The number, now synonymous with the Waite family, sat comfortably on Jarrad’s back through the course of what was an otherwise forgettable contest under lights at Homebush Bay.
The Carlton team, then captained by Brett Ratten, got thumped by 74 points, with the Sydney midfielder Paul Williams (now Ratten’s coaching assistant) earning three Brownlow votes for his troubles on a night in which Denis Pagan fulfilled coaching duties for the first time and Justin Murphy got his name on the locker with game number 100.
While the match is unlikely to bob up on any Carlton highlights reel, Jarrad, who initially took his place on interchange beside another first-gamer Jon McCormick, doesn’t need any reminding.
“You ask any footballer, whether they’ve played 10 games or 300 games, and they’ll always remember their first game,” Jarrad said. “I remember coming on and getting split open in a tackling contest after ten seconds . . . that was pretty exciting.”
In retrospect, it’s what happened in the lead-up to that match that remains firmly fixed in the Waite consciousness.
“With my football, Dad never wanted to drown me out. He obviously knew the pressures of playing, so in that regard he was really good and any time I ever wanted to ask a question he was always there... but he never pestered me with anything he didn’t think I wanted or needed,” Jarrad explained.
“The only advice he really ever gave me was going into my first game. He said ‘Look, the first ten minutes will be really, really hot - just take it on board, ease your way into it and enjoy every second of it’. It was pretty good advice he gave me. Even now you hear the old blokes say ‘It doesn’t last forever’ and it’s true. That’s something I’ve never let go of and I’ve always appreciated every second of it, not only at Carlton but in football as well.”
Should Dame Fortune finally smile on Jarrad this weekend, Sunday’s match at Etihad Stadium, appropriately enough against the Swans, will double as game number 150 for the boy from Benalla.
“I played my first against the Swans in Sydney, my 100th against them at Etihad (we got rolled that day and I didn’t get too many touches which was pretty disappointing) and now my 150th game against them at Etihad,” he reminded. “Hopefully this time I’ll get a kick.”
Jarrad cites the rupturing of the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee against Adelaide in May 2009 as the catalyst for his horrid run of outs - and not since the May 14 St Kilda match at Etihad, where he succumbed to a worrisome back complaint, has he graced the forward half with his imposing presence.
“I landed awkwardly in a simple contest,” he recalled. “My back felt sore and by the next day it had gone from bad to worse.
“It was a bit of a shock to the system. The medicos couldn’t tell me how long I was going to be out, which is probably the worst thing about being injured, not knowing, and it became very frustrating - doubly so with ‘Krueze’, ‘Hammer’ and Levi also out injured at various stages.
“I wanted to be out there helping my teammates, but I couldn’t even go to games, because when I first hurt myself I couldn’t sit down for long periods. So this past month has been all about building a fitness base “and you want to get it 100 per cent right before you play, especially in my position, and in moving forward with your future life”.
Jarrad Waite takes on Sydney's Andrew Schauble in 2003.
Having got the competitive juices flowing in his comeback match for the Northern Blues against Coburg last Sunday, Jarrad is once again equipped to don the No.30 and take to the field in the game that he loves.
As he said: “The best thing about my time in football has been the lifestyle, of hanging out with your mates, of being paid to do what you love on a daily basis and of meeting great club people along the way - people like Franky Finn who passed away last year, and other blokes like ‘Bulldog’ (Wayne Gilbert) and Ray (Spiteri) who genuinely love the club more than anything and who when you bump into them ten years from now will come up to you and say g’day”.
While he acknowledges the 150-game milestone, it’s game number 154 (versus St Kilda at Etihad in the final round all being well) that carries greater clout. For it’s this game that takes Jarrad past his father - a two-time Carlton premiership backman and the current games record holder in the number 30 guernsey.
Though Dylan Buckley refrained from taking on the number 16 worn with great distinction by his father, Jarrad had no hesitation in upholding the tradition of the number 30.
“Thinking back, when I was around 14 or 15 I rebelled against anything to do with Dad at Carlton, but as I got older I embraced it and wore No.30 for Benalla... then when Shane O’Sullivan came to the house and told me Carlton was going to take me he asked me about the number and I said I’d like it,” Jarrad said.
“As it happened, the previous wearer, Adam White, had been delisted and the number came up, so I was in the right place, right time and I’ve never regretted it since.”
Sadly Vin, whose life was cruelly cut short at 54, won’t be there to pass on the baton, and few who were there will forget that emotion-charged Sunday in July 2003 when Jarrad took to Princes Park a day after his Dad’s untimely passing.
“It was a very moving experience. I remember how the boys got around me after I kicked a goal in that game... that was a great moment for me because it best reflected how supportive everyone at the club was when it happened,” Jarrad said.
“The club gave me until the last second, but I was never not going to play that day… and I remember being quite emotional after it because I was thinking of my family.”
In the sanctity of the locker room in the aftermath of that Melbourne match, Jarrad resolved to fulfil two noble objectives.
“I’d only played a handful of games, but my two goals from then on were to get my name on Dad’s locker and to beat his record,” Jarrad said.
Vin Waite in action for the Blues in the early 1970s.
“I’m rapt that my name’s on the locker and I’ll be there forever, and while I’ve always played under the assumption that the game could end tomorrow, the record is now in sight and I’ll be very excited the day that happens.”
When Jarrad finally breasts the banner for game number 154, he’ll be sporting the “tattoo” he’s worn as a badge for the past 149.
“Some people, if they lose a parent, get a tattoo to remind them, but the jumper I wear feels like a tattoo to me,” he said. “I’ve never needed any other reminder because it’s pretty hard not being reminded when you rock up to the locker and see Dad’s name... so I’ve never seen the need for anything else.
“The family tradition and the No.30 is all I’ll ever need.”
