Meese played his juniors at West Preston before moving onto the then Northern Bullants. After struggling to break into the Bullants team in 2009 due to injuries and Carlton players getting preference, Meese accepted an offer to return to West for the 2010 season.
And what a season it was, with Meese captaining the team to the Division 1 premiership and also winning the league best & fairest in the process.
Meese’s successful season saw him heading back to the Northern Blues, where he has played since, enjoying his time there and playing good footy.
Nick Meese first started as a junior at West, not because he “was mad keen about footy” but because a few of best mates were playing and he wanted to run around and have some fun. When he first got to West his uncle was president and his older cousin, Shaun Barker a now 300 gamer for West, was playing juniors.
After playing for West through his juniors, Meese played for the Northern Knight’s in the under 18’s competition before getting picked up to play for the Northern Bullants. After a tough 2009 in which he was selected as emergency in the Bullants 2009 grand final, he simply couldn’t miss the opportunity to win a flag at West Preston.
Although he didn’t let everyone know, Meese “expected high things from West in 2010”.As well as a confidence in West’s list at the time, it was his love for the club that drew him back. Meese said that “as in every season, they had their ups and downs” and that it was the fact that they “had to win every final to keep going” that was made it so enjoyable.
But after captaining a side to the premiership and winning the league best & fairest in the process, there was always the inevitability of offers coming, and it was a return to the Northern Blues for Meese.
Leaving West Preston-Lakeside at the end of the 2010 season was “the hardest thing” of Meese’s footy career but winning the flag helped as he “didn’t want to once again finish 2nd or 3rd and then the next year miss out [on a premiership]”.
During his time at the Northern Blues, Meese spent a year under the captaincy of current West Preston Lakeside coach Frankie Raso. Meese says that Raso was a “fantastic captain”, and that he coaches in a similar way to how he captained.
When Meese came back to West earlier this season for a game, he says that Raso let play his own game and just steered him, “like he did when he was captain”.
As for the Northern Blues this season, Meese says they’ve “been up and down” and have a “hit a rough patch lately”. He believes that they’re playing in lapses at the moment and need to string together 4 quarters in order to compete with the top teams.
Despite the team currently sitting at 5 wins and 7 losses, Meese has to be commended on his personal form. He has continued from where he left off last year; a year in which he was selected as starting ruckman in the VFL team of the year. Meese is again proving himself as one of the premier ruckmen in the league, and that he can also go forward and kick goals.
He’s pretty happy with his own form, saying he’s “playing pretty good footy” but it sometimes hasn’t been enough when Shaun Hampson or Robert Warnock come down from Carlton, which has pushed him to the seconds.
At his time at the Blues, it’s the smaller players who have taught him the most about his rucking, in particular AFL 100 gamer Brock McLean. McLean, who he spent a bit time with in the 2011 season, helped Meese develop his ruckwork by “demanding it goes where they’d said”. Meese says that McLean helped him realise that it’s not just about tapping the ball, but putting into the right spots.
Meese enjoys playing at VFL level and would “love the opportunity” if it arose to play AFL, but he’s taking it year by year and just wants to play at the highest level that he can. But he also says that he hasn’t been offered the opportunity yet and he “[isn’t] holding his breath” for one to come soon.
As for a return to West Preston Lakeside in the future, Meese says that “West Preston is home” and that he “will get back”. West Preston is where it all began for Meese and he will be back again. He also hopes to make it family affair saying that “West is where he’d like his son to play”.
Meese is a highly respected person at West Preston Lakeside and everyone would love to see him return. Football Manager Paul McInerney said of Meese that he was the ideal captain for such a critical time in the clubs history, and also that he is “very strong in the ruck and in marking contests”. McInerney also commended Meese on “his second and third efforts” around the ground, stating that he has a “really strong presence both on and off the field”.
Ryan Leaver
Last Modified on 12/09/2015 18:13