Australian Football

Vin Waite was a consistently reliable and tough defender who joined Carlton from Latrobe Valley club Morwell and made his senior VFL debut as a seventeen year old in 1966. Over his first three seasons he was in and out of the side but in 1969 he struck a rich vein of form and kept his place all year, culminating in a grand final loss to Richmond.

If Waite had a fault it was that he lacked pace but he compensated for this by good anticipation, safe hands and the ability to kick the ball long out of the backlines. His favoured position was back pocket, which was where he played in the triumphant grand final clash of 1970 against Collingwood. Two years later he was on a half back flank as Carlton won the highest scoring grand final in V/AFL history by 27 points at Richmond’s expense.

When he left the Blues at the conclusion of the 1976 season Vin Waite had played 153 VFL games and booted 33 goals. After relocating to Tasmania he spent time as captain-coach of Latrobe and East Devonport before returning to the Latrobe Valley and finishing his playing career at the helm of Churchill. He retired in 1985 aged thirty-six. His son Jarrad later eked out a fine 244 game AFL career with Carlton and North Melbourne.

Author - John Devaney