CLAREMONT ruck Benji van Rooyen continues to grow heading into his top-age season, both on and off the field. Now standing at an imposing 203cm, he will hope to follow in the footsteps of his two elder brothers who traversed the same footballing pathway before him.

With brother Jacob currently on Melbourne’s books, van Rooyen has been able to watch plenty of Max Gawn tape, while also learning off Sean Darcy in his time training at Fremantle. The 17-year-old has already established himself as WA’s number one ruck, but doing so on a national stage will be some task.

We sat down for an interview with van Rooyen at WA’s preseason testing combine in Perth on Sunday.

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Q&A

Q: Benji, can you walk me through your footy journey so far?

BvR: I started at Wembley Downs in Auskick, played all my juniors there until Year 10. But during Year 8 and 9 I didn’t play a single game because I was injured the whole time. Then in Year 10 I got selected for the State 16s. Played the three games there and then played two Futures games as well in Year 10. Then last year, I played Claremont Colts the whole year with State 18s as well. So I played all four state games in the ruck and then won the Claremont flag which was pretty good. From there I played the MCG Futures game and made the National Academy.

Q: What kind of learnings have you taken from your experiences with Claremont, and the state and national academies?

BvR: Just meeting everyone… Not everyone’s the same, it’s different people playing different styles. So you want to try and play to your teammates’ [strengths] because that’ll help you play best. And just learning from everyone [else] how they do it, what they do to prepare and stuff like that.

Q: You’ve had two brothers go through the same pathway, what kind of help do you get from them?

BvR: When my brother Jacob comes back from Melbourne I go to the park with him and my other brother, Sam. We do some marking and contested work and all that. We just do that for a couple of hours and I learn a lot from them. They teach me what to do in different situations. They’re obviously lot bigger and stronger than me so I just try and feed off what they’ve taught me.

Q: There are plenty of quality talls around the country this year, especially in the National Academy, does it get pretty competitive?

BvR: Yeah, in the National Academy we do a contested marking segment. It would just be four or five of us, we’re all 200cm plus. We’re just all fighting for the mark, bodying up and all of that, fighting for each possession. And then at state, there’s obviously another couple of talls and we do a lot of marking stuff as well so it gets pretty competitive.

Q: How has your preseason been so far?

BvR: I feel like I’ve been doing pretty well, getting to all the trainings, doing all the running, all the gym sessions. I’ve been doing all that as hard as I can all the time, just trying to get the most out of it.

Q: Will your role change at all this year?

BvR: I’m not really sure yet. Hopefully I can go a little bit of forward, but ruck’s my main position. That’s where I feel most comfortable, but I’m always [open] to move wherever they want me to.

Q: What are your strengths, and some of the things you’re looking to improve on?

BvR: I feel like one of my strengths is like my follow-up at ground level, my competitiveness, and also my ruck craft. I hate losing contests… And my things to work on are my endurance and contested marking. I feel like if I [improve] those, I can be a lot more impactful around the ground.

Q: Do you watch a lot of football?

BvR: A little bit. A lot of Melbourne and Freo… I supported Freo when I was growing up and then had a little bit of a switch to Melbourne, but still go for both.

Q: Are there any players you look up to mould your own game on?

BvR: I watch a lot of the Melbourne games with Max Gawn and just watching him behind the ball and his ruck craft. All the marks he takes really impact the game.

Q: Did you spend a bit of time learning off the rucks while training at Fremantle?

BvR: I did a bit with Sean Darcy. Obviously at Colts I’m probably a bit stronger than a lot of people, but going against people that are stronger like him, he was just teaching me to keep mobile with my footwork, get into their blind spot and just keep competing.

Q: What kind of goals have you set up for the year?

BvR: To play all the Champs games, play well in those, then hopefully come back to Colts and win another flag. Then at the end of that, hopefully get drafted.

Q: Are there any teammates you think we should look out for to have a big season?

BvR: Heath Mellody, he’s been doing pretty well. His skills are amazing.