Another Brewster rises

NARRE Warren has thrown all hopes of continuing its recent era of success into its super talented youth.
Among those is 18-year-old prospect Nathan Brewster, the second nomination for the 2009 Gazette Casey Cardinia League Young Gun award.
Brewster is a solidly built, and still growing, youngster who joined Narre Warren juniors as an under-10 after his family moved from Golden Grove in Adelaide in 2000.
He is the younger brother of triple-premiership Magpie stars Shane and Danny Brewster, who also progressed to the senior club via the junior arm.
Nathan played several seasons of junior football with his brothers in Adelaide before becoming a hard-working and hard-hitting on-baller/forward throughout his junior days.
Despite the strength of the junior club, he had to wait until last season before he tasted the ultimate team success as part of the flag-winning Narre Warren under-18 side.
His ticket was already stamped for this season after he was given a taste of experience at senior level by coach Matt Shinners last year.
“I played three senior games last year, mainly as forward, but that has changed this year and I’m now in defence,” he said.
“I found out I would be used in defence before the first practice match against Noble Park this year. Matt said he wanted to use me through centre half-back and see how I went. It’s been great and hasn’t worried me at all.”
Nathan spent time during the summer working towards playing senior football this year and hit the gym to give him the strength to match the bigger-bodied men he would come up against at the top level.
He acknowledged his brother Shane as the biggest influence on his football to date.
“He plays the sort of role that I always have until this year and I have tried to take on what he does and follow in his footsteps,” he said.
Nathan said the feeling was one of excitement at Narre Warren this season and playing with older teammates like Michael McGill and Jarrod Anderson in the backline was a great way to learn more about the game from players who had experienced success.
He added that coming through as part of a talented group of juniors who were really good mates on and off field was a bonus and he was happy to remain a Narre Warren player for the foreseeable future.
“Maybe it would be nice to test myself at a higher level in the future, but I’m pretty happy staying here at Narre with my mates and I’m enjoying my footy at the moment,” he said.