WAFL Milestone | Shane Nelson 150 GamesSaturday, July 20, 2019 - 10:06 AM - by Chris Pike

IT is tough to think of a better or more consistent WAFL player over the last decade than West Perth's triple fairest and best winner Shane Nelson and while he is proud to earn life membership at the Falcons, the drive to win a second premiership trumps everything.

He has never been the biggest, strongest, fastest or most skilful out on any WAFL field he has graced, but Nelson could very claim to be the best as West Perth prepares to celebrate his 150th appearance with the Falcons this Saturday in a must-win derby against East Perth at HBF Arena.

Ever since he made his league debut back in Round 7. 2012, Nelson has never looked back and it was a career that came on the back of always dreaming of playing for West Perth, coming through the development squad and colts ranks, and then banging down the door for a crack at league level.

Just 18 months later and he could consider himself unlucky not to have been the Simpson Medallist on Grand Final day as the Falcons celebrated a stunning premiership triumph against arch-rivals East Perth where Nelson racked up 36 possessions and kicked a goal.

Having games of 30 or more disposals has now become his specialty and across his career to date, he has reached 30 or more on 90 occasions, including going beyond 50 twice, which no other player could come close to boasting. 

Nelson's ability to win the contested ball in close and feed it out to  his teammates on top of earning clearances and then his underrated ability to find space and be a tremendous link player all make him one of the most remarkable ball winners not only in the modern WAFL game, but ever.

The accolades have come his way along the journey too with him winning three Breckler Medals as West Perth's fairest and best along with playing for Western Australia five times and winning the premiership in 2013.

He can consider himself to have not been a Sandover and/or Simpson Medal winner by now too but time is on his side to continue to rack up the achievements and with the form he continues to be in during 2019, averaging another 28.5 disposals, nothing is beyond him.

To now forever be able to call himself a life member of the West Perth Football Club where he has now been spending time at for more than half his life means the world to Nelson.

"When you come through the ranks and you know the history of the club and knowing it's such an old and proud club, and then with everything the club is going through at the moment, I've been through a lot of ups and downs and I'm starting to feel like I'm almost like part of the furniture now," Nelson said. 

"To play 150 games is a massive honour and hopefully I still have my best years ahead of me. It means everything to me. Growing up when you barrack for the club and you come through the ranks of the development squads and the colts, you work hard to get to the main goal of playing league footy. 

"It feels like it has taken a while to get to 150 games, but in a sense it probably hasn’t because I'm still only 26 and hopefully still have my best years of footy in front of me. But to now play 150 games and be a life member of such an old and fantastic club, it's a huge honour."

While proud of the individual awards Nelson has continued to rack up along the way, it's ultimately team success that means the most to him. But now that he reaches 150 games and earns life membership, he's grateful for the opportunities he's received and grasped.

"You probably don’t think about all that other stuff too much while you are playing apart from the premiership obviously but playing as many games as you possibly can is the best thing and I've been lucky enough to play a lot of consecutive games and haven’t had too many injury worries over the years, touch wood," he said. 

"It's been great to play most weeks since I started playing to be durable and to get to 150 games when you look at past players like Matt Guadagnin and what it took for him to get there, I'm privileged to be able to get the opportunity to play 150 at 26. It's special."

While certainly not in reflection mode while in the middle of another season where West Perth is fighting for a finals position with Nelson hopeful of reaching the fourth Grand Final of his career and attempting to win a second premiership, a milestone like this does put a lot of things into perspective.

"I don’t try to reflect too much on what's happened in the past, I try to focus on what's happening now and that's pushing for another premiership because that feeling back in 2013 was the greatest feeling in the world I've experienced," Nelson said.

"To see the young guys coming through and having my brother at the club as well, I'd love to experience success with him especially now that I know the end of my career is probably closer than the start. 

"To sneak one in with him would be the ultimate goal but I know the people who have helped me throughout my career and I'm so grateful for that. 

"From my dad at a young age to Kevin Hill in my junior footy to colts coaches who helped me out and now to Bill (Monaghan) and Geoff (Valentine) at league level, I'm grateful for the support I've had. 

"I'm sure at the end of my career I'll sit back and reflect on how far I've come and the people who have had a big hand in helping me succeed."

The consistency Nelson has shown right over the course of his career is remarkable and that's despite playing through injuries and having to endure being tagged by opposition teams. 

No matter what, Nelson just keeps on fronting up week after week, and finding the ball but he does take pride in his preparation and recovery to allow his body to keep on backing up.

"It's one of those things where I like to think I look after my body pretty well. I do a fair bit of stretching and stuff like that to keep my flexibility up and I enjoy my recovery time especially during the season," he said. 

"I'm sure a lot of the boys will tell you that my training effort is more about recovery than actually getting out there to put in the work, but I've been extremely lucky to be able to play 150 games now and I'm very grateful my body has allowed me to do that."

It would be easy to think that with his history of performances consistently behind him that Nelson would be happy to continue on his merry way, but he has that ultimate competitive drive that all top athletes have to continue to get better.

Each season, he is trying to find ways to improve his game and how he can help the team more, and it's hard to argue with the results that he remains a player on the rise despite everything he has already accomplished.

"I'm sure even the greatest sportspeople in the world always try to get better. Roger Federer is still trying to get better and he's 37 so if it's good enough for him, then it's definitely something I can continue to do," Nelson said. 

"I'm far from being the greatest player or the most talented guy out there, but I still believe that I have another level I can still get to. Every year you sit down and work out where you're at and what you can improve on, and areas you can help the team more than you did in the past. 

"I've been lucky enough to have great conditioning staff at the club led by Corey Green who do the work with us through the pre-season. 

"Bill was great for me for my whole career up until this year and now Geoff has taken over and it's like he's been here for a lot longer, the transition has been so smooth.

"He has different views on how I play the game as well and areas I need to work on, so I've been working out that with him which has helped me to continue to take my footy to new levels."

Side by side Nelson his whole career and even though off-field challenges like the club has gone through over the past 12 months or away from football tragedies like his father passing away, has been Aaron Black.

The West Perth captain and Nelson have been virtually inseparable now for a long time and ahead of celebrating 150 games, he couldn’t be happier to still be running out on to HBF Arena with his old mate.

"It's been an incredible ride with Blacky. I went to high school with him where we were always good mates even though he was that year older than me. He was playing colts footy a year before me, but to come through with such a great mate is incredible," he said.

"We are pretty competitive with each other and we always try to get the best of each other, but to have him by my side through all of my career now has been great. You enjoy in the high times together and stick together in the tough times whether or not that's on the field or off the field. 

"You share those great moments together and he is pushing towards 200 games now so he is well ahead of me but hopefully we can continue to push each other to another flag together, that's the ultimate goal for sure."

What continues to be the most remarkable aspect of the West Perth Football Club is the remarkable spirit and culture within the playing group.

No matter the troubles the club is going through off the field, you would never know it by looking at the playing group. It's always been a special culture at West Perth and Nelson is proud to be part of keeping that going no matter what's happening around them.

"It's just about everyone buying into the program that's set for us and us players are all pretty close off the field. We have those gatherings and get togethers outside of footy which brings everyone close, and then when you get on the field it makes you feel like a real close group who wants to help each other," Nelson said. 

"We're not a team of superstars and we don't recruit heavily like some other teams do, but we seem to be able to keep our mains squad together and we don't lose too many players. Then when new guys come in, they come in and play their role and certainly feel like they are welcomed in straight away to the club, and the culture of the place. 

"That's what we pride ourselves on and we know that we're not going to win any games on individual brilliance even though we have some guys like Rudy or Strijky who can pull a goal from anywhere. 

"We know that if we all play together as 22 players we're an extremely hard team to beat and then when we have tough times, we go through it together as a group and the culture we've built holds us in good stead."