AAA<\/p>\n
Ask anyone at Carlton about Harry Dean, and they\u2019ll all agree that the young defender is ridiculously talented.<\/p>\n
They also concede, politely, that he is a tad weird. Like, tinfoil-your-teammate\u2019s-bedroom, night-time-zoomies weird.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a contradiction to the mature defender that people see on the field, despite the fact it\u2019s Dean\u2019s debut season, and he is just 18. <\/p>\n
![\"Harry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/226a196455310fad03c9d3ae3ba91a20a109e378.jpeg\")
Harry Dean and the Blues will face Geelong in an elimination final on Friday night.Justin McManus <\/p>\n
\u201cMost people don\u2019t see me off the field,\u201d Dean said. \u201cOn the field, I\u2019m pretty serious and straightforward. But off the field, I like to have fun and have a bit of a laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a bit different, but it\u2019s just me. I like to have a bit of fun and have a smile.\u201d<\/p>\n
His teammate in the back line, Jacob Weitering, describes Dean as \u201cone of the stranger teammates you\u2019ll come across\u201d.<\/p>\n
Dean is the purveyor of pranks in a house he shares with teammates Flynn Young, Billy Wilson and Talor Byrne.<\/p>\n
Dean tried to cover Young\u2019s bedroom in tinfoil the other weekend \u2013 a gag he admits Young, who woke up mid-nap, didn\u2019t find particularly funny.<\/p>\n
He says he and Byrne get \u201cthe 9pm zoomies\u201d every night and race around the house.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I don\u2019t know how we do it,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery time I check the time, it\u2019s always around nine. So I don\u2019t know what it is, we get a bit excited. We run around the house and get a bit fiery at each other.\u201d <\/p>\n
Dean is beloved by Blues fans already; they roar whenever he comes close to the boundary line, regardless of whether he has the Sherrin, and lap up his celebrations whenever he gets a spoil. The noise when Dean kicked his first AFL goal, against the Brisbane Lions, was deafening.<\/p>\n
But before he was even drafted, he had a connection to the club. His father, Peter, was a premiership player with Carlton in 1987 and 1995. Coincidentally, that grand final win over Geelong was the last time the two teams met in a final.<\/p>\n
Peter laughed when asked about his son\u2019s personality.<\/p>\n
![\"Andrew](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/962991ea41acaa5710c74284a3450af664195d7c.jpeg\")
Andrew McKay and Peter Dean after winning the grand final. Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cI was similar when I was growing up, I suppose,\u201d he said. \u201cJust have a bit of fun, don\u2019t sort of follow the norms and follow the leader to a degree. I\u2019ve heard he\u2019s a little bit quirky, and he\u2019s quirky around home at times as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Editor’s pick Peter recalled a fondness for pranks and gags back in his Carlton days, referencing an incident where his teammates got into trouble for sending a pool company to someone\u2019s house to build a new pool.<\/p>\n \u201cGuys have got stories to tell about each other and [that] brings their true personalities out as well. I think teammates respect that.<\/p>\n \u201cI keep saying to the guys I\u2019ve coached, the kids I coach, and Harry and his mates \u2013 the last thing we say as a group before we used to go out on the ground was make sure we have fun,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cThe guys [Carlton] seem to be having fun and working together and playing together and supporting each other … it\u2019s built up over a number of years, and it\u2019s coming to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n Fun does not describe the start to Carlton\u2019s season. At 1-8, and with coach Michael Voss gone<\/a>, the idea that the Blues could make a wildcard round, let alone face Geelong in an elimination final, felt more like a feel-good, fever-dream storyline ripped from a Ted Lasso script than reality.<\/p>\n But Carlton have done just that, ascending from near the bottom of the ladder to face last year\u2019s grand final contenders in a sold-out clash at the MCG on Friday.<\/p>\n Peter, who has plenty of finals experience, said he used to offer his son advice before a game. Now, he prefers to sit back and \u201clet him do his own thing\u201d.<\/p>\n His own thing is definitely working.<\/p>\n On the field, the 18-year-old has excellent footy IQ, is self-assured on the field, and appears undeterred by the pressure and noise that comes with playing for one of the most revered clubs in AFL.<\/p>\n He was runner-up in this year\u2019s Rising Star award (which was won by teammate Jagga Smith) and took home the AFLPA\u2019s award for the best first-year player.<\/p>\n Teammate Ben Ainsworth says Dean plays with the maturity of a 150-game veteran, while young midfielder Cooper Lord said he\u2019s never seen Dean nervous.<\/p>\n Weitering heralds Dean as a \u201cspecial kid\u201d and welcomed James Hird\u2019s declaration earlier in the week that Dean would \u201cend up being a better player than Weitering\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t agree more,\u201d Weitering said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s halfway there already, and that\u2019s only in his first year.\u201d<\/p>\n The appreciation is mutual.<\/p>\n \u201cI still find it a bit funny that some blokes have kids and I just got drafted,\u201d Dean joked.<\/p>\n \u201c[It\u2019s] a bit of an age gap, but yeah, we\u2019re totally different people. But it just seems to work in the field and at the club, and I don\u2019t think he\u2019d [Weitering] want to hang out with me outside.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cBut he\u2019s been really good for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Get around our AFL finals coverage<\/p>\n![\"Day](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/d1dcc7aab5e8fb5fdc222b29b95d0d1e6e59a92c.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Harry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/d4bbff43971fdc78e85408f1128a7b455ecf804e.jpeg\")
Harry Dean has emerged as a fan-favourite for the Blues. Justin McManus <\/p>\n![\"Carlton](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6d75d42a6c8293233541b17cfe1e25412bddae4d.jpeg\")
Carlton teammates Harry Dean and Jacob Weitering.Justin McManus<\/p>\n![\"Carlton\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/21451fa7e7cdee3f22fb9825d97ce9676b96883213bd0e4c212e64348d7c6e01.gif\")
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