Hammer time: Broome local Joel Hamling returns to the field in round 18

Forgotten Fremantle defender and Broome boy Joel Hamling, affectionately known as Hammer to his teammates, played his first game of the season against Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday — 475 days after his last. With captain Alex Pearce and fellow tall Brennan Cox locking down the key defensive posts this season, a finally fit and firing Hamling has failed to earn a spot in the 22 until round 18. An ankle injury to Cox opened the door for the 30-year-old, who pushed his case for selection in the WAFL with 17 disposals and 10 marks in Peel Thunder’s win against Subiaco on July 8. But the Broome product’s first game back was marred by the Dockers 46-point loss to the Magpies, with the defender collecting just 11 disposals against the match. On hearing Hamling would re-enter the competition, Thunder coach Geoff Valentine said he was “rapt” for the defender, who had been a solid contributor across his 10 consecutive games at the State level. “It’s a fantastic reward for 18 months or the best part of two years, in my time, of consistently working at his game,” Valentine told The West Australian. “Even at 30 years old, a premiership player (with Western Bulldogs), he’s continued to work on parts of his game that he’s needed to. When you see him get another go at the highest level, it’s really pleasing. “It’s especially nice for Joel that it’s going to be at the MCG in front of 60-70,000 people. . . he’s going back to hallowed ground where he’s tasted the ultimate success. It’s a great story.” It’s a remarkable turnaround for the defender, who lost the better part of two years in purple to injury. After departing the Bulldogs on the back of their 2016 premiership, Hamling played 62 games across his first three seasons at the Dockers. But a serious and later persistent ankle injury restricted him to just two senior games across 2020 and 2021. That coincided with Cox, Pearce and Luke Ryan, who plays above his modest height, establishing themselves as the club’s preferred key defenders, while a mix of youth has also been injected into the back six. It meant Hamling, despite stringing together 25 games across the last season and a half at WAFL level, has had to patiently wait for another opportunity. Valentine said it was a testament to Hamling that he’s dutifully accepted and embraced the role as a back-up defender. “Resilience is one of the key attributes that comes to mind if I’m sort of to summarise his character,” he said. “It’s not just on the back of physical resilience, he’s had to overcome those couple of ankle injuries prior to my time (as Peel coach), but the emotional resilience to keep fronting up. “He’s an AFL footballer; he’s competitive, he’s played at the highest level. “When you find yourself not in that environment, that’s testing. To continue to front up week in, week out, it’s a test to his resilience. “His last two weeks have been the best I’ve seen him play so I think it’s a great tick to his resilience and his ability to persevere.” Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir spoke proudly of Hamling’s work to get himself into a position to play AFL again. “The work to get over his injury and rehab, get back to somewhere near his best physically, and to be able to go out there and deal with the frustration of not playing AFL and playing in the WAFL,” Longmuir said. “It’s been a long road. He’s deserving of an opportunity. . . I’m proud of his journey and he’s going to go out there and play his role and he’ll help that back six really compete hard.”