The prankster of Princes Park: Why Carlton can’t get enough of Harry Dean

Ask anyone at Carlton about Harry Dean, and they’ll all agree that the young defender is ridiculously talented.They also concede, politely, that he is a tad weird. Like, tinfoil-your-teammate’s-bedroom, night-time-zoomies weird.It’s a contradiction to the mature defender that people see on the field, despite the fact it’s Dean’s debut season, and he is just 18. Harry Dean and the Blues will face Geelong in an elimination final on Friday night.Justin McManus “Most people don’t see me off the field,” Dean said. “On the field, I’m pretty serious and straightforward. But off the field, I like to have fun and have a bit of a laugh.”“I’m a bit different, but it’s just me. I like to have a bit of fun and have a smile.”His teammate in the back line, Jacob Weitering, describes Dean as “one of the stranger teammates you’ll come across”.Dean is the purveyor of pranks in a house he shares with teammates Flynn Young, Billy Wilson and Talor Byrne.Dean tried to cover Young’s bedroom in tinfoil the other weekend – a gag he admits Young, who woke up mid-nap, didn’t find particularly funny.He says he and Byrne get “the 9pm zoomies” every night and race around the house.“Yeah, I don’t know how we do it,” he said. “Every time I check the time, it’s always around nine. So I don’t know what it is, we get a bit excited. We run around the house and get a bit fiery at each other.” Dean is beloved by Blues fans already; they roar whenever he comes close to the boundary line, regardless of whether he has the Sherrin, and lap up his celebrations whenever he gets a spoil. The noise when Dean kicked his first AFL goal, against the Brisbane Lions, was deafening.But before he was even drafted, he had a connection to the club. His father, Peter, was a premiership player with Carlton in 1987 and 1995. Coincidentally, that grand final win over Geelong was the last time the two teams met in a final.Peter laughed when asked about his son’s personality.Andrew McKay and Peter Dean after winning the grand final. Getty Images“I was similar when I was growing up, I suppose,” he said. “Just have a bit of fun, don’t sort of follow the norms and follow the leader to a degree. I’ve heard he’s a little bit quirky, and he’s quirky around home at times as well.”Peter recalled a fondness for pranks and gags back in his Carlton days, referencing an incident where his teammates got into trouble for sending a pool company to someone’s house to build a new pool.“Guys have got stories to tell about each other and [that] brings their true personalities out as well. I think teammates respect that.“I keep saying to the guys I’ve coached, the kids I coach, and Harry and his mates – the last thing we say as a group before we used to go out on the ground was make sure we have fun,” he says.“The guys [Carlton] seem to be having fun and working together and playing together and supporting each other ... it’s built up over a number of years, and it’s coming to fruition.”Fun does not describe the start to Carlton’s season. At 1-8, and with coach Michael Voss gone, the idea that the Blues could make a wildcard round, let alone face Geelong in an elimination final, felt more like a feel-good, fever-dream storyline ripped from a Ted Lasso script than reality.But Carlton have done just that, ascending from near the bottom of the ladder to face last year’s grand final contenders in a sold-out clash at the MCG on Friday.Peter, who has plenty of finals experience, said he used to offer his son advice before a game. Now, he prefers to sit back and “let him do his own thing”.His own thing is definitely working.Harry Dean has emerged as a fan-favourite for the Blues. Justin McManus On the field, the 18-year-old has excellent footy IQ, is self-assured on the field, and appears undeterred by the pressure and noise that comes with playing for one of the most revered clubs in AFL.He was runner-up in this year’s Rising Star award (which was won by teammate Jagga Smith) and took home the AFLPA’s award for the best first-year player.Teammate Ben Ainsworth says Dean plays with the maturity of a 150-game veteran, while young midfielder Cooper Lord said he’s never seen Dean nervous.Weitering heralds Dean as a “special kid” and welcomed James Hird’s declaration earlier in the week that Dean would “end up being a better player than Weitering”.“I couldn’t agree more,” Weitering said.Carlton teammates Harry Dean and Jacob Weitering.Justin McManus“I think he’s halfway there already, and that’s only in his first year.”The appreciation is mutual.