To the delight of Essendon supporters, John Lloyd only played 29 games withthe Carlton Football Club, so the Blues just missed the opportunity todraft Matthew under the father-son-rule. ""We are really happy with Matthewplaying at Essendon. At one stage it looked as though Matthew would bedrafted to Carlton under the father and son rule because the pre-requisitewas 20 games. Then the AFL changed the ruling to 50 games. A lot of peopleat Carlton haven't forgiven Barassi for not playing me more. As it turnedout Essendon did something special with the draft with trading four playersto Fremantle, so they could get Matthew and we were really pleased aboutthat,"" John said.
Matthew commented on the support his father has always given him with hisfootball career and said the most important bit of advice his dad hasoffered him was to have a red hot go every week. Guests were alsowondering if John had given advice on how to toughen his game after Matthewshared the following story. ""The only memory I have of dad's playing daysis staying up one night to watch the Grand Final Footy Marathon on thetelevision. Dad was on the dirtiest clips ever in VFL/AFL history - I thinkhe was kneeing someone in the crutch. So I blame dad for my threesuspensions last year,"" Matthew said.
David Darcy was given a warm welcome by the Bomber crowd when he announcedhe was originally an Essendon supporter as a kid before playing withFootscray. ""I can still vividly remember watching my first game - it wasthe John Coleman era in 1949 - my father was an avid Essendon supporter butbecause of the zoning of those days I went to Footscray,"" David said.David is happy son Luke has followed in his footsteps and is playing footywith the Western Bulldogs.
Between them, the Fletcher pair have won two premierships and two best andfairest awards at Essendon. However, at the luncheon today, Ken Fletcheradmitted he wasn't sure if Dustin was going to follow in his footsteps andplay footy for the Bombers. ""I knew Dustin had a ton of natural ability butI didn't honestly think about what he would do. He was a very good tennisplayer. He won three Victorian Championships with Chris Anstey thebasketballer, when they were young with virtually no training - but healways liked football more,"" the 264-game Bomber said.
Ken Fraser had a long proud history with the Essendon Football Club -captaining the side to the 1965 premiership and winning two best andfairest awards. So the dual premiership player found it difficult when sonMark was drafted to Collingwood at the start of his AFL career. ""At thetime it was a little bit difficult to accept but at that stage it did givehim the opportunity to do what he wanted and that was to play footy at thehighest level,"" Fraser said. Before becoming an umpire, Mark fulfilled hischildhood dream of playing for the red and black. ""It was a bit dauntingwhen I first went to Windy Hill. There was a big photo of dad up on thewall holding the 1965 premiership cup. It didn't take me long to feel athome though.""
The tradition continued today with the second Dick Reynolds Club being atremendous success. All guests enjoyed the day, with the highlight hearingstories from the current and past father and son football combinations.
