PORT Adelaide defender Aliir Aliir has heaped praise on Sydney's past leaders for helping transform him into an AFL star and a role model among the Australian African community.
Aliir will notch his 150-game milestone at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night, and ironically it will come against the team where he started his career.
The 29-year-old was snared by Sydney with pick No.44 in the 2013 national draft and he played 64 games for the Swans before being traded to Port at the end of 2020.
Aliir was born in a Kenyan refugee camp to South Sudanese parents and moved to Australia when he was eight years old.
The athletic big man was a raw talent when he arrived at Sydney in 2013, and thanked the Swans' leaders for pushing him to greater heights.
"It took me three years at the Swans to make my debut," Aliir told reporters on Wednesday.
"There were times that I thought I was never going to play a game. I thought I'd just be in the system and then go back and play local.
"I was grateful I went to a club like the Swans, because the leaders they had there - I had Rhyce Shaw, Jarrad McVeigh, Kieren Jack, Adam Goodes.
"These guys really taught me what hard work was.
"Being in the system, I was just relying on my natural talent, and that can only get you so far.
"I'd be doing my running and I'd have Rhyce Shaw screaming in the back of my ear, 'You've got more in you'.
"At the time I hated him, but I can understand why he was pushing me and wanting me to get better."
Now a star at AFL level, Aliir hopes his journey to 150 games will inspire others who come from similar backgrounds.
"It does mean a lot considering where I've come from and not growing up with the game," Aliir said.
"I hope it gives a chance to the African youth ... given an opportunity you can do anything with your life.
"For every year that I'm in the system the more I've embraced being that role model.
"It's an opportunity to showcase what I do on the footy field.
"But the bigger impact I can have is on people of colour, people from different backgrounds, seeing someone on TV they're not usually seeing.
"Hopefully it gives them a hope to want to do something in life and to want to be able to chase being a professional athlete or do something different in life rather than getting into trouble."
Aliir also opened up on his drop in form earlier this season, revealing he was often caught in two minds of going for the ball or bodying up to his opponent.
He said coach Ken Hinkley and defence coach Tyson Goldsack helped him regain his mojo by encouraging him to play on instinct.
Port (12-7) sits in seventh spot, but a win over ladder leader Sydney would put it right in the hunt for a top-four berth.
