Small Talk – Ashton Hams Column Round 13

For this week's edition of 'Small Talk' Ashton Hams runs through a list of questions to give his opinions on a wide-range of questions from his football career to date.

Best player you have played with at South Fremantle?
If I have to pick one it would be pretty hard to go past Toby McGrath. In his heyday, he was pretty special to watch especially that year he won the Sandover Medal and Simpson Medal. He is a premiership captain as well so he was a good leader plus a really good player. You always would find him stepping up in big games or late in quarters or late in games. Even late in his career, when we were down Hase would chuck him in the midfield and he used to always give us a bit. Leader-wise, he was a good leader and he is a player I have always looked up to.

Best captain you have played under?
Toby and Gaulty would be pretty close. They are completely different players obviously, but Gaulty has to be up there just with his hardness and he was never willing to lose with his attitude and the way he went about it. He knew himself that he wasn’t the best player out there, but he worked bloody hard and did the team things. He's another bloke I've always looked up to.

Toughest WAFL opponent?
As a backman, the toughest opponents were always the quick blokes. I remember playing on Chris Yarran before he got drafted so there were a few guys like him who were tough. Little Ali Pickett would be the toughest though. Me and Kyle used to always fight over who would have to play on him because we would never want to play on him because of how quick and smart he was. Being the short little fat blokes we are, we could never keep up with him. The half-decent thing was that he was shorter than us, but that didn’t help much when it came to him.

Best player you had as a teammate with West Coast in the AFL?
That's even harder because I played with legends like Glassy and Coxy but the one bloke who really stands out, and you ask all the blokes there, is Matt Priddis. Just with the way he works and every year you hear people talk about him being slow and stuff like that, but he just keeps getting better and better. The way he prepares for games and how hard he works at training is just elite. All the young blokes get told to look at Pridda even when it comes to his diet and stuff like that. He is the biggest role model there to show you how to get the most out of your talent. On talent, you would have to go Nic Nat though. Everyone knows that he is a bit of a freak.

Who was especially tough to play against in the AFL?
Whenever I get asked this, I always say Beau Waters at training. He is someone you just never wanted to play on. I was a forward and be was a backman, and he was just the toughest with how hard he is and the way he ran. I always say that he is the toughest opponent I've played on.

Favourite moment of WAFL career?
It's pretty hard to go past the two winning grand finals. They were both at different times of our careers. The first one me and Kyle were really young when we won but then in 2009 it was a bit better because we were a bit older, and the week was a lot better afterwards. They are two obvious highlights. There was also a night game against Subiaco in 2005 the same day that Tommy Bottrell had just passed away. Subi was pretty good then and favourites, but it was a great game and we ended up winning in a great game. That was a memorable night and I remember we walked off holding up a photo of Tommy Botts. That was a special night.

Best moment in the AFL?
I do have a favourite one when Lecca and I kicked 15 goals between us against Essendon in 2010, the only problem was he kicked 12 of them. That was a pretty special night. We were both down forward and we ended up getting pretty lippy and it was good fun to have a good game because as a team we were struggling that year. But Lecca went out and kicked 12 and it was an awesome game to be part of. With the way he is, he is a bit of a smart arse so we had good fun that day and night. When I made my AFL debut it was a special occasion too with the whole family there.

How would you compare your three coaches – John Dimmer, John Worsfold, Paul Hasleby?
They are all very different. JD was really good in understanding work with WAFL footy and stuff like that, and he was just a very smart man with the way he took training. It's hard to explain what made him so good, but the way he handled himself when dealing with different people was good. With the older guys he would give a bit of time off and he just had good management skills, and he had the respect of everyone because of his record. Then Woosha is just a living legend and Hase is still a new coach starting off his career, and he is learning like the rest of us. They are three guys who were all good players and pretty good coaches.

Funniest teammate?
I couldn’t go past Googsy I don’t think. His one-liners and that are pretty funny. The other one would be Morgan Cooper who was a bit of a class clown, and you could always have a good laugh when he was around. Those two really standout with them.

Someone who thinks they are funny but are not?
There are always plenty of them at a footy club. I would chuck in Schloithey. He is pretty dumb and doesn’t know what he is saying sometimes.

Favourite footy trip moment?
I have been on a few footy trips now. We have been to Vegas a couple of times and spent 12 nights there so all those nights were pretty special. We've been to Full Moon parties which are awesome and it's just a good time on a footy trip. Blokes come out of their shell and you really make good mates out of them. We've had some special ones in Thailand and Bali as well, and they are always good times. There's the normal stuff that goes on like wearing dresses and good stories always come out of them.

Worst footy trip performers?
Back to Morgan Cooper. He pumps his tyres up every time and there has been a few times when he says he will get best on, but he has been worst on twice. The first couple of nights he is OK but after that he just falls in a big heap. I have to mention Dylan Bairstow as well. He would perform really well but the last three nights in Thailand he was in bed and stuffed, which was pretty funny. Anthony Collica deserves a mention as well. He had one big night sucking back probably 50 cigarettes, but after that he just couldn’t talk the next night. He got best on the first night and was struggling after that. Andrew McCarrey is up there too. Macca had a couple of interesting experiences and some bad luck there on footy trips with things happening to him.