Harry Rogers impresses on debut alongside dad, Clayton, for Airport West

An Airport West young gun outshone his legendary father on debut while two Eagles favourites celebrated their own major milestones. Go inside the thrilling day.

Clayton Rogers has seen and experienced plenty on the footy field.

Seeing his son, Harry, swing a game in his senior debut for Airport West is probably right after there on Saturday.

The emerging tall thrived in a dazzling second half display as the Eagles kicked away to run out 20.15 (135) to 13.13 (91) winners at Hansen Reserve.

Originally selected to play as a backup ruckman, Harry found himself more involved in the contest after the main break, where the home side led by just one point.

Airport West coach Trent Rogers, who has no relation to the pair, said the youngster was one of several who responded to a “few colourful words” at halftime.

“We just wanted him to compete, being young we knew he was going to bring energy,” he said.

“Harry had a massive impact for us, he helped to create a lot of metreage and momentum going forward. Against the bigger bodies, we was able to jump over them.

“We sent “BJ” (Brandon Raad) forward in the second half with that in mind.

“It’s pretty special for the family to have this moment. Fathers and sons usually play together in the reserves but in EDFL Premier Division is something I haven’t heard of.

“Clayton is still playing a big role for us every week and Harry showed us he has a lot to offer going forward.

“You can tell at his young age he likes spending some time in the gym and that only holds him in good stead.”

It was a day full of celebration for the Eagles as junior graduates Luca Muratore and Ned Gentile played their 200th games.

Muratore was at the centre of everything with five goals while Gentile snagged two and was named among the best.

“It’s only Luca’s third year of senior footy and when I took over in 2021, he could have still been playing in the under-18s,” Rogers said.

“He spent some time on the weekend as well against Cam McLeod who can be an extremely damaging player. He’s very hard to play against because he has long arms and takes the ball at the highest point.

“It’s going to be exciting watching him continue to grow in the coming years.”

Saturday’s third term was one of the most exciting you are likely to see anywhere this year.

Airport West booted 11 goals to five to break the game open.

“It was incredible, an amazing 36 minutes,” Rogers said.

“If you were a neutral it would have been great to watch, even being the coach it was quite enjoyable.”

Airport West now sits at 4-10, three games clear of last place.