The day earlier than his dad formally turns into an Essendon legend, Tex Wanganeen has additionally signed with the Bombers.
The 18-year-old son of Essendon and Port Adelaide nice Gavin Wanganeen joined fellow newcomer Nick Martin in producing eye-catching performances throughout Wednesday’s opening AFL observe match win over the Western Bulldogs.
Watch the superior moment Tex tells dad Gavin of his new AFL contract
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Instantly after the six-point win at Essendon’s Tullamarine headquarters, Wanganeen and Martin had been added to the enjoying record as rookies by way of the pre-season supplemental choice interval.
Wanganeen has been within the membership’s James Hird Academy junior improvement program, whereas Martin joined the Bombers within the low season from WA membership Subiaco.
Gavin Wanganeen received the 1993 Brownlow Medal and some days later was a key member of Essendon’s premiership staff that season.
He performed 127 video games for the Bombers earlier than becoming a member of Port Adelaide in 1997 as their inaugural AFL captain.
The five-time All Australian can be elevated to legend standing at Essendon’s Corridor Of Fame perform on Thursday night time.
Gavin was readily available at Wednesday’s sport, giving Tex the possibility to ship the excellent news of his contract in individual.
“Congrats! Proud of you,” Gavin stated, instantly hugging his son.
The pair shared one other embrace as dad praised Tex’s efforts within the scratch match.
“Proud of you, mate. So proud of where you’ve come from,” Gavin stated.
“Come a long way. You’ve come the hard way – well, not that hard, but you’re hungry.
“Believe in yourself. I told you if you were hungry, you get whatever you want in this game and you’ve got the talent. Remember that.”
Essendon assistant coach Daniel Giansiracusa stated the choice to signal the duo was not made till after the sport, the place Wanganeen kicked two targets, together with an excellent effort on the run within the final time period.
“It happened pretty quickly after the game, but they showed a bit in the second half,” he stated.
“They’ve been working really well over the pre-season.
“We wanted to get a look at them again … (against) the team who was in the grand final last year, just to see how they ply their trade and they did really well.”
The signings of Wanganeen, specifically, and Martin added to the buoyant temper at Essendon after the 12.9 (81) to 11.9 (75) win.
Whereas the stakes had been far decrease than the final time the perimeters performed – the Bulldogs clobbered Essendon of their elimination last – it was precisely the type of pre-season efficiency the Bombers wished.
Second-year gamers Archie Perkins and Nik Cox additionally impressed, whereas Jordan Ridley and Andrew McGrath starred for Essendon and Will Snelling kicked three targets.
“We got shown up (in the second half) by a team that’s physically really strong and they’ve been going about their business for a while now,” Giansiracusa stated of the 49-point belting from the Bulldogs final August.
“So it was good to match up towards them once more.
“One of the best factor is, we get a hitout towards a extremely high quality opponent and hopefully that units us up rather well for the first half of the season.
The recent situations had been far faraway from the freezing situations at Launceston for final 12 months’s last, when the Bulldogs prolonged Essendon’s finals drought that dates again to 2004.
The Bulldogs went on to undergo their very own heavy grand-final loss to Melbourne.
The Bulldogs rested gamers comparable to captain Marcus Bontempelli and Caleb Daniel for the second half as in addition they made a strong begin to the pre-season.
Jason Johannisen kicked three targets, Aaron Naughton marked strongly and kicked two, whereas onballer Jack McRae was prolific and draftee Arthur Jones had an encouraging hitout.
However 2020 No.1 draft decide Jamarra Ugle-Hagan was quiet as his AFL improvement continues.
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