For the past fours seasons he’s proudly worn the No.1 on his Navy Blue back. Today, Andrew Walker wears the afterglow of a contented father celebrating the safe arrival of No.1 son.

It happened in the wee hours of Australia Day last Saturday, when Walker and his partner Kylie welcomed their first-born Cody Jay. At 1am, little Cody, arrived safely at the Royal Women’s Hospital (in Carlton of course), tipping the scales at 6lbs 10oz.

Father, mother and son are all doing just fine.

Walker, who declared his unavailability for the club’s South African tour to be with Kylie for the birth, talked of his boy’s safe delivery as “an absolute bonus”.

“I watched the whole lot and all went well. This is a life-changing experience and all for the better I reckon,” Walker said.

“My little boy will be home tomorrow and because I finish training at 10 o’clock in the morning I’ll be able to see a lot of him.”

Highlighting just how young the Blues are, Walker becomes just the third father on Carlton’s list, behind Jason Saddington and Brendan Fevola.

Twenty-one year-old Walker is now just 26 senior matches short of his 100th for Carlton, and who knows? . . . maybe one day Cody will uphold the old man’s tradition.