WAFL Milestone | Kyal Horsley 200 GamesFriday, August 23, 2019 - 1:35 PM - by Chris Pike

HE is the most decorated and inspirational player of his generation but the motivation is as strong as ever for Kyal Horsley ahead of his 200th WAFL game and with the freedom that has come from not being captain, he hits the milestone in as good a form as he's ever been in with Subiaco.

It's remarkable to look back now to 2007 when Horsley lost his place in the Subiaco team from the preliminary final win over South Fremantle to Grand Final against Claremont in an era at the Lions of remarkably decorated players from Aidan Parker to Darren Rumble to Allistair Pickett to Brad Smith to Luke Newick to Chad Cossom and the list goes on and on.

It would have been a stretch to think Horsley, the boy from Kalgoorlie, would go on to become the most decorated player of this era of dominance from Subiaco, but that's exactly what has happened and there's no signs of slowing down as he now approaches his 200th game.

At 31 years of age and playing with the freedom of not having the captaincy in 2019, Horsley is playing tremendous football still and is excited to run out onto Leederville Oval on Saturday against East Perth to celebrate a 200-game milestone he's rightfully proud of.

"I'm stoked that it's fallen at home and that it's not a final. You don’t want to take away from the whole team goal in a final, but on Saturday I might be able to make it a bit more about myself than if it was a final," Horsley said.

"And obviously I'm stoked that it's at home so I get the opportunity to play where I've played most of my footy and hopefully we get the win to make it a special occasion.

"Obviously getting to 150 was my goal when I returned from Gold Coast and that was something I really set myself for, and having success makes it a bit easier to hang on and get to the 200. It's actually crept up really quickly and it almost feels like my 150th was only last year. 

"But you see the great names on the lockers and who has actually achieved 200 games, and it's hard to compare to different eras before the AFL, but guys that I've played with like Aidan Parker, Chad Cossom and six-time premiership player Darren Rumble, to reach 200 games like they did and knowing the impact they had with their longevity is a huge honour and something I'm really proud of."

There is no more decorated player this century than Horsley with his remarkable career now made up of four premierships with three of those as captain along with having played for the WAFL State Team five times and having been captain.

He's also a three-time Subiaco fairest and best winner and Simpson Medallist and it's not a stretch to say he's unlucky to not have won a Sandover Medal and at least one more Simpson Medal.

But for Horsley, what stands out is performing in Grand Finals and winning premierships above all else.

"The premierships standout and performances in Grand Finals are the performances that I hold up highest as I rate other players from any other sport whether it's basketball with LeBron James and Michael Jordan and how they perform in finals to the footy greats like Luke Hodge and Chris Judd," Horsley said. 

"Performing on the big stage is what I rate the highest and that's when you really find out about yourself, and I've been fortunate enough to play some good ones, and unfortunately a couple of bad ones. 

"They're the moments I look back on and reflect on the most fondly. They say you don't really reflect until the end but I'm pretty much there now so I do look back on my career and the moments I wish I could change, and the moments I'm really proud of."

Now that he's 31 years of age and commitments away from football continue to grow, Horsley is proud he's been able to maintain his level mentally and physically to such a high level where he remains a standout player as he reaches the 200 games.

"I'm hugely proud that with the other demands in your life starting to take precedence and footy gets pushed back a little as you get older, but I've been really fortunate with the coaches I've had that they understand what you are going through, and allow for that pressure release," he said.

"They are understanding if you need to back off at training or miss a night here or there even though that's not something you need to do. But when it gets to that boiling point where you are overworked, then it's good to have that release sometimes so I've been really fortunate in that sense. 

"That's really helped me get to this point and to still have that passion and drive to continue playing football. It does take a lot of commitment but if you have that balance and you're fortunate enough to have that balance from the coaches then it really does help you rack up the games."

Take out the knee reconstruction he underwent in his second season in 2013 at the Gold Coast Suns that ended his AFL career and Horsley's body has held up remarkably well too over his career.

"We've got a really good physio in Craig King who patches me together and does some really good work, but like most physios it's all about prevention so we do a lot of testing to find out when you are sore and tight, and he'll work on a plan with you and is really diligent to make sure you follow it," Horsley said.

"I find that if you do the right things then generally your body will hold up even though you can't do much about ACL's or things like that which just happen. I have been really fortunate with my durability throughout my whole career outside of that ACL injury and touchwood that continues for at least a couple more weeks and we'll see from there."

It's hard to say Horsley is playing better football in 2019 because he has already been playing at such a phenomenal level, but his standard certainly hasn’t dropped off at all and he does feel a greater freedom having handed on the captaincy as he begins to focus on the next stage of his football life.

"I've been much more relaxed without the captaincy and Leigh Kitchin is doing an incredible job. The whole leadership group are all good leaders in their own right and have different leadership styles, and the way they work together and drive the group is exceptional," he said.

"I've pretty much just stepped back and enjoyed watching them and am leaning towards coaching now so it's about taking notes on how coaches are presenting and what they are doing, and stuff I feel might work for me in the future. 

"Then obviously I'm observing the leadership to see how they operate and any advice I can give them I will, but they are pretty much sailing their own ship at the moment and doing really well. It's exceptional to watch."

It has been a remarkable era that Horsley has been part of at Subiaco as well. While he missed the 2007 premiership, he played in the flag of 2008 and then Grand Finals in 2009 and 2011 before his two years at Gold Coast.

Then since he returned to Subiaco in 2014, the Lions have made the Grand Final every season meaning that in past 10 WAFL seasons, the Lions have reached Grand Finals in all but one season he's been part of.

He knows there is a lot more to that than just luck though.

"Players don't just come from nowhere, they work exceptionally hard and that's always been the culture since I have got to Subi and that Peter German started to build from 2003. That culture of training at a level that prepares you for when you get your opportunity you are up to it," Horsley said.

"That's really driven by the leadership group and the emerging leaders, and everyone follows. It's a really simple system but it's so effective where if your best players and leaders are training at an exceptional level, then everyone wants to catch up to what they are doing so they train at that level.

"That's conducive to good results and fortunately enough our top-end talent is really good and if they are driving such high standards, then the younger players coming through have the scope to improve to a great level and know what the path is for them to take. 

"Then when they do come in, you wouldn’t know they are playing their first game because they have worked so hard to get up to that level."

Subiaco is now guaranteed of a fifth consecutive minor premiership in 2019 as they chase a sixth straight Grand Final performance, and for Horsley while their ladder position has long been secure, it's been all about getting ready for the finals having learned from season's past.

"I think you just learn to change your approach and you stop looking at the ladder and the season, and you start focusing on playing a finals brand of football," he said.

"We are fortunate enough to have a lot of finals experience in the team and we understand of what is required to compete when the pressure goes up and it gets a bit tighter. 

"That's where our focus is and we have our KPI's we want to hit, but it's always in the back of your mind that you only have X amount of games to prepare for finals so everything has to be driven at a certain standard so you are prepared for that second semi-final when it arrives. 

"It can all become unravelled pretty quickly if you aren’t prepared so it's all about preparing to play finals football and getting everything ready the best you can for that. 

"When you're doing that, because you are playing at a high level you will generally get good results and your form will be maintained. Combine that with the pressure of guys who should be playing league football not being able to break into the team always helps drive on the whole group."

While the record of success Horsley has been part of has been remarkable, those 2016 and 2017 Grand Final losses when the Lions had been dominant all season were tough to come to terms with.

Then there was the added pressure last year of having gone through the whole season undefeated and having to back up the colts and reserves premierships by the time they ran out onto Optus Stadium for the Grand Final against West Perth.

It's fair to say Horsley had plenty on his mind but to come away as premiership captain once more and the Simpson Medallist with his team playing the best he's ever seen meant it was the perfect last game for him as skipper.

"Last year was special but it also got to a point where by the time our game was on, we knew that the colts and reserves had won so there was that mounting pressure was there of us completing the task of all three grades winning," he said.

"Then after the season we had, the pressure was building so it was a bit more of a relief than that euphoric feeling but to achieve what we did is something I look back on so fondly and it's pretty crazy to think that we had the year we had going undefeated and having all grades win it. 

"I don’t think it will happen again and I'm so proud of how the whole group worked and carried themselves in that moment. It didn’t have that pure excitement, it was more relief that we were the last cog that had to get the job to make all that history come together. 

"Fortunately enough it was probably the best performance as a team I've ever been part of in that Grand Final. Just the way the whole team defended as a group and transitioned into attack was the best I've ever seen it done in my time at Subi."

Subiaco has lost one game in 2019, back in Round 6 to South Fremantle, and Horsley doesn’t necessarily see that as a bad thing given the pressure they felt in 2018.

"It seems bad to say and last year we never thought you might need a loss along the way, but there's no doubt that by the time the Grand Final came around the white noise had infiltrated to being the prominent voice in your head that you had that expectation of going through undefeated," Horsley said.

"Credit to Jarrod and the coaches last year for how they drove the group and kept their own focus which gave us that confidence we could win all the games without having a thought process of needing a loss. It became a driving factor that we were winning, but I do have to admit I'm happy to not have that same pressure this year."

At the 31 years of age and now with 200 games under his belt, Horsley knows the end of his career is approaching and he's already got an eye to coaching, but he's not totally sure 2019 will be his last season just yet.

"Once the year is over I'll make a decision but it's definitely getting close and I'm probably leaning more towards finishing, but everyone probably thinks that at this time of the year when things are pretty tough," he said.

"But when finals come around you get that spark to want to play again. So I won't make a decision until the season is over but I'll sit down with Beau, Peter and Mark and talk about the future of the club, and the young blokes coming through. 

"If I'm holding someone back and can't be as dedicated as I should be, or if I still have that fire to really drive, are all things I'll weigh up. But at the moment I'm stoked to be in the position to push for another Grand Final and hopefully in a few weeks' time from the second semi we can get there. But if not we've at least given ourselves a double chance."

With life away from football coming together nicely too, Horsley has little to complain about right now.

"Life's good away from footy too. I've just moved out with the partner so that's always a big step and that's going really well," Horsley said. 

"Work's really busy too which is a good thing except for during footy season when you wouldn’t mind a bit of downtime. Life's good outside of footy and I couldn’t be happy."