RAZOR'S 150TH GAME A CAREER HIGHLIGHT

RAY Bartholomew reaches 150 WAFL games with West Perth this Sunday against East Fremantle in what he rates as his best personal achievement but all his focus remains on trying to experience premiership glory with the Falcons.

Bartholomew made his league debut at West Perth in 2004 before cementing his place in the side the following year and by 2006 he had become the most effective tagger in the game before having the shackles released for him to become one of the most damaging wingmen in the competition.

Over his 149 matches, Bartholomew has been a two-time runner-up in the Breckler Medal and represented Western Australia in 2011 while also booking his name onto the No. 25 locker, but now by reaching 150 games he rates it as the personal highlight of his career to date.

"Obviously our ultimate goal is to try and win a premiership but at this stage of my career getting to 150 games is something that is very huge for me, and something that I will look upon when I finally retire whenever that day may be," Bartholomew said.

"That sits up there definitely as my career highlight and aside from that I would chuck in a couple of runner-up best and fairests and being part of history by playing at the MCG in the Foxtel Cup which is something we may never achieve again.

"I have been trying not to think about it too much, but it is very exciting to become a life member of this footy club and to be part of the history of this great football club.

"I think there has only been 20 or 30 guys who have played over 150 games so to get my name amongst all of their names is something that I'm very proud of. A lot of them are greats of the footy club and even to just be amongst is very humbling and a huge honour."

A calf injury mid-season has meant that Bartholomew gets to the 150-game mark a few weeks later than he expected, but that's turned out quite well in the end with his milestone turning out to be a home clash at Arena Joondalup against East Fremantle.

He is hoping that West Perth's run of outs in milestone matches comes to an end on Sunday though.

"I remember looking at the fixtures at the start of the year and my 150th looked like being down in Mandurah against Peel but then I got injured and it was shaping up as the East Fremantle game being the day, and I thought that would be all right," he said.

"It's nice to be at home and play in front of the home crowd, but most importantly for us and me is for the boys to continue our winning form and get the win first, and then I will think about my 150th after the game.

"We haven’t really done too well with milestone games, we always tend to lose. I was fortunate when myself and Dan Hunt got a win in our 100th games, but we lost Guady's 150th, Slick's 150th, Jase's 200th and for some reason we don’t seem to do well with milestones. I'm hoping we have a bit of luck now on Sunday to change that trend to have a win.

"The milestones that mean a lot to me, though, were for guys like Brendon Fewster, Glenn Britten and the Curley brothers because I was just starting out then and they were champions of the club.

"To be part of your mates' milestones is special, but to there for guys who I only got to play with for a couple of years really means a lot to be part of something that you can never be part of again. They have all since moved on and it's been seven or eight years since they last play so to be part of something special to them means a lot."

Bartholomew first really came to prominence as a WAFL player of note with his tagging jobs on some of the best midfielders in the competition and he has no doubt that the players he learned from helped him developing the attacking side of his game that is now shining out.

"Over the years, I played on some Sandover Medallists and ex-AFL players and a Brownlow Medallist," Bartholomew said.

"Shane Woewodin was one I had the honour of playing on numerous occasions and the same with Ross Young, Jaxon Crabb, Rory O'Brien and then more recently there's been Kane Mitchell who has been promoted up to the AFL.

"They are all different types of players so you get to know how to play on the in-and-under players and the outside running ones, and for myself it keeps me in good stead to become a better player."

It was Todd Curley who first put Bartholomew into the tagging roles when he was coach before Bill Monaghan continued it with him until releasing him out onto the wing in recent seasons.

"Todd Curley had a huge part in that because as a young bloke I was in and out of the league team, but he suggested trying me in a tagging role and I thought I could do it because I believed I could sacrifice my own game for the team, and run with the opposition's best player," he said.

"Then Bill came and I continued playing on the best players and you learn a lot from them because they know where to go to find the footy and how to get the footy. Not to say that tagging is easy, but you are just running with them and trying to stop their influence, and at the same time learn how to read the play more and what spots to get to.

"Then all of a sudden, you are finding the ball yourself and those guys who I've played against have been the best players in the competition and they taught me a lot. I'm obviously not the tagger anymore and young Steve Potente has that job now, but I've always told Bill that I will always put my hand up to do the role again if I have to."

Bartholomew's strongest assets are his pace, running ability, fitness to run all day and terrific kicking skills so that makes the wing the ideal position for him.

"These days I like to sit on my wing and play my role out there though," he said.

"With our big wings here at Joondalup, I enjoy playing out here because it's a big wing and I can just get the ball and run. It's all about your work rate more than anything to be able to get out on the wing and hopefully I can use my skills to hit my teammates up."

Bartholomew made his league debut in 2004 with West Perth the reigning premiers but the Falcons have not won a final since then despite playing in six finals of which he has played in five of them.

However, with experienced players such as himself, Jason Salecic, Dan Hunt, Anthony Tsalikis, Matt Guadagnin, Luke Tedesco, Chris Keunen and Andrew Strijk combined with a strong band of youngsters that has the Falcons in second position with two games to go, Bartholomew rightfully likes West Perth's chances in 2013.

"The group that we have this year, because we have been together for such a young period of time now, we know the ins and outs of each other and how we play," Bartholomew said.

"To have the experience of those guys of having played over 100 games adds value to our group and then you have the young bridge Nelson,  Black, Manning and Rodda who are coming through the ranks who bring that excitement and enthusiasm which gets us older players to bring more enthusiasm.

"It makes it easier when you have these young guys striving to be the best they can so amongst the group there is such a good morale at the moment. We do have a great opportunity to feature in September obviously and hopefully on the last day for us being grand final day."

Bartholomew was still finding his feet in 2003 when he watched on as West Perth won the premiership but he did see his mate Salecic be part of the success and that made him hungry to experience it himself, as has seeing Claremont, South Fremantle and Subiaco all win multiple flags during his career while he is yet to take part in even one finals victory himself.

"When they won in 2003 and you see one of your good mates Jason Salecic be part of it you think that one day you want to be part of that yourself, and experience what he went through," Bartholomew said.

"As he always says to us, it has been 10 years since he won a final let alone a premiership and it is quite hard to win a premiership obviously, but you see Claremont, South Fremantle and Subiaco have success over the last seven or eight years, and you try to work out what we can do to be part of that one day.

"With us having eight or nine guys who have played over 100 games of senior footy that drives us immensely because we know that every year the guys you play with you might not play with ever again.

"We'll again have a few guys who will move on at the end of this year so you want to end their careers with a premiership and be part of it yourself to have a premiership and say that you are a premiership player."

BY CHRIS PIKE