‘Most fun I’ve had doing anything’: Geraldton’s Jack Carroll loved every minute of his AFL debut with Carlton

Geraldton young gun Jack Carroll has described his impressive AFL debut for Carlton last week as “the most fun I’ve had doing anything”. The 19-year-old loved the big stage and his solid first game performance — which saw him collect 19 disposals and boot a goal with his very first kick — is expected to be enough to keep him in the side when Carlton face Adelaide on Sunday. When he was drafted in 2020 at 17, Carroll was the youngest player in the competition. Eighteen months and two preseasons later, Carroll’s family and friends rushed to be among the 40,000-strong crowd at Marvel Stadium to witness his first game. Before then, the biggest crowd the former Chapman Valley player had played in front of was 2000 at a GNFL grand final. His joy and his teammates’ excitement were obvious to see when Carroll kicked his first goal. “Everyone got around me — it was awesome,” he said. “It was so good to get my parents over. Mum and Dad were stoked because they got to finish work early for the day. “They headed straight for Perth and flew over. A few of my mates did as well: my mate’s dad didn’t get into Melbourne until 5.30am (on Saturday morning) It was so good to see everyone.” Carroll said Carlton skipper and fellow Mid West product Patrick Cripps and Carlton coach Michael Voss had been instrumental in his development. He said he had shared a moment with both mentors after his first hit-out. “They just said they were really proud of me,” he said. “It’s been a body of work to get to this point and ‘Crippa’ is someone I look up to a lot. He’s helped my so much to get to this point. “The same with ‘Vossy’. He’s the senior coach and through the last few weeks and over the whole preseason, he’s helped me so much.”