Sons of Guns

When the AFL's father-son rule was introduced in the 1940s, it gave emerging players the chance to live out the ultimate lifelong dream: to play for the same beloved club as their fathers. This is about as sentimental as football gets. Today some of the AFL's finest players are the sons of guns - legends like Mitchell, Ablett, Watson, Shaw, Fletcher, Kennedy, Hawkins, to name just a few - and many of them have given frank and candid interviews for this book. Sons of Guns takes us inside a number of these famous footballing families - the successes, failures and incidents that have never before been made public. The fathers confide doubts about whether their sons would ever make it, and the incredible pride when they did, while the sons describe overcoming the burden of their surname to forge their own identity. This is an insightful and hugely inspiring book about generations of men in the same family who shared the dedication, courage, toughness and desire it takes to succeed at the ultimate level. 'These true stories from and about footballing dynasties are a delight. The Australian

Matt Watson is a former ABC journalist in Brisbane and regional Queensland. He has covered politics, community events, breaking news and environmental stories since 2005. He is currently a corporate communications specialist with the Queensland Government. Matt fell in love with North Melbourne in 1977 when he first pulled on a football jumper at the Oak Park Football Club in Victoria. He's been fascinated by football and its history ever since, and has turned his love of sport into a passion. He has been writing about AFL football, cricket and boxing for decades for ABC Online, the Footy Almanac and in his blog The Ramble. He is the author of Fabulous Phil Carman: the Phil Carman Story, published by Brolga Press in 2017.