Small Talk – Ashton Hams Column Round 3

THE thought of playing for East Perth this year was a big reason why I decided to retire from the AFL. I just love it at the South Fremantle Football Club too much.

I had the best of both worlds last year when I was coming back to play for Souths when I wasn’t at the Eagles which I really enjoyed doing, but this year I would have had to go back to East Perth when I wasn’t in the Eagles team and my heart would not have been in it.

To be honest, I would not have wanted to be out there in an East Perth jumper and I know I would not have enjoyed it. I couldn’t even stomach the thought of doing it to be honest. I have never liked East Perth. Even their supporters at times aren’t the best going around, so it wasn’t a hard decision in the end. Nothing would have made me playing for East Perth feel OK.

Looking at this year, it was in the back of my mind that the Eagles side would be hard to get into and I wasn’t able to play a full year in my four years there. It was always going to be hard to keep my spot so chances were that I might only play 10 or even less AFL games and then spend the rest of the time at East Perth. I couldn’t have done that.

I'm happy, though, with the four years I had in the AFL with the Eagles. It was an amazing experience and it is the best four years of my life so far. I learnt so much while I was there and yes it is intense and hard, but everyone dreams of playing AFL and I was lucky enough to get there, and play a few games. I was rapt to be part of it for four years.

I'm getting old now as well and realistically I probably only have two or three years of top-level football left in me so I wanted to make sure I was enjoying it wherever I was playing. I know I will enjoy it here with the young boys at South Fremantle and even though we haven’t had the best start, hopefully we win a few games and I get to play finals footy again.

We have had a massive turnover in players though. There's only myself, Kris Miller, Craig White and Paul Mugambwa left from our 2009 premiership team so I am trying to be a leader around the club. That has been a real challenge because I have never been a leader in my career before. We do have a very young group and even Cooky is still pretty young for a captain. It doesn’t help starting with three straight losses, but we can only improve from here and I'm sure we will learn a lot out of our last loss to East Perth. We will keep working hard and it will come together for us.

When I first got to West Coast, I found it very challenging adjusting to the full-time life after spending four or five years at Souths juggling footy with work and everything. The biggest adjustment was probably my diet. It was hard at first but it is such a good club with a rich history and there are always people there to help you out. You never felt alone and I would never take those four years back for anything. I just loved it.

Now after four years of being full-time in the AFL, it has been another big challenge getting used to life back in the WAFL. I still think I'm finding my feet trying to get the balance right with footy and work. WAFL footy is far from easy. It's three nights a week at the club, plus a game and it's a lot of hours and hard work. You still have to be fit and you can't play WAFL footy without being fit, you just can't get away it. I think I am slowly finding my feet, but a few wins would certainly help.

I actually think you spend a longer time training in the WAFL. You train for longer because it's not quite as intense. At the Eagles, we'd train for 30 minutes and it was just full on, but here you train for longer and you are on the oval for a lot more time. If you push yourself, it is quite hard and I am just trying to get my old body through.

Work-wise, Hase hooked me up with a job through his brother-in-law at Crommelin (www.crommelin.com.au) where we waterproof ceilings. So I'm doing a bit of sales and rep work there and I'm really enjoying it. It's a good company so if anyone needs any waterproofing or ceiling work, just get in touch. It is good in that I can work my own hours to fit with footy. I start early and finish a bit early so I can get to training so it's working out really well.

Knowing how tough playing WAFL footy is, it's so amazing seeing Kris Miller reach 300 games with his business and family on top of footy. You won't see anyone doing that again. It's just too hard. WAFL is becoming so demanding with your time and on your body. Millsy is just a genius and we are all shattered for him losing in his 300th game. He deserved us to win for him but unfortunately we couldn’t get over the line for him. It's still an incredible effort from him. 

By Ashton Hams