In the game of the father

[BulldogBelle]

Father/Sons....

In the game of the father
The Age
Caroline Wilson | April 28, 2009

TONY Liberatore’s sense of timing seemed to desert him towards the end of his playing days and in a public sense continued to do so once his time at the Whitten Oval was done. As recently as February he made news by turning up to train at his old home with the West Footscray team. But as the most restrictive talent pool in the history of the AFL draft looms, Libba and his 200-club teammate Steven Wallis could not have timed the birth of their sons any better.

Thomas Liberatore and Mitch Wallis are more than potential father-son choices for the club next year. The 16-yearold classmates are regarded as so promising that the club approached the boys and their families in January to take part in a development program which has already seen them take some tentative steps into the world of the AFL. In a move which has been embraced by both boys — not to mention their fathers’ teammate and current captain Brad Johnson — the pair will spend a chunk of every school holiday until their 2010 D-Day looms at the Whitten Oval undergoing a series of medical assessments, core strength work and even match reviews of Bulldogs games with the coaching staff.

Their kicking and handballing skills have already had some video scrutiny and they have been taking part in goal-setting exercises set for the club’s NSW scholarship holders. Liberatore appears to have made his peace with the club but was unwilling to discuss the relationship now, or the prospects of his son, saying he did not want to place any undue pressure on the St Kevins year 11 student who, at 181 centimetres, towers over his 163-centimetre father, who fell out with the Bulldogs administration after he retired.

Both David Smorgon, who has met Liberatore and told him he is now welcome back at the club, and Campbell Rose, who appears to have put Liberatore’s scathing criticism of him firmly into the past, appear cautiously excited at the prospect of this fortuitous cycle of life. Even as recently as the start of the 2008 season Bulldogs’ membership polls suggested the fall-out with Liberatore had put supporters off the club. Still the club has been careful not to make promises it cannot keep.Wallis, who played 261 games for the club which he captained in Mick Malthouse’s last season as the club fought for survival in 1989 — he also represented Victoria three times — has enjoyed a healthier relationship with his old home.

Smorgon recently approached him to join the Bulldogs’ board, an entreaty he turned down due to business commitments. Between them the pair played 584 games for Footscray and no amount of tinkering with the AFL’s most tampered with rule could see their sons go elsewhere should the Bulldogs want them.

Wallis, in the words of most football scouts who have seen him, is a gun. A powerful and speedy wingman, he missed most of the 2008 season with a broken leg and, like Liberatore, is a neat kick.

Thomas Liberatore is an inside midfielder known for his work at stoppages and his tackling ability. A Victorian representative at under-16 level last year he has been told he needs to work on his speed but should the young footballers continue to progress both are more likely than not to be nominated as father-son selections next year.

Recruiting boss Simon Dalrymple, who watched the boys compete in a scratch Vic Metro side in wet conditions at Victoria Park on Sunday while the Bulldogs were struggling in the rarefied conditions at Etihad Stadium, told The Age: “I’ve said to the boys there are no guarantees and that we’ll be looking at the whole talent pool. We don’t want to cross over what they are doing with their own teams and their own coaches but we are in a better position to know a lot more about them and complement their development.

“What we’re doing wouldn’t have been possible at this club five years ago. It’s such a quality facility now and the staff are so well qualified and the fact the talent pool will be so restricted next year makes it even more attractive should this work out.”

Even better timing for the club is the fact that while both boys turn 17 this year, neither’s birthday falls before the April cut-off date for the Gold Coast which has been given the pick of the best 17-year-olds in the competition at the end of 2009. Even the AFL struggled to clarify whether clubs this year could warehouse their 17-year-old father-son prospects should they be eyed by the Gold Coast this year.

St Kilda forced the Bulldogs to take Ayce Cordy, son of Brian, with its first-round draft pick (No. 14) late last year but even if a club nominated Wallis or Liberatore as a first-round pick choice at the end of 2010 the Bulldogs would sacrifice a much lower pick due to the Gold Coast concessions.

Say the club finished fourth, it would be forced to sacrifice only pick No. 22. At the 2010 draft the Gold Coast have not only nine of the first 15 draft choices but take top spot in each subsequent round. Cordy and his less organised pathway to the club — the teenager’s parents and club officials had not enjoyed full and frank communication until relatively late in the piece — is one reason why the club has elected to form the father-son
development program.

Dalrymple laughed at suggestions that the fact of Scott West’s four sons along with potential playing off-spring emanating from Luke Darcy, Chris Grant, Leon Cameron and Brad Johnson also prompted the Bulldogs to take charge of their hopeful lineage. In fact Darcy, who joined the club in 1992, is the last successful father-son pick-up for the club.

Barry Round’s son David managed two games in 1997 and then came Cordy last year. The emergence of Thomas Liberatore and Mitch Wallis has highlighted not only the speed with which the game regenerates itself but also just how far the club has travelled since their fathers were heroes of the west.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Wallis, in the words of most football scouts who have seen him, is a gun. A powerful and speedy wingman, he missed most of the 2008 season with a broken leg and, like Liberatore, is a neat kick.

I think there was just a tiny bit of movement down below when I read this.

[Desipura]

I think there was just a tiny bit of movement down below when I read this.

I would be lying if I did not tell you I had a smile on my face reading this "on the can". I had to read it 3 times just to make sure I had read it correctly.

[Remi Moses]

Best part of the article. hada 1983 moment when seeing that picture of young Mitch Wallis.
Feeling like an old bastard .

[LostDoggy]

Great news.

[Desipura]

Mitch has the same mop of hair Steve had in his playing days.

[GVGjr]

Mitch has the same mop of hair Steve had in his playing days.

I saw both of these boys at training a few years back with these huge mops of hair and just new Mitch was Steve's son.

[Desipura]

I saw both of these boys at training a few years back with these huge mops of hair and just new Mitch was Steve's son.

The famous number 24 is awaiting him.............

[bulldogtragic]

Hopefully they both go father/son and we use picks 20 and 40 to get them.

Good signs. Also Breadon Jones seems to be doing OK, but the level of the league keeps being questioned.

[Sedat]

Hopefully they both go father/son and we use picks 20 and 40 to get them.

Unless they are absolute guns, there's a fair chance that we might not need to use such high picks - IIRC, Jaxson Barham was a 5th round pick for Collingwood because nobody else nominated a draft pick in the bidding system. Same with Adam Donohue from Geelong. So judging by reports (early days it must be said), Mitch Wallis might cost a mid range pick but Tom Liberatore may only require a pick well beyond the 60's.

[bulldogtragic]

Unless they are absolute guns, there's a fair chance that we might not need to use such high picks - IIRC, Jaxson Barham was a 5th round pick for Collingwood because nobody else nominated a draft pick in the bidding system. Same with Adam Donohue from Geelong. So judging by reports (early days it must be said), Mitch Wallis might cost a mid range pick but Tom Liberatore may only require a pick well beyond the 60's.

Even better.

Shame everyone seemed to know that Cordy boy had something special.

[strebla]

Unless they are absolute guns, there's a fair chance that we might not need to use such high picks - IIRC, Jaxson Barham was a 5th round pick for Collingwood because nobody else nominated a draft pick in the bidding system. Same with Adam Donohue from Geelong. So judging by reports (early days it must be said), Mitch Wallis might cost a mid range pick but Tom Liberatore may only require a pick well beyond the 60's.

I think you will find they will both go much higher than that unfortunately. We just have no luck in the father son picks glad to have Cordy but disapointed to see Rance and Reid running around elsewhere

[The Coon Dog]

I think you will find they will both go much higher than that unfortunately.

Why do you think this?

[KT31]

To much publicity for us to pick them up with a late draft pick.
But if they have the goods and we aren't effected by the Gold coast it will be sensational.

[LostDoggy]

Looking forward to the day we see Cordy, Liberatore and Wallis running around together