Young proud to reach 150 but premiership with Sharks the aimSaturday, September 13, 2014 - 12:54 PM - by Chris Pike

BECOMING a life member of the East Fremantle Football Club is something that means a lot to big man Rob Young as he reaches 150 games in Sunday's preliminary final but that pales into insignificance when he considers what winning a premiership with the Sharks would mean.

Young arrived at East Fremantle in 2007 from VFL club Coburg initially because he thought being able to display his running power and mobility for his 197cm, 103kg frame in the WAFL would help him earn a crack at the AFL.

While that hasn’t eventuated, the versatile big man has become an outstanding servant for the Sharks starting as a strong key defender for the first several years and becoming one of the best in the WAFL in that role.

In recent times he has split his time between playing as a marking option up forward and as a ruckman, and done so tremendously kicking 65 goals in 55 games over the past three seasons including a purple patch either side of three quarter-time in the 2012 grand final.

Young has now played 149 matches with East Fremantle and represented WA in 2010 as he prepares to play his 150th game to earn life membership at the club in this Sunday's preliminary final against Subiaco at Medibank Stadium.

Young thought it meant a lot to him when he reached 100 games with the Sharks to book his name on the No. 23 locker, but now become a life member takes the cake.

However, nothing would top a premiership and he gets the chance to help East Fremantle into its second grand final in three years on Sunday with the hope of then claiming the Sharks first flag since 1998.

"I thought it was pretty special playing 100 games and with every game you play it is special especially seeing how many guys just want to play one league game, and seeing what it means to young guys. To now have played 149 games coming up to my 150th it really does mean a lot," Young said.

"I think about winning a premiership every single day of my life. It's the reason why I play football. It's something that I desperately want. I want to come back to this football club in 20 years time and have a reunion and be there with all my mates, have a couple of beers and reminisce about the day we won a premiership."

Looking back on his only other opportunity to play in a grand final with East Fremantle in 2012 and Young has no doubt it was a missed opportunity given the way the Sharks started with a such an inexperienced finals team against the battle hardened Claremont.

Claremont opened up a 47-point lead early and even though Young inspired the Sharks to get within a point early in the final quarter, it took too much of their energy to get back into the contest.

However, Young believes the players from that day have learned a lot from the experience.

"I see it as a lost opportunity definitely. To be eight goals down at quarter-time and to come back like we did was a fantastic effort by the boys, and you can see that resolve from that day in the group that we've got now," he said.

"But I remember after that game people said it was OK because there is always next year, but I turned around and told everyone that there is not always next year. It's very hard to get the opportunity to play off in a grand final let alone be a chance to win one and be within one point in the last quarter.

"Those opportunities don't come around very often and it's happened once in my lifetime, and hopefully we are going to be in a position to have another crack at it this year. If we got back there, we would have learned a lot.

"I think the boys were a little overwhelmed by the situation of a grand final last time and they say you have to lose one to win one, but it would be interesting with both us and East Perth having lost one so it will be interesting to see who wins one. But we have to worry about beating Subiaco this weekend first and I'm looking forward to that opportunity."

Young's versatility for a big man has been always one of his great strengths and it now gives coach Steve Malaxos of using him as a key defender, key forward and ruckman and know that he's capable of holding down all three roles strongly.

He enjoyed starting out as a defender to learn a lot by playing on some gun tall forwards, and now he's thriving as a role doing what he loves in kicking goals and also as a ruckman who simply loves to compete in the middle.

"I was always told to have different strings to my bow growing up and that versatility allows you to play a lot more games of football. Initially I was down back and I followed forwards around, and learned some leading patterns and all that sort of stuff," he said.

"Now I am playing my role for the team mostly forward and in the ruck, but if they needed me to go back I still could. I'm really enjoying being forward and playing in the ruck, though, and I have always tried to model myself on someone like Drew Petrie.

"He started at full-back, moved into the ruck and has settled the last part of his career up forward so I have seen myself in a similar mould to that. That's how I envision my career ending up."

Young didn’t see it as a long-term move when coming to East Fremantle in 2007 as a single man, but not only has his football seen him now become a 150-game player with the Sharks, but Perth is now home as well.

Young runs his successful health and fitness business 'Young 4 Life' out of East Fremantle Oval and is also married to Karen so he's going to be in WA for as long as he can see now.

"Initially I just came over for myself to have one last crack at trying to get drafted into the AFL system. I had been pretty close when I was playing over in Victoria and I just wanted to change it up, and do something different," Young said.

"Coming over my first game was against South Fremantle in a derby on Friday night under lights down there, and we had lost 16 games straight and not won for a long time but we won that game and immediately I felt at home at the club.

"I embraced it straight away and I had that immediate hate for South Fremantle. It did feel like home straight away even though my plan initially was to only be here for two years. I was then going to go back to Melbourne, but I have fallen in love with the club, with the State and it also helps that I met a Perth girl who I have settled down with and am married to now. I feel very settled now in WA."