Hall will stare down tagger
Midfielder hellbent on doing his job
RESILIENCE is a trait Aaron Hall has become familiar with throughout his football career.
On the eve of his 100th AFL game against West Coast in Perth tomorrow, the Gold Coast Suns midfielder is calling on it more than ever.
Hall worked at an airport carpark in 2011 leading into the draft, doing a noon to 8pm shift every day after attending university as insurance in case the man who never represented Tasmania at any level of football didn’t reach the AFL.
Only after returning home in the dark would Hall be able to train in order to prepare for footy and the midfielder who once organised parking tickets for travellers went on to punch his own ticket for the sport’s top stage.
“That resilience and the stuff I learnt through those stages has probably held me in good stead,” Hall said.
“Every career is a bit of a rocky road and you need to be able to bounce back and take the hits and push forward.”
The challenges Hall has faced over his seven seasons in the AFL have only increased.
Hall has been in the spotlight this week after being silenced by a heavy tag from Fremantle in Western Australia last weekend
It’s something Hall has experienced in recent seasons and he expected it to happen more frequently following Gary Ablett’s move back to Geelong this year.
Hall, 27, revealed he sat down with good friend Ablett, who was in Perth last weekend for the Cats’ game against West Coast, to tap his brain on how to beat taggers ahead of Gold Coast’s own showdown with the Eagles where the likes of tagger Mark Hutchings awaits.
“Gaz is probably the number one guy in the history of the AFL to get tagged nearly week in and week out but he doesn’t let it affect him,” Hall said. “We have had conversations over the past couple of years after I started to cop it and he has helped me through that.
“We were actually staying in the same hotel as Geelong last weekend so we caught up for breakfast and had a quick chat about it. He has given me some tips and ideas for ways to get around it.
“He has had three or four different encounters with each tagger so he knows what they like and dislike. From my point of view it’s just about trying to play your style of game as much as you can.”