Backman Trent McKenzie recorded his 150th AFL game on Saturday, celebrating in style with a win over West Coast.
Speaking with the media on Wednesday, the defender admitted he wasn’t sure he would ever reach the milestone, particularly after being delisted by Gold Coast at the end of 2017.
Finding a new home at Port Adelaide the following season, McKenzie has now entered his sixth year at Alberton and is feeling settled in the backline.
McKenzie on his 150th AFL game
“I’ve had some ups and downs definitely, so to be able to run out there on my 150th and get the win was pretty special for me and my family and to play (it) at this great club was definitely an honour.
“I think I played (106 games) at the Gold Coast so to come here and think about 150, I didn’t think I’d ever get there…there have been a lot of ups and downs. There have been a lot of positive times and a lot of hard times as well. I suppose you just stick at it and eventually these things come. You don’t probably look toward them, when they’re going to come, but when they do, it’s a great feeling.”
McKenzie on the turning point for him at Port Adelaide
“I suppose you go through different runs of form, and I've had a few injuries so to get back there and then play some consistent footy (is what I was looking to do). I suppose I had a good finals series in the SANFL a few years ago and that probably gave me a lot of confidence to go from there. The preseason after that finals series as well was probably a turning point in my career. (I learned to) just to stick at it when times are tough.”
McKenzie on his game strengths
“I try to set up the whole backline from the deepest part of the ground so I probably see the whole thing and use my communication to set that up…I think defensively I’m pretty tough to play on and that’s how I want to play my footy so if my opponent’s not kicking goals, then I’m doing my job.
“I don’t do it all by myself, that's the good thing about our defence is we all work together and talk and communicate together, so that's why we are pretty strong.”
McKenzie on his body, post-ankle injury
“It's good. Obviously, I had a couple of weeks off with the ankle injury after Round 1 but that's feeling good now and hopefully I can play out the rest of the season injury-free. It was just a few ligaments that were torn, there’s still a little bit of stiffness there that I’ll have to deal with but it's feeling pretty good.”
McKenzie on his side’s backline depth
“Obviously we lose a couple of soldiers this week (Tom Jonas with a one-match ban and Kane Farrell with injury) but we've seen a few boys that have come in and played their role. Dylan Williams has been fantastic so whoever does get the job down there I’m sure will do a great job. We work well, it doesn’t matter who it is, we try to work together as well as we can.”
McKenzie on the possibility of Charlie Dixon returning from injury this week
“He looked alright (at training today and) I was on him for a bit there. He’s moving pretty well, the big fella, so hopefully he comes in. I’m not too sure how he finished off (today). He'll work through that and he will be ready to go if he does come back in. He’s obviously a big combative forward, brings a lot of experience and he’s going to have to bring all that to St Kilda who are a good defensive side so it's going to be tough to score at times. Hopefully he just brings the contest and gets on the end of a few (goals) if he does play.”
McKenzie on playing St Kilda
“We'll work through (the game plan) mainly tomorrow, we did train a little bit (of it) out there today. Just trying to beat them with the fast movement, I think that's probably going to be the best thing. Obviously, they're going to be tough to play against, they've got some good players down back, obviously Dougal Howard, (our) old teammate, so it will be good to get a few goals on him.
“It’s going to be a bit different to what we've been used to the last few weeks…we'll have a bit more of a chat about it tomorrow and work out a way to beat their defence.”
