Driving down the Mitchell Freeway, heading south towards Mineral Resources Park.
Traffic is dense, without being congested; the mind is wandering towards what this day will hold. A mental note is made of the car on the inside lane. A West Coast Eagles sticker adorns the back window.
A kilometre down the track, that driver makes a late decision to shift lanes. Ease off the accelerator, wave him in. After all he’s part of the family.
Football is tribal. You’re with us, or you’re against us. He’s with us.
The mid-season draft felt a little bit like that with Connor West being selected with the club’s second pick. There was a sense of a homecoming.
It has been 30 years since his father, Robbie, played at the Eagles. He was a handy inside midfielder who played 13 games at a time when the Eagles engine room was a Rolls Royce. Chris Mainwaring, Dean Kemp and Peter Matera across the middle.
The likes of Craig Turley, Don Pyke, Tony Evans and Chris Lewis going through the heart of the ground. Opportunities were tight.
West was on the Eagles list from 1991-93 and won a Sandover Medal in the premiership year of 1992. He later went to Footscray in search of further opportunities which also proved problematic, adding a further seven senior matches.
In 1995 he moved to South Australia, played with Port Adelaide and won their fairest and best in a premiership year. He was a fine player.
His son, Connor, appears a similar type; even sporting a mullet every bit as impressive as that which proudly bounced off the shoulders of his dad three decades ago.
Connor West has pace and an appetite for the contest. Life changed for him – just as it did for young Swan Districts defender Will Collins – on Wednesday night when his name was called in the mid-season ballot.
Training with West Perth one night; getting to know a whole bunch of new teammates at the Eagles main session 18 hours later. His head was already in spin before he was rotating in a tight circle for about 20 seconds and then kicking for goal as part of the initiation ceremony. For the record, he kicked it.
Robbie West joins '90s teammates Michael Brennan and Chris Waterman to continue the bloodline at the Eagles.
Jacob Brennan, a competitive defender in the family mould, was the first with genuine lineage to make his way to the club. Alec and Jake Waterman then followed suit. Unfortunately Alec was struck down by debilitating illness when on the list, was released but made his way to Essendon this season after an impressive year with Claremont.
As disappointing as it was to see one of our own playing elsewhere, there would be no one in the West Coast family who did not feel an inner warmth when he secured another opportunity. His was one of the toughest bounce back stories in the game.
Of course, Jake will play for the Eagles against Carlton at the SCG on Sunday, playing his 48th game, while Connor prepares to play in Eagles colours for the first time in the WAFL tomorrow against Claremont.
Under the terms of the agreement for the Eagles to field a team in the WAFL, Swan Districts and West Perth could have insisted both Collins and West remain with them for the duration of 2021. Kudos to them for relinquishing that hold.
That decision gives both young men the best opportunity to develop and push for AFL opportunities. It was a selfless move by their WAFL clubs.
