NO YOUNG AFL player publicly declares he is after an individual award but West Coast’s Chris Masten has been nominated for one that he didn’t know he could win.

The young Eagle is this week’s NAB AFL Rising Star nominee after his 38-possession game against Port Adelaide on Sunday.

Masten said that not only did he not aim for a Rising Star nomination this year, but he thought his nine games last year disqualified him for the award.

Fortunately, the maximum number of games a player can play before the season is 10 and Masten just scraped in.

“I wasn’t actually sure I was still eligible. I didn’t realise the 10 games came into it,” Masten said.

“I didn’t really know about it until I saw something in the paper written up before the season started. I didn’t set my goals for being nominated but it I’m pretty honoured to get one.”

The 20-year-old has only missed one game this season and has steadily improved since recovering from the groin surgery that ended his 2008 campaign.

“The first half of the year I struggled a bit. Coming off the groin surgery, I didn’t really have much of a pre-season and I was suffering from that early on with my disposal and my fitness,” he said.

“I’ve been pretty happy with the second half of the season. I’m getting a bit more of the ball and I’m starting to work my way into the game and I feel a bit more comfortable. I’ve been much happier.”

Masten was drafted by West Coast with pick three of the 2007 draft – one of the picks the Eagles received from Carlton in the Chris Judd trade.

But he said he never felt any expectation to be Judd’s direct replacement in the midfield.

“Not really. It would be a bit ridiculous to think that you could be anywhere near as good as Chris Judd because he is an absolute freak,” he said.

“You put yourself under a little bit of pressure because you just want to play some good footy and reward the club for taking you with such an early pick. It’s not something I think about too much.”

Masten is the latest graduate to star from the football factory that is WAFL side East Fremantle.

The Sharks have produced stars like Ben Cousins, Daniel Kerr and Simon Black in the past and in recent years featured heavily in the drafts, producing Mitch Clark, Paddy Ryder, Brad Dick, Josh Kennedy, Liam Anthony and last year’s NAB AFL Rising Star winner Rhys Palmer to name a few.

“We’ve got a pretty good development program down at East Fremantle. We’ve got such a good zone and good coaches. They develop the young players quite well. We were playing league footy quite early in our career at 15, 16 years old,” Masten said.

“You get fast tracked and it helps you once you do get drafted and make it in to AFL ranks because you are playing against men. It is a good stepping stone.

“I keep a close eye on guys like Cale Hooker at Essendon and Rhysy. You’re good mates with them because you played footy with them and you’re happy to see them do well at other clubs.”

The lifelong West Coast fan is living out his boyhood dream but does his best to avoid sounding like a suck-up when asked whose number was on his back.

“John Worsfold was my favourite player as a little tacker. He’d have a chuckle about it, but he really was my favourite player. I’m one of the real lucky ones to play for the team I barracked for which doesn’t often happen.”