Vanders boy

[old demon me!!! 108]

Paul Van Der Haar on open Mike said his son is training with Melbourne/Casey, trained with Essendon but apparently they wern't very interested but Melbourne were, does anyone know anything about him ? i think he said he has had a bad run with injury ( broken leg 4 times) i think he said.

If he is half as good as his old man was could be worth alook and i see he was CHB in the development team on the weekend, anyone know how he went 

Edited April 26, 2016 by old demon me!!!

[MadAsHell 4,088]

Didn't see any of the D-League, but have seen him named each week.

Was it Van Der Haar back in the 80's who tried out for Melbourne but Barassi said was too short or slow and then he went to Essendon and became a very good player. Or am i thinking of someone else?

[old demon me!!! 108]

No you are thinking of someone else Van Der Haar played CHB/CHF took ALOT of speckies in the 70's & 80's ,classic games against Knights from Hawthorn a great mark and lots of skill and guts - premiership player .

[MadAsHell 4,088]

22 minutes ago, old demon me!!! said:

No you are thinking of someone else Van Der Haar played CHB/CHF took ALOT of speckies in the 70's & 80's ,classic games against Knights from Hawthorn a great mark and lots of skill and guts - premiership player .

Right you are.  I was thinking of Alan Ezard

http://demonwiki.org/tiki-index.php?page=Alan%20Ezard

Here's an article on Todd Van Der Haar however.  Spent time in the James Hird academy the poor kid!

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/localfooty/former-essendon-champ-paul-vander-haars-son-joins-casey/news-story/eddaaeb1db7399c8ade0022797497a15

[old demon me!!! 108]

Thanks for that Angry cheers and yea i remember the Ezard thing  

[mo64 5,209]

I actually think it might have been Leon Baker who Barassi flicked for being too small and slow. Ezard also tried out and got flicked.

Interestingly a couple of weeks ago, the names Van Der Haar and Baker were named amongst the best for the Casey Dev team, and my mind immediately sprung back to the Bombers of the early '80s.

Edit. I just checked on Leon Baker. He was in Melbourne's zone and we were keen, but his dad thought he was too skinny. When his dad thought he was ready, he told him to knock on our door, but Baker didn't have the courage. The one that got away.

Edited April 26, 2016 by mo64

[mikeydemon 126]

Went to Primary School with Todd. He suffered a broken leg at aged 5 which seemed to hamper his running style a lot for a long time which meant he lacked a few metres of speed right through juniors. Haven't seen him, or seen him play in a few years but as a junior he took a while to develop. He always played as a tall key forward even though he was around average height. He was a great mark for his size but his lack of pace and endurance meant he couldn't make it as a midfielder and his lack of height meant he couldn't become a key position player which is why he missed out on getting into a TAC cup team. Since then he's developed a lot and now has the height and size to play that second or third key forward/back.

He could come along over the next few years and perhaps have a crack at being a mature aged recruit but IMO doesn't quite have enough traits to make it as an AFL player.