In the AFL, you have the chance to be a lot more flexible in your life and it allows you to relax a hell of a lot more. You do train that touch harder than at the WAFL level, but the hours aren’t as demanding and you haven’t got that full-time job that you have to apply yourself to, you can just solely focus on your footy.

What I find, though, is that when I do get some time I try to get away from work and footy altogether. Katie and I have a lot of common interests obviously otherwise we wouldn’t be married, so we try to go out for dinner or to see a movie on a Sunday and escape from football completely. I find myself now not watching a hell of a lot of footy compared to when I was at AFL level just because you need that switch off time especially on a Sunday when I wake up a couple of hours later, not rush to have breakfast and get to work by 7. We try and get out and have a bit of a relaxing day on the Sunday whether it's an extended lunch with a couple of coffees looking over the beach or whatever helps relax to get away from it all.

Balance plays such a big part and once you get the balance right in your life, the footy takes care of itself. Even Brendan Lee has found that. He has come back this year after experiencing 12 months on the Essendon list and that has made him grow as a person, and a footballer. I've been lucky and I try to pass on a few of the things I learned over nine years in the AFL to the younger guys and even the coaching staff to try and help East Perth be a better place, better team and more enjoyable environment. Once you enjoy your footy, you tend to find that you play at a better level.

I'm finding that is really helping me to switch off where at AFL level you prepare to play a couple of days out from the game and then after footy you have all the recovery the next day and all of that. It does tend to take its toll a little bit more on the body but you do get a lot more relaxing time during the week where you get to switch off and go and sit in a cafe, and relax a bit.

I've been pretty lucky that at East Perth the guys have been great and welcomed me into the club since day dot. I've built some really good relationships with a lot of the guys and I'm really enjoying what I do at work as well with City Motors. I sell cars to the fleeting companies and other businesses so I meet a lot of interesting people who run massive companies that you dream of being part of one day. I go to work and go to training, and they are completely different environments. The stress of putting up a performance to play well and stay in the team or get up into the team at AFL level takes its toll over time, but I look at footy as purely enjoyment now. I love playing footy and have been playing since I was four years of age. The thing that scares is what I fill that gap with in three or four years time.

At the moment I work in the fleet department but the good thing about AHG is that there are so many different departments where if you have enough of one area, you can move into another. You've got used cars, service, paint and panel, new cars, finance and there's a lot of choices there that you can. Then there are manager roles so it's a huge industry I'm part of and I was lucky enough to be given an opportunity and I'm really enjoying it.