IT’S a fair effort to get to 100 VFL matches these days, and to do it for one club is becoming more uncommon.

But when that club is AFL-aligned and the AFL arm has “shipped you off” their list just three years into your career, it is an even rarer achievement.

For Casey Demons captain Mitch White, who will reach the milestone against Carlton at Casey Fields on Sunday, footy remains exactly how it should be – running out with your mates to chase a pigskin and hopefully having some success along the way.

Popular clubman White, 26, came through the juniors at Seaford in the Mornington Peninsula Nepean league before joining the Dandenong Stingrays in 2013, where he played 22 matches and won the 2014 best-and-fairest while sneaking in two Under-18 National Championship games for Vic Country.

Taken by Melbourne at pick 20 in the 2014 NAB AFL Rookie Draft, White managed four AFL matches in three years while establishing himself as a tough and skilful performer in 45 appearances for Casey.

But his delisting didn’t bring an end to his time at Casey Fields – strong friendships forged with best mate Jimmy Munro and captain Jack Hutchins meant he chose familiarity in his attempt to win a second chance at the highest level.

While that didn’t happen, he did replace Hutchins as skipper in 2018 and has forged a terrific career and reputation at State league level, with plenty of variety along the way.

“I’ve actually played every position – I’ve even played in the ruck for a few weeks when Melbourne had a couple of their big boys go down and we lost the talls from our end,” he said.

“Playing pure midfield this year is the first time I’ve done it – nearly every year at Casey I’ve had a different role, which is good because if you’re playing the same role and doing the same thing you can get a bit stale … but I’m getting different perspectives on the game and being able to teach others what I’m learning is really good.

“(Playing 100 VFL games is) probably not huge on a lot of people’s radars (when they start), but it means a lot especially having seen a couple of good mates in Jack Hutchins and Jimmy Munro do it over the past couple of years and what it’s meant to them.

“It’s really pleasing and a privilege to get this far – obviously I would like to have played a few more but it’s good to finally get here.

“A chunk of them were while I was at Melbourne trying to play in the big leagues but it’s a great feeling to get it done for one club and I still really enjoy my time being there and turning up each week.

“Once I got shipped out from Melbourne I wanted to get back in the league, but what has kept me here has been wanting to keep getting better as a footballer and in front of that are relationships and friendships I’ve made.

“Jimmy and Hutch are really good mates I’ll have for life so that’s something I’ll hold dear that I’ve been able to play a lot of footy with them.

White and his mates have been close to the ultimate success twice, with the 2016 and 2018 VFL Grand Final losses to Footscray and Box Hill Hawks sticking in his craw, but those defeats mean the skipper won’t allow his team to get ahead of themselves despite being 16-0 and four games clear on top of the Smithy’s VFL ladder.

“The Grand Finals are still a stinging point for me as well as the other boys, hopefully we go one better this year, but we’re not looking too far ahead yet,” he said.

“I’ve had the conversation with Jimmy, or the Moose as he is affectionately known, about how good it would be to get one under the belt after the two stumbles, but from the club perspective we just speak about the process and the old cliché week-by-week.

“Realistically for us if Melbourne have three or four fall over and play interstate, we can have up to eight to 10 different players each week, so we’re just priding ourselves on being ready, knowing our role and giving it a good crack knowing you’ve put the work in.

“It's a pretty comfortable position to be in, 16-0, but we’re under no illusions that next week we could get a stronger (opposition) side and we could be depleted, so we always plan to just turn up and put our best foot forward.”

White didn’t aspire to the captaincy, but his mateship with his predecessor in Hutchins played a role, while the one with Munro means it is unlikely opposition clubs will see the back of him for a while yet.

“You (don’t) go into footy thinking you want to be captain, but it’s been a privilege, (especially) with Hutch being the bloke I took over from and learnt a lot from in footy and life,” he said.

“(Munro is) a madman – I love him to bits as a person and there’s no other person I’d rather run out beside, you just know it doesn’t matter how many hours of sleep he’s come off being as a shiftworker with the ambos, be it one or 12 hours sleep he’s going to give you the same effort.

“On the field I’m sure there’s a lot of opposition players who would argue he’s not that great but once you get him off the field there’s no better bloke.

“If Jimmy is the yardstick doing the job he does and still turning up each week I feel like I can play forever, but I’m enjoying what I’m doing and I think I’ll go around again this stage because it’s my first time playing midfield as I said and I’m really enjoying that.

“The old cliché is we’ll see how this year goes but a flag might do it for me.”

Twitter: @BRhodesVFL

MITCH WHITE

Casey Scorpions/Demons 2015-? - 99 matches, 67 goals

Dandenong Stingrays 2013-14 – 22 matches, 4 goals

Vic Country 2014 – 2 matches, 0 goals

Casey v AISAFL Academy 2019 – 1 match, 1 goal