Coaching legend Mick Malthouse was renowned for plucking out brain-teasing one-liners and adapting them to Australian football. 

‘The Ox is slow, but the earth is patient,’ was one of the more profound statements from the dual Eagles premiership coach in his decade-long tenure. ‘Sometimes you’re the bug, sometimes you’re the windscreen,’ also springs to mind from a long list of memorable quotes.

Another was a little less succinct so it commands more interpretative licence. It revolved around telling the West Coast Eagles group in his early years that they should tear up their birth certificates. To paraphrase the message to a young squad, he was emphasising that youth would not be accepted as an excuse for sub-par performances.

While Shannon Hurn is at the other end of the experience spectrum, the only player in West Coast Eagles history to play 300 games, he could well have applied the same maxim in 2022.

Don’t worry about his age, judge him on performances. Hold him to the standards he has set across a glorious career. He passed with distinction.

So much so that the veteran Eagles defender, who celebrated his 35th birthday in the post-season, finished runner-up in the John Worsfold Medal. His highest finish in the Club Champion Award since a similar podium finish when he was just 22.

Hurn defied the clock with his poise, durability and consistency, particularly at the back end of the season, as he finished behind defensive teammate Tom Barrass. That they finished on the top two rungs in voting suggests the ball spent too much time in the back half.

That’s true. The Eagles finished 17th in one of the most challenging years in club history.

Hurn, born shortly after the Eagles finished their first campaign in 1987, was rock steady under the relentless assault. Calm, composed and intuitive. He learned long ago that the past cannot be changed. Don’t waste precious energy on it.

An opposition goal remains an opposition goal regardless of how it occurred. Learn from the event, be better next time. It is what it is.

Pragmatic is the word from our language that best fits the unshakeable demeanour of the Eagles’ defensive pillar.  

“You always want the year to go well and being in the backline unfortunately it was down there a bit too much this year,” the barrel-chested Hurn says with his inimitable, straight-forward country roots manner. “Which is not really what you want because you’re always in the play.

“You always want to be able to contribute and be reliable. I thought for the majority of the year I was able to do that.

“Some earlier games, pre-bye we were shocking as a team, but after the bye it was quite reasonable.

“Especially early days it was tough. Obviously COVID happened to everyone but to us it was a bit worse and you wouldn’t put that in your planning. It was brilliant to have five WAFL top-up players, it was good to see the excitement they had and it was fantastic.

“We also got to play so many young blokes, which is nice. They get to understand what it’s about, and that helped at the back end of the year. It will help in the pre-season going into next year, too.”

In finishing runner-up for the second time Hurn earned the eighth top 10 finish of his career and seven of those have been in the top five. The consistency of his form line is remarkable as he prepares now for his 18th season at the club.

In all of those years when he did not figure prominently on the Club Champion leader board – with the exception of 2015 – his season was interrupted by injury. Perhaps the burden of his first year as captain contributed to a lower finish seven years ago.

Hurn was one of five players who auditioned as the replacement for Darren Glass when he shocked the club by opting to stand down from the role in the middle of 2014. Hurn, Josh Kennedy, Matt Priddis, Eric Mackenzie and Scott Selwood rotated the responsibility.

Of the handful of candidates, the matter-of-fact Hurn was far from ‘Captain Obvious.’  

In the pre-season of 2014, when his peers voted for the club’s 10th skipper he was their overwhelming nominee. There are more exuberant leaders, but none stronger.

He led them to a Grand Final defeat in his first year, found the sunnier side of the big day in 2018. Ticking that final box – flags – alongside family and friends that had been posted on the briefing room whiteboard will be an enduring memory.

Now, with 320 games to his name, he wants more memories. But he also wants help cultivate the next generation of Eagles success.

“When you get older it’s year by year which is fine, but I think you just have to enjoy your footy,” he muses. “Whether that’s one more game, 10 or 20 more games that’s just what it is. For me, I love playing footy.

“Mentally you need to still want to do it, you have to be up for the contest every week. I’m still keen for that, still excited and I’m looking forward to getting stuck in again.

“Harry Edwards, (Rhett) Bazzo, (Brady) Houghy and Jamaine Jones all played some footy this year in the backline. They were always keen to learn and from my point it is important to give them two or three things that actually matter; how to defend and how to work together.

“They have shown a lot of promise they have a lot of attributes, then it is up to them what they want to do with that. Ability only gets you a leg up into the AFL, you have to get better and train well (to stay there).

“We can always pass on some skills and what we have learnt over time. It is important to also set a good example, how you prepare, how you recover, how you train.

“Josh Kennedy in his past three years has barely been able to train, but he has been able to perform so you can always learn different ways to go about it.”

Hurn is meticulous with his preparation, hence the longevity he has enjoyed in the game. Where once the pool was something he avoided, now punching out a few laps in the MRP aquatic area is part of his routine.

It’s an important recovery mechanism. Something he had to do to help his body rebound and prepare for the next battle. Now he is preparing to get body and mind set
for 2023.