Long-serving midfielder-turned-defender Drew Banfield, the only remaining premiership player on the West Coast Eagles’ list, spoke openly about the latter stages of his career in the September issue of the Eagle Eye magazine.To get an idea of the dedication Drew Banfield applies to his trade, perhaps it is best to reveal his determination to succeed at one of his favourite pastimes. Surfing.Banfield, like many of his teammates, enjoys the opportunity to hit the waves. Like Chad Fletcher, Ben Cousins, Tyson Stenglein and many more he enjoys the exhilaration of standing atop a mass of surging, frothing energy, cutting back into the face of the break and riding it in to shore.Unlike Fletcher, Cousins and Stenglein, though, Banfield did not grow up in the surf.His home was on the family farm, near Quairading, 160km east of Perth, in the West Australian wheatbelt. As a rule there’s not much of a swell in the dams.But the man they call Trojan, an obvious reference to his work rate, developed his appetite for the surf when he came to Perth for boarding school. A trip to the beach has become an essential release for the bullocking midfielder, although training commitments mean he doesn’t get there as often as he would like.And there are parallels between his hobby and his sport. Banfield ranks as the most successful No.1 draft selection in AFL history, certainly in the number of games played. He was also a member of the West Coast Eagles premiership team in 1994 and heading into this finals campaign, only Glen Jakovich, Guy McKenna and Peter Matera had represented the club more.The 1996 Club Champion has been a wonderful contributor to the club. Right from the outset.He was drafted in 1992 with a view to replacing a man of similar quality, another Subiaco product, Dwayne Lamb. An original Eagle, Lamb excelled as a run-with player through the midfield and played 150 games, but as his career came to a close club recruiting staff saw a natural replacement in Banfield.While he has been a tremendous success story, there have been times in the last five years when his career also appeared on the line.The first of those instances surfaced as the 2002 season loomed. In round nine of the previous season, Banfield suffered a serious knee injury against the Western Bulldogs at Subiaco and carried a distinctive hobble months later when pre-season training was in full swing.The second occasion came in round one last year, coincidentally against the Bulldogs again, this time at Telstra Dome when he hyper-extended his knee and looked in serious trouble.“I hyper-extended the knee against the Bulldogs here in about round 9 in 2001 and I hoped to get back before the end of the season, but that wasn’t the case,” Banfield reflected. “We were having a bit of trouble with the bone bruising and for some reason it wasn’t just settling down.“By the time pre-season came around in Woosha’s first year in 01-02, things were still up in the air about what was really wrong with it. I gave it a good tweak just before Christmas and the doctors recommended taking most of January off, keeping off it and doing non-weight bearing exercises which was a bit of a setback for me because I wanted to keep my fitness up.“That was May to January, I ended up getting a couple of cortisones in it and it seemed to do the trick. I was a bit worried about it and it certainly wasn’t going to plan. The doctors seemed unable to give me any real answers as to why it was behaving the way it was. It generally came back to a time situation, but you get pretty frustrated when you get told time is what you need and it has already been eight months.“Fortunately things turned around for me in February and March and I managed to play a couple of pre-season games. I played for Subi and was available for round one which I played in.“In 2004 it was a similar injury except I did a bit more damage. It was slightly different and I was fortunate enough to recover from it and come back for round 14. They always said it was going to be about a 10 week injury, I played three games with Subi, it went all right there and then I came back in after the bye.“It ended up working out alright for me. Over that period of time I got to thinking that this might be the last roll of the dice, so let’s give it everything. Because I did a bit of ligament damage, the doctors were adamant that I should not cause any sudden movement in the knee for six weeks. So basically for six weeks I was unable to do anything.“Then, as soon as they gave me the green light, I got hold of Glenn Stewart (Sports Science Manager) and started to work on my sprints. With his help I was able to get movement back into my knee first time around so when I did it again I went straight back to him. He was important in me getting the knee and legs back into what is required to play league footy.“After the break it was a good turn around for the club and great to be a part of it. We made a silent pact to have a go at it last year and we were on a bit of a quest, knowing that if we dropped too many games that was the end of the season.“It was great to be part of the team and have a crack at making the finals. Across the board, being a part of the backline more, we worked on a set seven or eight players going through the backline and again we have been able to do that this year and we are getting used to playing alongside each other.“We have developed an understanding of each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”When Banfield arrived at the club for the summer of ’93 he came to an organisation that had played in successive grand finals and contained some of the eminent players in the competition…Peter Matera, Guy McKenna, John Worsfold, Dean Kemp, Chris Lewis, Peter Sumich, Chris Mainwaring, to name a few.He sees some similarity now for young players coming into the West Coast system, though this group still has much to achieve to draw comparisons to the achievements of their predecessors.“When I joined it was a pretty awesome unit,” he said. “They were a well developed group of hardened players that had already played in two grand finals and had won one of them. They were well and truly entrenched in the formula required to take them to the top so I was lucky enough to be part of that. It certainly helped my football to train and play with teammates who were at the top of the game.“You hope you rise up their standards. This squad is one that really wants to make their own piece of history. Across the board it is probably a younger squad.“If you are in the shoes of the younger guys you want to make sure you are doing everything you can to give yourself the opportunity to play AFL footy. To rub shoulders with Cuz, Juddy, Chad Fletcher and Embers, take that opportunity to fast track your football when you’re at that age. You want to take your opportunity and learn as much as you can.“I give them advice when I can. In training sessions where I might be playing back pocket against a young Mitch Morton or Mark Le Cras I just give them a few tips that might work against backmen they will come up against. Phil Matera fills them in with ideas as well.“It is something I have evolved into. There was no lack of leaders when I joined the club. There were guys I learned my trade from, like a Don Pyke, Tony Evans and Dean Kemp. Without getting a role as a leader at the club they could well and truly fill the spot. Then there were captains and vice-captains like John Worsfold, Guy McKenna and Michael Brennan who certainly led the team very well.“We went through a couple of tough years. We had to get back into the expectations of winning, which are fairly important. We have a great confidence in each year and with the young guys coming up I really wanted to be a part of it. Looking back on last year, playing the last 10 games, I thought it would be great to be a part of the 2005 campaign.”