\n A trip to Northam for the Eagles\u2019 Community Camp doubled as a special homecoming\n <\/p>\n
\n By westcoasteagles.com.au\n <\/p>\n
West Coast Eagles recruit Dev Robertson enjoyed a heartfelt homecoming on Tuesday as the club travelled to Northam for its annual Community Camp.<\/p>\n
The camp gave the midfielder the chance to revisit the town where his football journey began and the classrooms of St Joseph\u2019s Primary School, where he was once a student.<\/p>\n
Robertson stayed the night with his dad, who still lives locally, and said the return stirred plenty of memories.<\/p>\n
Now aged 24 and with 47 AFL games to his credit, Robertson knows firsthand the impact community visits can have on young kids.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got fond memories of this place. It\u2019s great to be back,\u201d Robertson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI distinctly remember Eagles players coming out when I was at school.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing the people you look up to in the flesh makes it all feel possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I can inspire even one or two kids to chase AFL footy, that\u2019d mean a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
After spending the past few months adjusting following his move from the Brisbane Lions, Robertson said he has settled into life back in WA and into a training program he describes as highly competitive and energised.<\/p>\n
\u201cTraining\u2019s been great, super competitive this time of year,\u201d Robertson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re into more match simulation now and the competition for spots is hot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe boys are going really well. It\u2019s an exciting year coming up for the club and I\u2019m stoked to be home and part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite arriving from the league\u2019s back-to-back premiers, Robertson said there was little difference between the clubs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s pretty similar in a lot of aspects,\u201d Robertson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing you can never take away from the guys here is their attitude and their willingness to learn and get better, and that\u2019s the attributes I’ve seen at the best club in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Robertson pushes for early-season selection, he says his aim is simple – to earn his spot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m certainly doing everything I can with my training,\u201d Robertson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m under no illusion to be walking into the midfield.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ll be doing everything I can to work my way up and hopefully I\u2019ll be selected for round one, but it’ll be tough.\u201d<\/p>\n
A familiar face has helped ease the transition, with former Brisbane teammate Brandon Starcevich also joining West Coast during the trade period.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lived with \u2018Starce\u2019 for a bit in Brisbane, so having him here has been great,\u201d Robertson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not just a special player, he\u2019s a great person and exactly the type of character the club wanted. And now he\u2019s in the leadership group, he\u2019s going to be massive for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the more surreal aspects of his return has been working closely with Eagles premiership player and former captain Luke Shuey, who is now the club\u2019s stoppage coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up a massive West Coast fan,\u201d Robertson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo now sit in a room with Shuey and bounce ideas around, it\u2019s pretty surreal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A trip to Northam for the Eagles\u2019 Community Camp doubled as a special homecoming By westcoasteagles.com.au West Coast…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-457558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}