Following his selection in the senior side last week, Fremantle forward Tanner Smith spoke of the challenges he had faced so far in his AFL journey that ultimately led to him kicking his first career goal against the Lions on Saturday.
The game wasn’t necessarily in the balance at the time as Freo were up by 59 points, but Smith managed to find the funny side in his post-goal celebration.
“I was pretty excited but the boys didn’t seem to be because we were up by quite a bit at that stage,” Smith laughed.
“I kind of celebrated by myself for a bit but then they all got around me which was really exciting and something I’ll never forget.”
We'll continue to invest in our youth: Lyon
Smith said that while kicking his first career goal was a bonus, he went into the Lions clash with a simple mentality.
“Ross (Lyon) brought it up at the start of the game, he just wanted us to compete and that was my focus going in,” he said.
“Whatever happened after that was all good and I was lucky enough to be involved around the goals and finish with a few assists but the priority was just to make sure I was always competing as hard as possible.”
Smith lined up for much of the game on Lions defensive stalwart Daniel Merrett and said he took a lot out of the experience of playing on such a quality opponent.
“Merrett has obviously played a lot of footy and brings plenty of experience to the table,” he said.
“Playing on him taught me a few things with my movement, body work and the way I have to play.”
Tucker sees great signs for Freo's future
While Smith’s performance in just his third game of football was a highlight of Freo’s 83-point win, the key forward said his night was made easier by the play of his forward line teammates Matt Taberner, Hayden Ballantyne, Chris Mayne and Lachie Weller.
“All those guys absolutely blitzed it on Saturday night,” he said.
“It was really good to have the smaller guys at our feet and Matt (Taberner) really helped out structurally and led from the front the whole night.
“It was a real credit to the entire group.”
