10 years after Port Adelaide’s AFL grand final disaster, Justin Westhoff is dreaming of the big dance again
FOR Justin Westhoff, the build up to Port Adelaide’s elimination final tonight will start the same as any other day.
FOR Justin Westhoff, the build up to Port Adelaide’s elimination final on Saturday night will start the same as any other day.
No sleep-in, no long, leisurely breakfast, instead while most of his teammates are still in bed he’ll be up by 6.30am to run around after three kids.
“You tend to be up when they’re up and managing time around them,” Westhoff said.
“About 6.30am which is not too bad but it could be worse, and I’m a morning person anyway so I tend to get up early but things have changed over the years definitely.”
It has been 10 years since Westhoff played in an AFL grand final in just his 16th game, and in the 209 games he’s been waiting for the next one, so much has changed in him as a footballer and a person. He is now a husband, father and the oldest player on Port Adelaide’s list.
“I was just a young kid trying to play some good footy and finals and didn’t realise what the occasion really meant,” Westhoff said.
“To be 10 years down the track and in a position to hopefully do that again means a lot not just to you but your family as well.
“I’ve got three kids now and they’re old enough to understand the occasion and to have them in the changerooms after the game is so important.
“And the sacrifice your parents make over the journey, you’re kind of playing for them as well.”
Westhoff’s immediate family is still in the Barossa at Tanunda where his parents live and brothers Matthew and Leigh are still playing footy.
They get to as many of Westhoff’s games as possible to cheer him on with his three kids, Bodi, Tully and Piper, who are aged 6, 4 and 2.
“My oldest (boy) is starting to catch on to what the whole AFL thing is, and his friends recognise you at school and things like that,” Westhoff said.
“He loves coming down to get around the boys so is starting to take a bit more interest.
“But kids tend to put things into perspective that footy is not everything, I think you tend to enjoy it a bit more and you probably don’t take the losses to heart as much when you come home and spend time with your family.”
Away from footy and family, Westhoff’s other passion is social change where he is an ambassador for the Hutt Street Centre which helps the city’s homeless.
“I’m probably in a position where I can affect other people by getting the word out there, whether it’s a group like Hutt Street who do an amazing job,” he said. “I want to do as much as I can to create a bit of awareness.
”Homelessness is probably an issue we can change within our community, there are a lot of things out there that you don’t have a hands-on approach to changing on the front line but those guys do a massive amount of work.”
While tonight will be the ninth AFL final of Westhoff’s career, 11 of his team-mates will be playing their first.
“The boys are in pretty good shape after a week off and everyone is raring to go come finals, to win (our past) three (games) in a row and the way we won those games was pretty important.
“We take a bit of confidence out of that, and obviously we need to win a few more if we want to go all the way, but the guys are ready to go. It’s obviously a big bonus to be in the top four but you’ve just got to be up there to have a chance and we’ll be confident going into finals.”
The Power might be facing an uphill climb to win what would be an unlikely premiership this season but Westhoff has signed on for next year believing success isn’t far away.
“The list that we have and playing finals this year is important but I want to stick around for as long as I can,” he said.
“We’re in a pretty good window at the moment so I want to stick around with these young guys, and we have a list at the moment that can give it a pretty good shake in the next few years if not this year.
“So I want to stay around.”