The Werribee Football Club is thrilled to have Ben McKinley back at the club. Ben played the last few years at Werribee as a North Melbourne listed player but committed to the Tigers after he was delisted by the Kangaroos. He spent the first half of the season in Perth completing his Law Degree. He tells his story to Werribee Media Manager Kevin Hillier.
KH : You did the pre season was it always your hope to come back to Melbourne?
BM: I did pre season with Werribee to keep my options open. I had always hoped to come back to Melbourne, but with the state of the economy I was unsure of where I could get a job, so I was guided by that. I wasn’t totally set on playing footy at all this year, but I wanted to give myself the chance by doing pre season, and giving myself a base to work from if I decided to play.
KH: What did you do to keep fit in Perth?
BM: In Perth I trained with East Perth (the club I was affiliated to in the WAFL when with West Coast) 3 nights a week, and did extra running and weights on top of that.
KH: How did you find coming back and playing with so many new faces?
BM: Doing pre season with Werribee gave me an opportunity to meet most of the new faces early on, and when I got back to Melbourne during semester break and other times, I came down to Werribee for the games. So I got to know most of the other guys I didn’t already know
KH: You seem to have picked up where you left off?
BM: I’m not sure that I’ve picked up where I left off, there are still some things I am not doing in games that I was doing really well at the end of last year. Adapting to match conditions and tempo has taken a little bit longer than I’d have liked, but I’m working into it, and hopefully I can get back to playing good footy and help the team push hard into finals.
KH: Is there some unfinished business after the way last year finished?.
BM: Definitely. Like I said, I had intended to hang the boots up at the end of last year but with how the final ended last season it really burnt me. and was one of the main reasons for turning up for pre season. I was really disappointed with the dropped mark at the end of that game. and still think about what could have been. We had a really good squad last year, and we were playing excellent team footy towards the end of the year. Hopefully we can get together like that this year, and go a few wins better in the finals
KH: Tell us about your new job?
BM :I’ve been really fortunate that a few people at Werribee have been able to get me interviews with 2 firms. I have been lucky enough to be given a job at Holding Redlich. I don’t know much about the job yet, but I do know I start this month and I’m very excited about starting with them. First impressions are that they are a great firm, that I will learn a great deal from, and hopefully, I can be a good acquisition for them also.
Last Modified on 09/07/2013 09:27