Emerging ruckman Lloyd Meek would love nothing more than to break through for his AFL debut, but he’s not making it his primary focus.
Meek, who recently signed a two-year extension at Fremantle, has his AFL future secured until at least the end of the 2021 season.
The 21-year-old knows that if he uses this time well, his ultimate goal will take care of itself.
“You never want to put all your eggs in one basket. In the past at any level of footy, you can tend to be riding on whether you’re picked or not,” Meek said.
“You can stress yourself so much if you think about it all. For me, I’ve just got to keep training hard, going hard, trying to play well in the WAFL, if that’s where it is.
“For me, I can sometimes overcomplicate things. To be able to break it all down and really simplify things, it’s helped me. Looking forward, that will be a goal to not getting clouded by selection.
“I just want to focus on my brand of footy and I think that will really help me going forward.”
If anything, it was injury more than performance that kept Meek out of the Fremantle line-up.
Against Swan Districts in round 12, Meek played a career-best game but also sustained a season-ending injury in the final minutes.
He had 36 hitouts, 20 disposals, six marks, six tackles and two goals prior to coming off the ground.
Meek hopes to build on the performance.
“It is funny how things work isn’t it? All year you prepare yourself for playing that one big game and the breakout,” Meek said.
“But I probably wouldn’t call it a breakout game just yet, I hope and I feel that I’ve still got a long way to go.
“It was nice to get it under my belt and it’s funny, if I had injured my foot in the first three minutes instead of the last three minutes, you wonder if things would be any different.
“But I don’t think (the contract) was riding on one game but it definitely helped me.
“If anything, it’s just given me a lot more confidence which I can hopefully, bring into the 2020 season and beyond.”
