sport news Geelong premiership winner DEFENDS decision to ban skinfolds on juniors as his ... trends now
Former Geelong star Cameron Mooney has defended the AFL's decision to ban skinfolds on juniors as his own son Jagger aspires to follow in his footsteps and play at the top level.
Mooney played 11 games for North Melbourne before enjoying a stellar 210 game career with the Cats, winning three premierships and finishing as Geelong's leading goal scorer in 2007 and 2009.
His son Jagger Mooney is currently playing for junior feeder club Geelong Falcons in the Coates Talent League and hoping to one day be a father-son selection for the Cats.
He has joined the Falcons along with two other sons of club greats, Alfie Wojcinski, the son of former Cats three-time premiership star David and Boston Riccardi, the brother of former Cat Osca Riccardi and son of 288-game Cat Peter.
Those young players will not be subject to skinfolds tests until they are seniors, though, because of the new edict that was sent as a memo to all AFL clubs this week.
'Body Composition assessments (excluding height and weight) will not be conducted in any Talent Pathways programs or on any athletes that are eligible to compete in the Pathways programs,' the memo from Dr Kate Hall and Grant Williams read.
Cam Mooney and his son Jagger and wife Seona Hill. Jagger is a rising Aussie Rules star like his dad but won't have to go through skinfold tests like his famous father did
Mooney said there was more professionalism in the junior pathways ranks today than when he was drafted back in 1996
Mooney is not opposed to the move, but also defended the skinfold test, saying it was a way to ensure every player was at a professional standard, rather than fat-shaming.
'It all depended on how big you were. If your skinfolds were 60, you were in the 'fat club',' Mooney told foxsports.com.au.
'When we were playing, they would like our skinfolds to sit at around that 50 mark. Most players would get well under that. I always sat between 50 and 50, probably closer to 55.
'Now it wasn't officially called the 'fat club', but that was always what it was known as, so you always had to do extra sessions, and rightly so.
You're in a professional environment and if you were not being as professional as 80 to 90 per cent of your teammates, then you had to do the extra work.
'It wasn't so much of a 'name and shame' situation. But (there was the
