Red and WHITE – Craig White Column Round 2

I HAVE done some sums and out of my 158 games, I've played 122 so far with Millsy and there's only been one game at South Fremantle since 2007 aside from when I was away in 2012 that I haven’t played with him.

For me to be at the top of the list of guys he has played with is something we will probably talk about when we get a bit older. He has been someone I have enjoyed playing my footy with and to know that I am the guy he has played with the most over his career is something I'm actually pretty chuffed about.

For the record and by my reckoning, I have played 122 games with Millsy while Andrew McCarrey has played 118, Paul Mugambwa 117, Tim Malseed 115 and Toby McGrath 105 - who just happened to produce this cracking picture of the great man.

It is something we will speak a lot about this week and make a pretty big deal about it. We will need to draw upon as much inspiration as we can to get a win on the board to get the ball rolling. His 300th game comes at a good time so we can put a little bit more emphasis on this game as well. You don’t want to think you can try extra hard for a game, but I don’t think anyone will play 300 games in the WAFL ever again so it's a remarkable occasion to be part of. I'm really looking forward to it.

It is a pretty amazing feat to get to 300 games and it's not something I can even think about. I've been playing since 2004 and apart from that one year I was away, haven’t missed too many games along the way and I'm only up to 158. It just shows the durability and quality of player that he is. He has missed four or five games since his debut in 1999 and it's just an amazing effort, and I can't see it happening ever again.

It's an amazing feat what he is about to accomplish. Not only is he about to play 300 games, but in a couple of weeks he will become the first player to ever play 150 games at two different clubs. The durability and mental strength to keep getting through pre-seasons to do that is just amazing.

When I started my league career in 2004, he was still at East Fremantle and someone we put a lot of time into trying to stop. They had a good midfield brigade there in the mid-2000s.

I can still remember the last derby of 2006, and the last one that both Tim Malseed and Millsy ended up playing for East Fremantle before coming across to South, and they towelled us up ending up with over 50 possessions and five goals between them, so as an opponent we always knew how much quality Millsy had.

But he has been able to play just as good footy at South Fremantle. He has repaid us by winning a few best and fairests, but he definitely gave good service to East Fremantle before that as well.

At that time, we already had big Bourkey with us from the year before and then in 2007 Malseed and Miller joined us from East Fremantle. We kind of had an inkling that people weren’t all that happy at East Fremantle, but from day one when he arrived he has fitted in with the group. It has obviously been beneficial to the club and he's a people's person who fits in quite easily wherever he goes.

Millsy is deceivingly quicker than you think. A lot of people see him as being slow, but he makes himself look a bit quicker whenever the ball is in the vicinity and then his cleanliness with the ball when he has brings other people into the game, which is probably his biggest strength.

He is just such a natural ball-winner and is clean with his hands. Some players might get 10 or 12 touches and not be effective, but he can only have that much of it and still be effective and set up goals. He is still a strong contributor to team and will do that for the rest of this year, and whatever he decides from there then so be it.

In my list of WAFL players I've played with or against, I left him out of my top three last year and Millsy was quick to point that out to me, so I probably have to put him fourth. I think he has been the best in-and-under player I've played with in terms of using his hands and then his ability to go forward and kick a goal as well.

Millsy does love a footy trip and I don’t think he ever missed one so he definitely wears the pants in the family, but he's not the best performer. He does tend to take it a little easy and he might not go as hard as what some of the other boys do. There was even one instance in Queenstown, New Zealand where he was caught throwing shots over his shoulder into the wall.

He definitely has Andrew McCarrey covered though. Macca is one of the worst I've ever seen on a footy trip and to Millsy's credit, he is always up and about on footy trips and is a joy to have a drink with.

Closer to home, after every game he likes to visit his 24-hour deli on the corner of Stock Rd and Leach Hwy there. His favourite food there is the battered chewy so that has been his weekly ritual after games which has seen him get through 299 of them so far.

By Craig White