Deservedly proud Bateman confident Earl has Demons on trackFriday, July 24, 2015 - 2:39 PM - by Chris Pike

INJURIES have meant his return to his original WAFL club Perth hasn’t gone to plan and now led to his retirement, but Hawthorn premiership star Chance Bateman has every reason to be proud of his career and remains confident the Demons are on the right path under Earl Spalding.

Bateman came through the ranks at Perth and played 11 league games in 1999 as an 18-year-old before going on to make history in the AFL at Hawthorn during an outstanding 177-game career that included the 2008 premiership.

Along the way, Bateman became the first Indigenous player to ever play 100 games with Hawthorn and became the first player of Aboriginal descent to become a life member at the Hawks.

He became a key player as a hard-running wingman as the Hawks won the flag in 2008 and then only injuries let to his retirement at the end of 2012.

But he was never going to play anywhere else other than his original WAFL club Perth once his AFL career was over, and was quick to return to the Demons for the last three years.

While injuries have limited him to just 28 games in three years, including a shoulder injury that has now led to his retirement, his professionalism, experience, dedication and leadership has been a big help to the young squad at the Demons trying to find a way to lead the club forward.

Now that Bateman's playing career is behind him, the 34-year-old is deservedly proud of everything he achieved.

"I see myself as being really fortunate that I've been able to stay in the game for as long as I have. I spent 13 years at AFL level and then came back to the Perth footy club for three years now. It probably hasn’t turned out the way I would have liked it to, but I still consider myself very fortunate that I've been able to stay in the game for as long as I have," Bateman told WAFL World on 91.3 SportFM.

"I look back on my time at Hawthorn with nothing but fond memories. I'm really proud of some of the things I was able to achieve but the highlight was obviously getting to play in that 2008 premiership side.

"That's pretty much the highlight and the dream of any young player coming through the ranks so I was really fortunate to be part of that side. It's time now that I've finished playing that I can sit back and reflect on all of those things that I was able to achieve."

Bateman still proved capable of running hard and using the ball well in his limited appearances for Perth in 2015, but it was the Demons only win so far of 2015 against Claremont when he suffered the shoulder injury that has now ended his career.

"We played Claremont earlier this year and won our first game, but I came down from a marking contest a little bit awkwardly and I ended up having a little tear in one of the tendons in my rotator cuff," he said.

"I ended up missing a couple of weeks and then got a cortisone injection into it to see if I could get through the rest of the year, and it worked for a few games but then it got to the point when I was at home getting ready for training and as I bent down to pick up my runners I felt something in my shoulder.

"We got that scanned and just that movement was enough to rupture that tendon that had already been damaged. Once I had that information we took it to the surgeon and he said that it would require surgery.

"It will mean I was unable to play for the remainder of the year so that was the main reason behind me retiring, but I didn’t want to leave the club high and dry. I still want to see some success for the players we have at the club so I've agreed to stay on in a bit of a coaching role to help Earl and the other assistants out."

Bateman is also confident that the best appointment Perth has made in the interests of becoming a competitive outfit in the WAFL again was of coach Earl Spalding.

While that has just led to one win so far in 2015 with the Demons having now scored just one victory in their last 29 games, Spalding has clearly developed a more competitive and professional culture at the Demons, and Bateman is confident that results aren’t far away from resulting.

"I was really pleased that the club was able to appoint Earl," Bateman said.

"He was a great player in his own right and he spent time at the Fremantle Football Club as an assistant, and he's had his own success as a coach at amateur level so he's been around and has a heap of knowledge and experience to pass on.

"I think that appointment was great by the footy club and even though the stats won't reflect it, we have improved this year in that we've been able to give some experience and games to young guys and we've hung in games, and had opportunities to win games more than last year.

"It's probably just 20 or 30-minute lapses in games where we get completely blown out of the water that ruins any chance of us winning. We've been pleased with some of the improvement from our younger guys, and I truly believe that Earl is the right man to take us forward and that we have turned the corner. It won't be too long until we start to see some results."