Nathan Freeman will run out for his AFL debut on Saturday night, but he won’t be the only one to realise his dreams.
Max Houlahan, a 10-year-old Saints fanatic from Bagshot, north of Bendigo, will lead the team out as their mascot thanks to AVJennings who wanted to give the opportunity they have as part of their partnership with the Club to a fan who would really enjoy the experience.
Max has had a tougher start to life than most other 10-year-olds.
His mother, Joanne, described Max’s unique situation, detailing the various difficulties he’s already had to overcome.
“He doesn’t really have a diagnosis. Whatever Max has, nobody else in Australia has,” she explained.
Max’s health complications range from macrocephaly (an enlargement of the head) to global developmental delay, speech apnoea, eye problems and mild cerebral palsy.
“He also has hypotonia, which is really low and poor muscle tone, so running and jumping and things like that are quite difficult,” Joanne said.
“He didn’t actually walk until he was four. He used a special walking frame, and I think eventually the motivation from watching his two older brothers walk around inspired him, so one day he just threw the frame away and started walking.
“Yeah, that was quite surreal at the time, because we weren’t sure if he was ever going to walk.”
You can hear the brimming pride in Joanne’s voice when she speaks about the youngest of her four children, and she laughs as she describes Max’s inimitable passion for his beloved Saints.
“The Saints are Max’s life,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Come a Thursday evening, Max grabs my phone to watch the team selection, and then he gets his coach’s board and adjusts it to where the players are playing.”
Max is a third generation Saints fan, the most recent addition in a line of St Kilda supporters stemming from his maternal grandfather, and his love of the red, white and black runs deep.
PLAY: AVJennings Spot The Ball
“Max is just very passionate,” Joanne said.
“My father has barracked for the Saints all his life, so if we’re not at the game, he’ll go to his Grandad’s to watch the footy with him.
“He’s very vocal, so if it’s an interstate game, Max will get up and give a bit of a half-time spiel about what he thinks should be going on, and who should be playing where.”
When Joanne received a call on Friday morning from the St Kilda Football Club asking if Max would like to be this weekend’s mascot, she couldn’t wait until Max arrived home from school to tell him, so she drove to tell him immediately.
“They were walking out of the classroom, and the teacher looked at me a funny as if to say, ‘what are you here for?’,” she said.
“Max, I’ve got some exciting news to tell you.”
“What’s that, Mum?”
“Well, the Saints just called me and asked if you would like to run out with the team and run through the banner!”
With that, Max took a step back and leant into a post, completely and utterly overwhelmed by what he’d just been told, sporting a big, beaming smile.
“We have this thing where we say, ‘You need to make good choices, or there’ll be consequences, Max’,” Joanna explained.
“He just walked off and looked at me and the
Max will lead the Saints out in the 19th Barker/Whitten Challenge Plate on Saturday night with his family watching on.
