Ballantyne at the top of his game
Milestone man Hayden Ballantyne says he is in the best form of his career.
The Fremantle forward will bring up his 100th AFL appearance against Melbourne at Darwin’s TIO Stadium this Saturday.
And on the back of kicking 21 goals in his past six matches, the 26-year-old said the run was the best football he had played across six seasons.
Asked whether he was in career-best form, Ballantyne said: “I think so and again it’s the consistency, doing what I’m asked to do every week and then the goals come after that.
“(There’s) all the pressure acts for the team and then obviously the goals come from the turnovers.
“I think with the whole team, we’ve been building a bit of momentum lately and it’s been really good getting the wins on the board.”
Ballantyne needs just five more goals to better his previous best return of 34 majors last season.
He said he was proud to be bringing up his 100th AFL match this weekend in a game where the Dockers will start heavy favourites to post the club’s seventh successive win.
“I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t get into the AFL system for a few years there whilst I was playing WAFL,” the former Sandover medallist said.
“But I was lucky enough Fremantle gave me an opportunity to play AFL. (It’s) 99 games down and hopefully a few more to go.”
