WHEN Brendon Ah Chee becomes the 155th man to wear a Port Adelaide guernsey in the AFL on Saturday night, he will complete a long, challenging journey to the highest level of football in Australia.
In doing so, he begins another journey – one where he bears the responsibility of an AFL player to continually push his case for selection every single week.
But he’s been doing that for almost a year.
Ah Chee has battled his way to an AFL debut through three years of injury, form swings and internal line battles as he fights to match it with the club’s increasingly elite midfielders.
Few realise how swift Ah Chee’s rise has been in 12 months.
From reserves player at the beginning of 2013, Ah Chee was forced to lift his game as a dedicated League player in the SANFL last season.
Having had indifferent form for the first half of the 2014 SANFL season, Ah Chee blitzed home in the back end of the year to poll the fourth highest number of votes over the last nine rounds and finals, behind Kane Mitchell, Tom Clurey and Magpies skipper Steve Summerton.
He was best on ground against South Adelaide in the preliminary final.
That he’s playing his first AFL game in his fourth season is no less remarkable when you consider he has been living on the brink of a career end.
Originally recruited with pick 45 in the 2011 national draft as a project midfielder on a two-year deal, Ah Chee penned a one-year contract for last season and another to remain on the list in 2015.
It seems that hard work, and persistence, has finally paid off for the West Australian.
Port Adelaide midfield development coach Jacob Surjan has seen that journey evolve as both Ah Chee's teammate - in 2012 - and as an assistant SANFL coach in 2014 and this season.
The half-forward's running ability and big body has developed under Port's famous black-and-white guernsey over two senior seasons.
But it was a sit-down with SANFL coach Garry Hocking that Surjan says gave Ah Chee the boost he needed last year.
“'Arch' has had to put in a lot of work, having come to us really raw as a kid from South Fremantle," Surjan told portadelaidefc.com.au.
“He’s put more work to get to where he is than any other kid I’ve seen, there’s been a lot of goodwill towards the guy.
“It all stemmed from a conversation he had with Garry Hocking about where he was going and what he wanted to get out of football.
“He took on the feedback Garry gave him - in a pretty honest exchange as well – and went on to be one of our leading vote-getters and finish the season really strong.
“He took that form into pre-season and played really good pre-season football in the NAB Challenge.
"You’ve got to reward good form.”
Ah Chee, too, acknowledged 2015 would be a make-or-break season for him – one where he needed to be aggressive, and take every opportunity.
“I’ve got nothing to lose,” Ah Chee said in February, “I’ve got to give it everything and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Having given it everything to reach Saturday night’s debut, Ah Chee must now find a new level as he plays in an intense AFL game.
The stage he will run onto is unlike any he would have played on before.
It’s a level above pre-season football in the NAB Challenge, and its light years ahead of state-level competition in the SANFL.
But he’s been shown faith by his coaching panel, and even senior coach Ken Hinkley has been impressed by Ah Chee’s impressive pre-season form.
“‘Arch’ has had to battle with injury all the way through [his career] and I clearly remember telling him at the start of last year that he was starting from a long, long way back,” Hinkley said.
“First, he needed to establish himself at SANFL level with the Magpies, and through last year he was right on the edge of that League standard.
“By the end of the season he managed to get himself to the point where we as a list management committee thought there was something there that we were prepared to stick with and give him the chance.”
Ah Chee’s finish to the 2014 season was enough to win him a contract this year, and it’s a deserved opportunity.
“We backed him in, knowing he’d never had a great pre-season ever in his time,” Hinkley said.
“Now, he’s had a faultless pre-season, his form right through trials, training and games has allowed him to deliver as a big-bodied inside midfielder, with real power.
“His performances for the Magpies, albeit with only one official game and a few trials, has him being one of the best for the Magpies so far.
“He more than deserves his opportunity and its exciting having another first-gamer for the football club.”
