All-Australian defender Jeremy McGovern speaks about his pride in playing 150 games for the club he loves

From the moment he first walked into the West Coast Eagles doors as a skinny teenager, Jeremy McGovern aspired to one day become a life member of the club. McGovern will play his 150th AFL game for the Eagles on Saturday and receive life membership of the club he loves. The 29-year-old is a premiership player, four time All-Australian and John Worsfold Medal runner-up. Taken as a rookie by the Eagles in 2011, he made his AFL debut in 2014 and has gone on to become one of the best intercept defenders in the competition. Hailing from Albany, McGovern said he was humbled to join the Eagles 150 club. “It has been a long time coming but I’ve ended up making it,” McGovern said. “Everyone has different paths but for me personally this means so much. “When I walked into the footy club on day one I remember seeing all the 150-gamers on the wall and it is something you always dream of so to become a life member of the footy club you love and the club that backed you in means everything to me.” McGovern will lead the Eagles out in his milestone match, with captain Luke Shuey sidelined with a calf injury. A laid-back footballer who loves his camping and fishing, McGovern hopes the club can find some decent highlights for the video package that gets put together when a player reaches a milestone. “I have plenty of family and friends coming to the game,” he said. “Darcy (Reader) and the boys have organised a box. “I’d rather be playing with Boots (Shuey) but it will be pretty cool to captain it. “You get a few messages of congratulations and past teammates reach out which is nice. “There is a video highlights package that gets played during the week to the players and staff and you hope the crew making that get some good snippets of you.” The Eagles sit seventh on the ladder with five rounds left in the regular season and the high-flying defender is confident they can play a part in the finals. “Every week is extremely important to us no matter who we play, especially for us given the position we’ve put ourselves in,” McGovern said. “That’s what we are aspiring to do, win as many games as we can and get ourselves in the best possibly position at the back end of the season to be in the hunt.” McGovern’s 150th is part of a string of milestones after ruckman Nic Naitanui played his 200th game last week and former captain and Eagles champion Shannon Hurn will play his 300th game against Collingwood next week if he gets through this week’s clash with St Kilda at Optus Stadium unscathed.