2015 Williamstown premiership teammates Nick Meese and Ed Carr will celebrate their 100th Peter Jackson VFL games when the Seagulls face Footscray at Whitten Oval on Sunday.
vfl.com.au talked to each of them about their journeys to the milestone and what may still lie ahead.
Meese, 27, emerged from the Northern Knights and started his VFL journey at the Northern Blues. He crossed to Williamstown ahead of the 2014 season where he has twice been selected as the VFL Team of the Year ruckman.
Carr, 25, was a Gippsland Power junior who moved to Melbourne and has made his living in football as a hard-nosed midfielder.
Firstly, what are your thoughts on your fellow milestone man as a footballer and a person?
Nick Meese: “Ed’s very old school, tough as nails. I probably am too – that’s why we get along! A very proud Maffra boy, as he keeps telling everyone. He’s just a knockabout bloke, very professional about his footy but definitely pretty old school – ‘see ball, get ball’ and attack it pretty hard.”
Ed Carr: “Nick’s always upbeat and loves a joke. He loves a beer after the game as well, so I got along with him no problems at all. Once you get on the track, he’s as serious as they come and always striving to make us better as a midfield group. He spends about five minutes doing his hair in the mirror before the game and at half time though – he might seem like a big tough guy, but he loves looking at himself in the mirror.”
What were you hoping to accomplish when you started out in the VFL? Was playing 100 games even a consideration?
NM: “My dad is a life member at the Northern Bullants and my grandfather played there briefly as well, so the second I finished in the TAC Cup I said: ‘Oh well, I’m off to the Bullants. Let’s see how we go.’ I still remember a few years into my VFL playing days, I was looking at the older blokes saying: ‘Geez, they’ve played 100 games and are still playing seniors every week.’ I didn’t think I’d ever get there.”
EC: “It not once crossed my mind that I’d stay so long at Williamstown. I suppose as an 18-year-old I was a bit upset I didn’t get drafted – footy was the world to me – so I was more worried about which would be the best club to go to for getting on an AFL list. As I got older I became more aware of where I really stood as a footballer and by the time I got to age 21 or 22, I really started enjoying my footy and realised playing at the top level wasn’t everything. That’s what Williamstown taught me – striving to play the best footy I could play at a great club was really what I wanted to do.”
Which personal traits and skills do you think have allowed you to play 100 VFL games?
NM: “I’m pretty stubborn and very competitive. With me, enough’s probably never enough. 50 games was the first aim, then I got there and said: ‘What do I do now? I’ll just get to 100.’”
EC: “Probably just resilience and grinding away at it. I’m not the flashiest player and I think my coach would tell you the same thing. If he gives me a job, I’ll do the job. I’m just there for the team – I’m not going to win you the game every week, but I’ll do what has to be done so someone else can do the flashy stuff.”
What have been the biggest changes for you personally over the journey?
NM: “People would probably argue differently, but I think I’ve gotten more professional the older I get. I don’t think about footy too much – well I do, but I go out and my role’s pretty simple. I go to the stoppages, tap it, tackle some people and move on. That was my nickname at the Northern Blues – ‘tap and wrap’. They don’t exactly call me ‘tap and wrap’ at Williamstown but they’ve pretty well cottoned on that that’s all I do.”
EC: “I think I’ve matured a lot and footy’s not everything for me anymore. It’s not something that’s do-or-die for me and it doesn’t set my mood. If I have a bad game, I don’t worry about it anymore – I’ve got other things going on in life.”
What has been your most memorable on-field moment?
NM: “Hands down, the flag last year. That was just the greatest thing and everything I wanted. Also in 2011 at Northern – after coming back from a year in local footy at West Preston – cracking into the senior team and playing a full year was a great experience. It was the same at Williamstown – by that stage I’d played 50 VFL games, but when I first got there I was the new bloke who had to earn respect from teammates and supporters, so playing some decent footy and getting people to really acknowledge you and like you for the effort you put in was quite a good feeling.”
EC: “Obviously last year’s premiership stands out as one of the best things that’s happened to me in my footy career. It was an incredible year, an incredible day. But also in 2013 when we were aligned with the Western Bulldogs, from midway through the season we had to win every game to make the finals and we won nine or ten in a row to get there. In the end, Geelong beat us in the preliminary final.”
Is there a particularly embarrassing or funny moment that sticks out in your mind?
NM: “I did a pretty shocking kick in my first season at Williamstown (2014) in the preliminary final. The game was in the balance against Box Hill, it dribbled into the middle of the ground and they ran in and kicked a goal. In the end we lost the game (by seven points). That gets brought up a bit.”
EC: “Footy trips are always the highlight of the year. We have a mantra – the mantra is: ‘Play hard and don’t miss a footy trip night’, and that’s what I like to stick to.”
What do you still hope to achieve in the VFL and what might the future hold?
NM: “The older I get, the more it’s just about team success. I want to be in a top-four side for as long as I play because that gives you a good chance to have a crack at a flag. I’m also a plumber, and I’m not very smart so I don’t see that changing any time soon! I’m working with the old man and hopefully later in life I have my own business once the VFL commitments die down.”
EC: “We had this conversation with (coach) Andrew Collins not long ago and we spoke about how ‘good’ VFL teams might win a premiership – and the undefeated Port Melbourne team of 2011 was a good team, but they only won one premiership. We want to be known as a team that’s won two or three premierships and makes people look back and think: ‘Gee, that was an incredible team.’ Outside of footy, I’m hoping to finish my honours in electrical engineering at the end of the year and then move into engineering professionally.”
* Photo: Nick Meese (left) and Ed Carr in action for Williamstown
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Last Modified on 01/06/2016 23:41
