AARON BLACK PLAYER COLUMN – ROUND 13

A WEST Perth premiership player will be writing a column for the club's website every week of the 2014 WAFL season. This week's edition is Aaron Black's latest offering.

WHEN I first started playing at West Perth there was a real age gap for me with the senior guys in the team because I started pretty young. Now a few years have gone past, guys who I went to school with like Shane Nelson and Mitch McPhee are around the club, it has made it a lot more exciting and we can have a bit more fun together around the club. Playing with Shane in the league team the past two and-a-half years has been a really enjoyable, especially with what we achieved as a team last year. I think having guys you grew up with, who are good friends makes you really enjoy your time that little bit more and makes being at the club that little bit more special.

At school we had a good group of friends and the three of us chose to then go on with our football here at West Perth. I think that has brought us even closer together as friends as well and obviously that's why we enjoy where we are at the moment.

When I first came into the senior side it was difficult as it is any time you take the step up from junior footy or colts footy. Playing at the junior level you are obviously playing with a group of guys who are similar in age and experience and ability to you. To then be up in the senior group where you have real strong leaders, and strong personalities it is quite daunting when you come in pretty young. But it's something that was a really good experience and definitely helped me develop my game. 

I learnt a lot of important lessons from those senior  guys and when more of the guys around my age like Shane started coming into the senior side, it made being at the club even more enjoyable and has definitely brought our friendship together much closer. We can have fun together at the club and then we can get away and hang out together outside of footy as well.

Shane's first league game was in Round 7, 2012 against Peel here at Joondalup and I had just come back into the team after a couple of weeks out as well, but I had already played 20-odd games by that stage. We both ended up having 13 possessions, we won the game and on a wet, rainy day. That is all I remember from the game. Running out there with a close mate for the first time to play at a high level was something we both definitely enjoyed.

Since then, we've played pretty much every game together at the club, we've won a premiership together, have both played State footy and we've had a lot of good memories. He is obviously a really talented player and we both support each other, push each other and have a laugh together which is what makes our growth together so good. We both know the things we need to work on individually and every now and then we will go out and work on those things together, and we really like enjoying our time even if we are working hard. Staying relaxed and light hearted really makes us enjoy playing together and with everyone at the club.

We are also both obviously very competitive and when you see your mate playing good footy it makes you want to play as well as he is. That pushes you to want to get better and pushes you while you are out on the field to want to have a bigger impact on the game. While being very competitive and all that, seeing any mate play well is very satisfying and as I said makes you want to play well.

We aren’t so much competitive in terms of measuring ourselves against each other with stats or anything like that, but what we both focus on improving and doing our best to help the team win. If I have a good game well and so has Shane then it's even better for us because we both want to play consistent footy. What I will say though, is that I have got him covered in goal kicking at the moment. Not by much but I do. He might have had more shots than me, but I've kicked more goals so I will take that one.

Really, though, we play different roles and positions depending on what Bill and the coaching staff ask of us. I will spend a lot more time out on the wings than Shane will so it's probably a bit hard to compare us when Shane plays mostly inside and I'm on the outside.

The most exciting time in our careers no doubt, is playing in a premiership together last year which was just amazing. Having your best mate there in the grand final with you at 20 was something that I'm sure we will both never forget, and treasure for a very long time. Even to see Shane play an extremely good game and I thought I played well too topped it off to share it with someone I'm so close to.

There are things we would both like to achieve as well and we know where we'd like to get to. The main goal is to get drafted and if not, then we are focused on playing our best football here. We both know what we need to work on which we joke about at times, but at the same time work hard on those things and push each other to get better so we can reach the next level or play extremely good football here.

With Shane working full-time now and me being at uni it sometimes makes it tough to catch up too much outside of footy during the season, but we still try to go out on Saturday nights and if he gets off work early on a Friday we will play FIFA on the PS3 and have a muck around with that. We'll occasionally get a free Boost Juice or stuff like that, but having two completely different lifestyles stops a little bit of that happening.  When we get an opportunity to chill we will do something or hang out with a few of the other footy boys as well. 

Mitch McPhee is another one of our close mates and whenever he is up in the rooms with us on a Thursday night before games we joke around with him saying he will be playing this week. He does work really hard and he really wants to play at this level, and I think when he gets the opportunity he will really take it and run with it. He is very good around goals and sets up a lot of goals as well so I think that when he gets that opportunity he will be very handy for our team. I know he will get that chance to play and I know Shane does too so it’s a very exciting time being able to play all together for West Perth.