ANSWER your phone, Ashton.
In November 2023 when Ashton Moir was drafted to Carlton, the young forward mistakenly hung up on AFL Senior Coach Michael Voss - and history essentially repeated less than two years later with some more good news coming Moir’s way.
The newest Telstra AFL Rising Star nominee missed the coach’s call when Voss attempted to let Moir know that his four-goal performance on Saturday night was to be acknowledged with the nod… fortunately, it wasn’t long before Moir got in touch with him.
Speaking to Carlton Media on Monday, Moir said to receive the recognition was left him “pretty excited and pretty overwhelmed”.
“It’s quite cool. You don’t look too much into the individual accolades: it’s more about the team accolades and the fact we won on the weekend, that’s what means the most to me. It was a great day to be part of and a big game, Carlton Respects.
“To be able to be out there on the MCG with all the boys and come away with the four points, it was a really good experience.”
Playing just his second full game on the ‘G (and third full game overall), Moir was one of eight players running out there for the Blues aged 21 or under - joining Jesse Motlop, Ollie Hollands, Will White, Lachie Cowan, Cooper Lord, Matthew Carroll and Harry O’Farrell.
Being able to enjoy the win - Moir’s first since his debut - with a group of fellow youngsters made the events of the night even more rewarding.
“I love being out there with all the boys - ‘Scooper’ [Cooper Lord], ‘Whitey’, ‘HOF’… I can’t name all of them! I love playing with them, it’s a great experience.
“Being out there pre-game with ‘Whitey’, having a kick around thinking how good is this. Being in here every day - win, loss or draw - and being able to be in this area, in this space at Carlton… it’s unbelievable.”
Moir has been made to earn his chance, spending an extended period with the Carlton Reserves before playing the last three full games… but in Moir’s mind, it was exactly what he needed to impact at the level.
After his first three appearances at senior level were as sub, it was the body of work he was producing in the VFL - his best month of footy since arriving at IKON Park - which game him the platform.
“Obviously everybody wants to be playing senior footy, but I’ve put in a lot of work with the Carlton Reserves with Luke Power, Brad Ebert, Torin Baker. To be able to get some reward on the weekend, it feels that much better knowing you’ve put in that hard work behind the scenes.
“I’ve been working with them to be able to get into this position - but this is just the baseline, we keep moving up from here.”
