Carlton father-son prospect Harry Dean is just weeks away from following the footsteps of his father\u2019s storied career.<\/p>\n
Peter Dean was a stalwart member of Carlton\u2019s success throughout the 80\u2019s and 90\u2019s, winning two premierships in \u201987 and \u201995 as a dashing defender that captured the hearts of Blues fans everywhere.<\/p>\n
Playing 248 times for the club, Dean was inducted into the Carlton Hall of Fame in 1998, and 27 years later, son Harry will carry on The General\u2019s legacy in navy blue.<\/p>\n
With the Blues committed to match any bid that arrives on draft night, Harry Dean – an elite key defender coming through the Murray Bushrangers and Vic Country \u2013 won\u2019t have to wait long before his name is called, shaping as a genuine top 10 prospect in this year\u2019s National Draft.<\/p>\n
A star in the Talent League, Dean grew up idolising the jumper, supporting the Blues throughout his junior years \u2013 albeit a choice beyond his own.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously I was a little bit forced because of Dad, but also Mum supported the Blues,\u201d Dean told SEN Sportsday.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad had a pretty big impact on the club, with so many games and two premierships. Still, just walking through some parts through Melbourne he gets a bit of recognition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has a spark in a way \u2013 to see how important Dad was to the club. It\u2019s come all together and shown that my last name is pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carrying a significant name in Carlton\u2019s storied history, Dean does feel the pressure of living up to the career of his old man, however, remains steadfast in his goal to build his own legacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving Dad\u2019s last name added a bit of pressure especially this year,\u201d Dean admitted.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year to prove myself and hopefully get drafted if I\u2019ve had a good year. Obviously, there\u2019s a bit of pressure, he had a pretty good career and hopefully I start mine soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cDifferent player, different playing style in a way. I\u2019m just trying to build my own identity in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dean\u2019s rise up the draft boards has been highlighted by his readiness for AFL football, with many scouts suggesting that the key defender significantly exceeded the talent of his Coates Talent League opponents.<\/p>\n
With that in mind, Dean has his eyes set on featuring in the navy blue as early as possible in 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve set some pretty hard goals \u2013 talking about trying to play Round 1,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had surgery not long ago, but the body is feeling pretty good. I\u2019ve been told that I was a man playing against boys in the Vic Metro games so that shot my confidence up a bit.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust waiting for the draft, get into the system, hit the pre-season and see how it goes from there. If I\u2019m lucky enough to play Round 1, I\u2019ll play Round 1, but I\u2019ll just be happy to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Growing up within the Carlton bubble, Dean has already put in hours with the Blues\u2019 defensive unit, and with sights set on forming a key partnership with star defender Jacob Weitering.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been watching \u2018Weits\u2019 over my journey, got him hung up in my room!<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, we\u2019re sort of the same player, but he is a giant compared to me. (Harry) O\u2019Farrell had a good year this year, pretty sad that he did his ACL.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d be pretty happy to be within those players, with Nick Haynes, Mitch McGovern, O\u2019Farrell and Weitering.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having now been officially nominated by the Blues for the upcoming National Draft, Dean admits that it wasn\u2019t always a guarantee that he would land at his childhood club, particularly as he dealt with injury struggles across his junior years.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year I was hoping for a good year and broke my shoulder,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u2018I was thinking to myself, \u2018what might happen here\u2019. Talked to the Carlton boys and they were speaking to each other, they said just play the game and see what happens.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were still keen on taking me, and through the year they kept giving me feedback on what was going to happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cTowards the end of the season, we all met up together and they said they\u2019d like to take me. I feel pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dean will officially become a Blue on November 19th, the first round of the National Draft.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carlton father-son prospect Harry Dean is just weeks away from following the footsteps of his father\u2019s storied career.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-268513","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}