Like father, like son: HBL home of the Halls

Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault Football Club may be harbouring a future star who looks to be following in the footsteps of his father. Clay Hall led the way in last month’s 8km aerial run. It’s a pre-season tradition that sees players trek to the peak of the Talbot family’s hill in Brunswick. The 15-year-old left the senior players in the dust, finishing in just 32 minutes. He is the son of former West Coast and Geelong player Derek Hall, but looks set to be making his own name on the field. The young midfielder said his father told him to “not take things too seriously”. Hall said he was proud of his son’s work ethic. “What I did happened a long time ago, so what I did is pretty irrelevant,” Hall said. “He enjoys his footy and he works hard, so hopefully he can have a good year. “The highest level he has played at the moment is Year 10, so this will be his first year in colts.” Clay said his goal was to be playing at the “highest level” possible. He even had his sights set on making his debut for the league team. “It’s a good list, so I know it will be tough to break in,” Clay said. While Clay was crowned King of the Hill, Julie Hogan took out Queen of the Hill. Hogan is the league water runner for the men’s team and spends most of the game sprinting. “My husband is the team manager and he struggled to get water carriers so he asked me to run,” Hogan said. “It’s just me out there, so I’m always running.” She is also involved in the Bunbury Runners Club and runs about 50km a week. Hogan finished ahead of the youthful HBL women, but said she would stick to running water and probably wouldn’t be slipping into a player’s guernsey anytime soon. Mark Talbot holds the run on his family’s property and said the tradition was to test the players ahead of pre-season. “The origins date back into the mid 70s when one of the footy coaches decided to send the players up the hill for a run to see where they all stood and the tradition began,” Talbot said. Talbot said it faded out for a number of years before returning in 2012. HBL president Craig Carbone said he was excited about Clay’s future. “I think young Hally will have a very big future ahead of him and I don’t think we’ll have him here for very long,” Carbone said.