Divided loyalty: Tex faces tough call over future
PORT Adelaide and Essendon might be set for a tug of war next year over the son of exPower and Bombers champion Gavin Wanganeen.
Tex Wanganeen moved to Melbourne from Adelaide in February after receiving an Indigenous scholarship at Xavier College and was part of the Bombers’ 2020 father-son academy induction that month.
The 16-year-old has been in the Power’s equivalent academy since 2018 while also playing SANFL juniors for Sturt and for Prince Alfred College.
Port and Essendon have priority access to him as a father-son selection in 2021, owing to Hall of Famer Gavin playing more than 100 games at both clubs – 173 with the Power, 127 at the Bombers.
It means Tex, who plays mainly as a small forward, will have to choose between his dad’s former teams if they are both interested and he is good enough to be drafted.
Gavin, a Port board member, said Tex had been registered with Essendon’s James Hird Academy since he was six and remained part of the Power’s program. The 1993 Brownlow Medallist and premiership player at both clubs said his son’s move to Melbourne was a “school opportunity only – nothing to do with footy”.
“It was nothing to do with the (Essendon) footy club, he’s actually got some second cousins over there at the school, so it was through that,” Gavin said.
“I always try to encourage Tex to concentrate on his education. There’s no pressure on him whatsoever and it doesn’t bother me if he chooses to do something else.”