Eager young teenagers simply want to just get a look in the senior side and do a role for the coach. But most young players don’t have a twin brother that has already been nominated for the award.
When Collingwood’s Nathan Brown was nominated for the award in 2008, no one was happier for him than twin brother Mitchell.
While the young West Coast Eagle was delighted for his sibling’s nomination, he desperately wanted one of his own, but knew he had to wait to recover from the knee reconstruction he had at the start of the season.
“In my first year (2007), I was lucky enough to play some games, and Nath played in the VFL all year. He used that as a motivation, and it was his breakout year last year. With me not playing last year, I definitely used him as motivation. That is what I wanted to get and I set my sights on getting a nomination,” Brown said.
“It was one of my goals. I set two goals – I wanted to play 20 games and get a nomination for this award.”
Brown’s 22-disposal game against the Western Bulldogs last Saturday has helped him achieve the first of his season’s goals, with the second due in two weeks.
It is a decent achievement for a player who didn’t play at all in 2008.
“In terms of coming back from my knee injury last year and developing as a footballer, I‘ve been pretty happy with where I’m at so far. I’ve still got a long road to go, but everything’s on track so far,” he said.
Tough as it is to be on the other side of the continent from his twin brother, Brown says the pair speak as often as possible and are still as close as ever.
“I try and call him or at least text him every day. We played basketball together and kicked the footy around,” he said.
“There was a bit of a rivalry, but it wasn’t too bad. We brought each other through the highs and lows. We understand each other.”
The Browns grew up in the Victorian country town of Ballarat, but Mitch says it was an easy adjustment to life in Perth, where he lives with teammate Tim Houlihan.
“I’ve been here three years now, and I just signed another two-year contract. I’m pretty happy with the lifestyle over here,” he said.
“Coming from a country town like Ballarat, it suits me more than Melbourne would, I reckon. It’s nice, we’ve got the beaches, and the weather’s nice and warm over here.”
While 2009 hasn’t been West Coast’s year, Brown predicts that it won't be long until they are up the other end of the ladder.
“I’m a strong believer in that. I think we have a pretty good young group, and there are some good young players like (Nic) Naitanui and (Chris) Masten,” Brown said.
“We’ve definitely got the group to take this club forward.”
