine games with the Sydney Swans.
Luke Ball's father Ray Ball played 55 games, 12 with Richmond and 43 with South Melbourne while Luke's brother Matthew played 17 games for Hawthorn. Luke's maternal grandfather Felix Russo played 14 games for St Kilda between 1950-1951, and his uncle Peter was a member of Hawthorn's 1978 and 1986 premiership teams. He played 195 games, finishing his career with 33 games at St Kilda.
Jarryd Blair's grandfather John O'Mahony played 112 matches with Hawthorn between 1951 and 1960. He left the year before the Hawks won its first premiership, but was a long-time servant of the club in match committee. His grandson, of course, arrived at Collingwood a rookie in 2009, the year before he made his debut and played in a premiership team in his 12th game.
Dale Thomas, who kicked the torpedo that nearly took the roof off the stadium in the last quarter on Sunday, has a great grandfather, Norm Jordan, who played one game for Melbourne. Jordan's debut and farewell game was against St Kilda at the Junction Oval on May 24 1913, the only roof in those days being a sunny Melbourne sky.
There are 77 players on AFL lists who have a father, grandfather or great grandfather (or a combination of forebears) who played League football.
