EFL: Former Carlton teammates Brock McLean and Simon White hoping to lift Doncaster East to Division 2 flag
THEY played alongside each other at Carlton, now Brock McLean and Simon White are hoping to lift Doncaster East to a historic Eastern Football League premiership.
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THEY’RE the close friends from Carlton who could lift Doncaster East to a historic Eastern Football League premiership.
Work colleagues and former Blues teammates Brock McLean and Simon White have helped put the Lions back in the premiership frame after two grand final losses in the past three years.
The pair hit it off when they arrived at Carlton in 2009 and have remained close since McLean was delisted from Carlton at the end of 2014, now reunited at Zerbes Reserve to help the Lions in pursuit of just their third premiership in their 51-year history.
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The two work together in corporate finance and have a kick alongside each other of a weekend, helping Doncaster East to a 7-2 start to the season.
McLean was the Lions’ big-name recruit at the start of 2017 and is now an assistant coach, while White joined in the off-season after being delisted from the Blues at the end of last year.
Helping White make his decision on where to play in 2018 was that Leigh Murphy, the brother of Carlton captain Marc, had been a long time player at Doncaster East.
“I know a few of the guys down there, they are all pretty good guys and I was just looking to play footy to have some fun,” White said.
“I always take footy seriously but I just wanted to find a bit of love for the game again and just have a little bit of fun again and run around and try impart some knowledge onto the younger guys.”
McLean was immediately in White’s ear about joining the Lions when the curtain was drawn on his 87-game career at the elite level.
“There are a lot of clubs that go over the top and Donny East weren’t them, they made their intentions clear that we would like to have you but we’ll let you make your own decision,” White said.
“There was certain clubs that called me a couple of times a day at some stages.
“It was the last thing I wanted to worry about and having deadlines on you to make a decision on footy was something I didn’t take too comfortably.
“It was hard to make that decision but at the end of the day it was all about where I was going to have the most fun and suit the lifestyle I wanted to live.”
McLean returned to junior club Aberfeldie after a 157-game career with Melbourne and Carlton, helping the Gorillas to a drought breaking Essendon District Premier division flag in 2015.
He did not consider playing football after the 2016 EDFL decider when he tore his pectoral tendon off the bone.
But an approach from Doncaster East stalwart Peter Sowersby with some business networking opportunities was too good an offer to turn down.
McLean said the expectations on the Lions after last year’s 16-point grand final loss to Knox were similar to the pressure on Aberfeldie to deliver a long-awaited premiership.
“The disappointment of last year doesn’t sit well with all the players that played in that grand final,” McLean said.
“I’ve had that experience of high expectations of a club and I guess that’s probably where Doncaster East is at this year considering last year in the grand final just falling short.
“The way we have been playing, bar the first three quarters of Round 1, would suggest that we’ll go pretty close this year.
“There is also a bit more of a belief this year that we deserve our spot up among the top two or three sides and we’re really starting to play like that.”
White said he had been surprised by the amount of support around the club as the Lions push to climb the EFL divisions.
“Seeing that support, they are pretty well entrenched in wanting to win and wanting to be successful,” he said.
“There are a lot of people who have been around the club for a lot longer than I can even imagine and have played there and played there juniors there.
“That’s what footy clubs are all about so I have enjoyed being back in that environment.”
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