Jamie McNamara is having an outstanding WAFL season on return to East Fremantle having overcome the disappointment of West Coast delisting him and now he wants to make the most of the Sharks' first finals appearance since 2002.
East Fremantle sat back on the weekend with the bye waiting to see whether it would be East Perth or West Perth coming to East Fremantle Oval this Sunday to play in the first semi-final.
In the end East Perth beat Claremont to book that spot and now the Sharks are preparing for their first finals appearance in eight years and McNamara is hoping his, and East Fremantle's, tremendous season kicks on beyond Sunday.
McNamara showed good signs in his 19 games between 2007-09 for West Coast and would have been a key member of the Eagles' midfield this season, but coach John Worsfold showed him the door and he has responded in the best possible way.
The 22-year-old has averaged over 24 possessions a game, can win the hard ball, has good hands in close and has been using the ball well by foot. He is happy with his 2010 season so far and hopes there might be some AFL interest again, but that's not his focus just yet.
"It has been a good year. The body is feeling really good and I've strung together 20 or so games this year, which has been fantastic," McNamara said.
"I'm starting to use the ball pretty well and getting my run going as well, which is great leading into finals. Your footy really has to do the talking before you can start staking your claim. Certainly if I got picked up and got a second chance I wouldn’t disappoint."
McNamara's disappointment at being delisted has grown as 2010 has rolled on seeing how he could have helped West Coast's struggling midfield, but he was never going anywhere but East Fremantle, where he played before and during his time with the Eagles, and is now delighted with the move.
"It was very disappointing to get delisted, but I've really just put that behind me now and focused on playing good footy this year. At 22 years of age with a bit of AFL experience I feel ready to jump back into an AFL team, it's just a matter of if I get that opportunity or not," he said.
"I really didn’t look elsewhere to be honest. I've always played good footy here and they've always been really good to me. With the year we've now had and the way the boys have gone about it has been really good, so I'm glad I came back."
McNamara has been part of some East Fremantle sides that have struggled during the club's longest ever dry spell without a finals appearance, and has now seen the improvement made under coach Shane Woewodin and a young playing group that now deserves a home final this Sunday.
"It's been since 2002 that we last played finals and it's a credit to the players and coaches to get us to where we are now at this point in the season. All the boys are in a good space right now and it's an enjoyable place to be," McNamara said.
"We've got better structures and systems in place this season, and that's come from Woey and the players as well. We've got a strong leadership group as well, but I've been under Woey for three years and watching him develop as a coach has been great, and he's been influential on me.
"We want to get as many supporters down there as we can for the game and even if you haven’t come down all year, we'd like you to come down for this one to make up for it. I don’t reckon any side would want to come up against us in the finals because we could cause some upsets."
The Sharks were in a bad rut heading into the last bye in Round 18 going in with four straight losses, but that quickly turned around and they now enter the finals after four consecutive wins.
McNamara puts much of the confidence now going into Sunday down to finally beating Subiaco for the first time in eight years in Round 21.
"We didn’t want to look too far ahead, but before the Subi game we briefly spoke about how important that one was to us and when we did win it we were really set up with finishing third in our own hands," he said.
"That was really important and then to have a good win against Peel to make sure of this spot was really good for the boys' confidence. We are now prepared for East Perth this week after half our group watched them, and the other half went and watched West Perth."
McNamara has been a key midfielder alongside Mark McGough and Kym Monteath along with exciting young players this season. He hopes their form continues this Sunday and that captain Kasey Green's career continues into next week as well.
"The midfield has been good this year and we've had a lot of contributors with Goughy, Monteath and some young guys. We've got a good mix of inside ball getters and outside receivers, especially with some of the young players like (Jamie) Cripps and both Fasolo brothers," McNamara said.
"Greeny has just been outstanding the way he's come back to East Fremantle and the way he's handled himself around the club. Everyone looks up to him and we want to send him out on the best note possible because he has been a true servant of East Fremantle."
McNamara is one of only a handful of East Fremantle players with finals experience as well and that is a night he will never forget when he played well after being a late replacement for the extra-time thriller that West Coast ended up losing to Collingwood in 2007.
"I guess you can say that I've got finals experience, which is fantastic, and the level of intensity definitely lifts. We've got a lot of young players in the group and we want to make sure they are ready to go with their heads in the right place," he said.
"It was pretty surreal and I remember standing up there lining up for the national anthem before the game and the crowd was all up on their feet. That's when it hit me that I was actually playing and I was a bit shaky early, but got a few possessions under my belt and went OK after that.
"To play in a final was crazy enough, but to then play in a draw was unbelievable. It was definitely a great experience."
