The Mosquito Fleet, by Lachlan Waterman, leads us through Carlton Football Club golden years, from Alex Jesaulenko “Jezza”’s strenuous training to the rivalry with Collingwood to their victories and defeats. We are introduced to every member of the team, from the players to the coaches to the rivals and brought into the world of Australian football. Many obstacles are on the way to the win and many advantages are waiting for the team as they train, fight, party and play unforgettable games. All events are precisely recorded with their own date and often characters’ quotes mark the narration pace.

Waterman writes in a surprisingly engaging way and makes the reader part of Carlton’s team. He focuses on small details concerning the characters’ lives making the story heart-warming and intriguing, so as we can feel what both the players and their rivals felt at a given moment.

As a reader keen on details, I appreciated the vivid descriptions accompanied by shreds of interviews and the much-detailed games. Reading those parts felt like watching the game first-hand and adds a sense of reality to the book. In addition to that, focusing on the players life after their career plays an important role in this book as it shows what not being in the spotlight anymore might feel like and what it might lead to.

While I thought the book was an engrossing read, I think the pace of the book was a bit slow at times, long descriptions slow down the book’s rhythm, but the pace quickly picks up again afterwards.

Another interesting aspect of the book is the fact that it takes us through the golden era of the team, but also gives us details on what concerns the players’ lives at the end of their career and during the contemporary pandemic. In the afterword by the author, we go “behind the scenes” of the book and are given interviews and words exchanged between the author and the protagonists.

The Mosquito Fleet by Lachlan Waterman, with its rich and detailed descriptions and extracts from interviews, is an exceptional book that lets the reader explore Australian Football at its finest. I would recommend this riveting book to sport lovers, football lovers and non-fiction readers in general.

Pages: 195