Clay Hall: Harvey Brunswick Leschenault son-of-a-gun to play in the 2022 AFL Futures match at the grand final

One of Harvey’s highest touted footballing products is set to grace the MCG on AFL grand final day as part of the annual under-17 curtain raiser match before the big dance. Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault product Clay Hall, the son of former Geelong and West Coast forward Derek Hall, was one of 48 players announced to play in the 2022 NAB AFL Futures match before the AFL grand final on September 24. The 17-year-old was one of just eight WA footballers named in the squad which the AFL said was made up of next year’s top draft prospects. Hall’s selection sees him follow in the footsteps of 2021 draftees West Coast’s Brady Hough, Fremantle’s Jye Amiss and Brisbane’s James Tunstill who played in last year’s modified AFL U19 Challenge match between Western Australia and South Australia before the 2021 AFL Grand Final at Optus Stadium. The former Lion earned his selection after he made his WA State Under-18 football debut in the National Championships earlier this year — where he played the last game of the tournament against Victoria Country in Geelong. Hall has averaged just shy of 20 disposals for the Peel Thunder colts this year and is ineligible for the upcoming draft due to his age. The hard-running midfielder told the South Western Times in August he found he was putting a lot of pressure on himself earlier in the year and had realised he plays better with a clear head. “At the start of the season, it got to me a fair bit because I thought as a bottom-ager I had to perform in every game,” he said. “I was putting a lot of pressure on myself for no real reason, so I sat down and had a chat with my coach about it and a chat with my dad about it a few times, and they just told me to chill out a little bit. “It is my bottom-age year, which means there is no pressure at all, and since then I have gone out there and done what I normally do and have been really enjoying my footy ever since I took a bit of pressure off myself.” Clay’s father Derek Hall played 76 games between West Coast and Geelong, but the young footballer said the pressure to follow in his father’s footsteps was outside noise and never came from his dad. “It is more stuff you see online or in the newspaper,” he said. “Dad puts no pressure at all on me, he is just there for support. If there is a couple of things he has to say, he will say it. “Obviously he is going to get a mention because he did pretty well in his footy career, but at the same time, it is a bit annoying because nothing I am doing at the moment my dad is doing for me.”