The entire football world knows the Cats of 2003 have a young list, and probably takes it for granted.
But the point was driven home on Thursday when club vice-captain Brenton Sanderson happened to observe that Geelong has just two married players on its list, and only one parent.
“We’ve got Ben Graham, and we’ve got Mitchell White who was married at the end of last season. But Benny Graham is the only one with kids,” Sanderson told Sport927.
At 28, Sanderson would have plenty of mates at other clubs with whom he could compare notes about life as a teenager in the 1980's – but not at Geelong.
“I jumped actually from the ninth oldest to the fourth oldest in one pre-season. That just goes to emphasise how young we are,” Sanderson said.
“We’re going to be one of the youngest sides in the AFL for some years to come. Our average age this year is just 20.5*, so we’ve got a young list to develop over the next few years and we’re looking for some real improvement in the next one or two seasons.”
Sanderson, who was the club's deputy-vice captain in 2002, said he was looking forward to the responsibility of a renewed leadership role this year.
“I’m at the other end of the scale from Steven King in that I’ve played at a few different clubs and I had a lot of setbacks early on in my career,” Sanderson said.
“I want to be a person that the young players can approach. It won’t change the way that I play, but I believe that I can lead by example, especially off the field in my preparation and in terms of professionalism in getting ready for a game.”
“It’s something the young kids can watch and hopefully learn from. Being in the system for ten years, you try and get it right, and I think I’ve got it right now,” he said.
* For the record, the Crows and Power have the oldest lists in the competition at 23.9, and the AFL official statistics confirm that the Cats have the youngest list – though their arithmetic would appear to vary from Sanderson’s – at 22.0.
And by way of contrast with Geelong, the Blues have seven married men on their list, and seven dads (though they're not the same seven), a further five engaged to be married soon.
