When Jim Buckley was 22, the age his son, Dylan, is now, he'd won three Carlton premierships and a best-and-fairest award. Of course, he started younger, at just 16, and by his own self-effacing account was surrounded by exceptional footballers, including seven of the Blues' team-of-the-century. "We had great players on every line," he said. They also had lines!

Dylan describes his father as a humble man who never talks about his own exploits. "I probably only realised the last couple of years what an impact he had," he said. "He'd be one of those marquee players now. If I could be half the player he was, I'd be pretty happy."

These are more pinched times, for Carlton and in football generally. Jim was at the heart of two cohorts, a swarming "mosquito fleet" - Sheldon, Marcou, Harmes, Ashman, Johnson etc - that had a reunion in South Melbourne on Thursday, and a group that would now be called a "rat pack".

"You've got to be able to have some fun," said Jim. "All the good sides did. Hawthorn, Essendon, Geelong ... they all had a bit of fun. They're very restricted now. They're on 24-7." Dylan said he'd heard all the stories. "Part of me wishes we'd got to play back then, because it seems like they did have a good time," he said. "But it's a different game now, very professional. We enjoy ourselves by winning. John Barker says that." This year, as if anyone needs reminding, they've won once. "That was fun!" said Dylan.

Jim added this sobering footnote: "They've been playing on fear the last month, I believe." That is just not a grumpy old boy's carping: Jim is still vitally involved in the club through Spirit of Carlton, trying to keep memories of the good times alive in the Carlton populace so that they may one day be revived.

Dylan embodies this. By face, he is fresh - it is hard to imagine fresher - but by name identifiably indomitable old Carlton. He cannot help but be aware. "It really puts a smile on the fans' faces when they can see that link," he said, "and I want to make that link even stronger by bringing this team success."

There is more to the Buckleys than footballing father-and-son. Dylan's sister, Jessica, two years his senior, was a dancer with the Australian Ballet, also for a year with the Bavarian State Ballet in Munich. "That's harder than footy," said Jim. "Boxing's probably the hardest, then ballet. More discipline than footy." Dylan acknowledges it. "They probably train harder than us, do long hours and don't get any money for it," he said. Jessica is now semi-retired and working towards a PR degree.

The family glue, said Dylan, was his mother, Deb. "People often ask about Dad, but but mum's been a massive influence - on all of us, including Dad," he said. "You wouldn't believe the strength of my mum." You might also find it hard to imagine the ceaseless schedule she must have kept to oblige two high-achieving teenagers, and the stress she withstands still. "She loves coming to the games, but she refuses to watch me play," Dylan said. "She can't watch. She doesn't sit with anyone, she just walks around the aisles." For a birthday, Dylan brought her a GPS watch. "She did 10,000 steps one game," he said. Her sport, incidentally, was indoor cricket.

Jim meddles minimally in his son's footy. He will make a point if there is one to be made, but not 15. "There's 20 coaches down there," he said. "When we played, it was one or two." But he does hammer one theme. "Winning the ball's the thing," he said. "When you win the ball, you control the game." Interviewed separately, Dylan repeats the win-ball mantra, word for word. "That's one thing that doesn't change in footy," he said. "That sticks in my mind. You can add all the frills in modern footy, but when it comes back to it, it's the same game."

They are father-and-son, but not clones. Jim once told of how he left school at the first opportunity, in Year 11, handing his books to someone who would make better use of them. Dylan enjoyed school at Ivanhoe Grammar so much that he still returns regularly to help out. Meantime, he is studying for a bachelor of applied science, with a view to PE teaching. Likewise in football, Dylan is walking in Jim's footsteps, but not his shoes - or guernsey. "He could have taken 16 (Jim's number). He didn't need it," Jim said. "Ratts (Brett Ratten) gave him the No.7 (Ratten's own number). He was a great players himself. It's a great number at the club."

Dylan's progress has been fitful. Four years in, he has played just 15 games, for four measly wins. Injuries to both shoulders, ankle surgery, a broken wrist and snapped tendon in his hand haven't helped. Jim describes him - affectionately - as a 22-year-old in a 19-year-old's body. In an era of burly midfielders, it makes for a challenge. Dylan makes an incontrovertible point. "I've had this body my whole life," he said. "It's not like I've been massive, and learned to play that way, and lost weight.

"I do a lot of weights and I eat amazing amounts of food, but my metabolism is really fast. I spoke to Dad, and he said he was pretty skinny until he was 21 or 22. I'm waiting to put on a bit of size. But it's pretty hard to do in season." Rather than play body-on-body, he manoeuvres to beat his opponents by evasion and pace.

It was Mick Malthouse who decided to try him in the backline when he was floundering a bit last year. "Mick gave me a great opportunity," Dylan said. "Without that, I probably wouldn't be playing now." Instead, it is Malthouse who is no longer at the club, an upheaval surely? "From the outside, it probably seems like that," Dylan said. "But John Barker was an assistant coach, so he had a fair bit to do with the team already. Disappointing as it was to see Mick leave the club, it's been a pretty seamless transition."

Still, victory remains elusive. "We feel we're a better team than - what is it? - 1-7?" Dylan said. "It's disappointing, because we had such a good pre-season. But we've just got to stick fat and turn it around in the second half of the season." Two weeks ago, Jim saw a glimpse. "I thought they were going to beat Adelaide," he said.

For moral reassurance, Dylan has his father, of course, and Kade Simpson, his mentor at the club, and Heath Scotland, a previous mentor with whom he is still in touch. "And I've got a lot of good mates outside footy," he said. "They're my schoolmates. They wouldn't be able to name an AFL player. They help me. So does my girlfriend. I just like to hang out with her and my dog."