NEWY REACHES 150 GAMES
Luke Newick celbrated his 150th game for Subiaco on Saturday. For Newy it wasnt the fairly tale victory he had been hoping for. In fact his 50th and 100th games were also losses.
Luke Newick has had a remarkable career with Subiaco, having played in 3 Reserves ans 4 League Premierships. For a player who originally wanted to play with West Perth he is now one of the most decorated players in the Club's history.
We join together in acknowledging and congratulating Luke on his wonderful achievement.
By Chris Pike
LUKE Newick could well be the best WAFL ruckman of the last decade with four premierships and four appearances for WA to show for it, and becomes a life member at Subiaco when he plays his 150th match on Saturday.
Newick had to do a long apprenticeship at Subiaco enjoying some reserves premiership success with 30 league games before becoming the No. 1 ruckman in 2004 and ever since has been a key contributor to the Lions' premierships in 04, 06, 07 and 08.
The 29-year-old has done well in the ruck contests, but then also played like another midfielder for most of his career with his long-kicking a feature.
A knee injury that he had operated on has meant he has had a slow start to the 2010 season and had him wondering if he should play on this year or not, but the lure of 150 games was too much and he's now delighted to reach the mark this Saturday against East Perth at Medibank Stadium.
Despite the losses, he has felt better the last fortnight and feels that he can get back to some strong form and that the team can also make a run towards its 13th straight finals campaign starting this Saturday against the Royals. "The last two weeks I have felt the best I have since August last year. It's a battle to not run on my knee too much and trying to keep off the weight, so it's a balancing act these days but it's coming along a bit better now," he said. "Losing in Alli Pickett's 150th was disappointing and I thought for a player of his ilk that we should have put in a better effort, but we can't help that now. As far as where we are going this year, it's a massive do-or-die game and definitely one that we really want to win. "We aren’t really playing as a team as of yet, but we got stitched up by the fixtures a little bit. We had three weeks off without football and that does affect a team, and then we've come off a five-day and six-day break, and haven’t had a seven-day break for a while, but hopefully we click soon." For much of Newick's career since the end of 2003 he has had to do most of the ruck work himself, but the arrival of former St Kilda big man Michael Rix last year has meant he has some help. He doesn’t much like being No. 2, though, and is hungry to get back to some strong form to at least help create the best ruck combination in the WAFL. "I don’t like being No. 2 to anyone, so I want to get fit and take my spot back, but he's a class player and is footy smart. He knows what he's doing, is good within the structures and is different than me with his tap work," he said. "He is more of a close-in ruckman where I like to knock it free, but it's good having two different styles for your ruckmen. I have never liked being No. 2 and I'd like to get to the level to challenge him, but at the end of the day I'm not sure I'll be able to get to that level this year because of my body. If my fitness continues to improve, though, we'll look to lead the way together." Newick deserves to go down as one of Subiaco's all-time great ruckmen after starring in all four premierships and also representing his state on four occasions. He will be glad to look back on everything he achieved once he finishes playing. "There's a few of us now that are getting up there to achieve these sorts of milestones and it will be good 10 years down the track when we all catch up for grand final anniversaries or any club functions. It will be good to have a network of guys who have had the same achievements," he said. "I've been thinking about how many different people I've met throughout the course of my career, not only the teammates but the supporters, support staff and everyone. It's an amazing array of people that you get to meet and the biggest thing that I will probably take out of football is the amount of people that I have met through my career."
Two people that Newick credits with having a massive influence on his career is the 2004 and 06 premiership coach Peter German, and club legend Alby Hawkins.
"I sing massive praises for Peter German, he's been my best coach and best mentor for my career out of everyone pretty much. He changed the whole mentality and culture of the club, but also myself," Newick said.
"There's a lot of players that didn’t always get along with him personally, but love his coaching ability. It was hard to love him but also hard to hate him for a lot of guys. At times I had a love-hate relationship with him and I was very outspoken and wore my heart on my sleeve with him, but we are now great mates and I love talking to him whenever I can. "He got the best out of me and came along at the right time for my career to put me on the right path. Alby Hawkins is one of my club favourites and he balanced me really well through those times. My body was in his hands and he does an amazing job so I sing his praises massively." Newick starred in the four premierships and has no doubt the 2004 success, Subiaco's first since 1988, was the standout. The memories of those triumphs continue to strive him on to help the Lions' back to the finals this year. "I really tried to set myself for the grand finals and tune my body to be at its peak by that time. I do like to put in extra effort in the grand finals and sometimes I find myself going through the motions in the middle of the season because it's a long haul and you have to be mentally strong," he said. "The first one definitely stands out. It was new and after experiencing three grand final wins in the reserves before that, so the first league one stood out. We went from constantly being a woulda been or coulda been premiers to actually achieving the goal and it was a great feeling for everyone. "It's hard to grip exactly what has changed, but obviously losing focal points like Brad Smith and Mapleston has a big impact. Us guys that were there during those times to draw on those experiences though." Being the ruckman to midfielders the calibre of Mark Haynes, Marc Webb, Allistair Pickett, David Robbins, Paul Vines, Chris Hall, Matt Priddis, Daniel Rich and Adam Cockie has helped Newick create Subiaco's dominant midfield, but there's some opponents he also has memories of going to battle with. "They certainly always complemented my rucking ability because I could hit it anywhere and they used to always get on the end of it, but our ball used to come out of our defence quickly which allowed me to sit on the wing and that made my career a lot easier and look a lot better. To play with those midfielders was bloody good," Newick said."Daniel Bandy for his running capabilities was the hardest for me to keep up with, but the one player I really got towelled up by was Rhys Croxford. He gave me the biggest hiding I've ever had when we played Claremont when I was 18 or 19. He racked up 44 possessions and that made me realise that league footy wasn’t as easy as I thought. My favourite rivals over the journey have probably been Adam Hay and Myles Quinn though. I set myself to play against those two."
