There’s been no doubting Aaron Sandilands’ contribution with his efforts on the field from his 16 seasons so far with Fremantle.

But the 211cm ruckman also feels his role off the field in 2019 will be just as important.

Sandilands’ one-year extension with Freo was announced on Tuesday, with the 35-year-old joining fellow senior players David Mundy and Hayden Ballantyne in signing on for another year.

While Fremantle has made a clear strategy of blooding its younger players in recent seasons, Sandilands agreed that it’s also important to keep experienced players on hand to guide the process.

“We’ve got a lot of kids coming through and you need a balance of age and experience, as well as youth,” Sandilands said. 

“I feel the guys that have been around a while can bring these younger guys on quicker by being around than (the younger players) would doing it by themselves.”

Sandilands said he benefited in his development years from his time as a teammate of Simon Eastaugh at East Fremantle.

Eastaugh, now a midfield coach at Fremantle, played 12 games with Freo from 2001 and 2002 while also playing 25 games at East Fremantle during this period.

By continuing on at Fremantle, Sandilands hopes he can similarly pass on his knowledge to a youthful core of rucks, including Sean Darcy, Scott Jones, Lloyd Meek and Luke Strnadica.

“I remember coming through as a young guy and spending a lot of time with Simon,” Sandilands said.

“I was fortunate enough to play a season with him down at East Fremantle while he was on the list (at Fremantle).

“I got so much growth and development from that, which I think really fast-tracked me.”

Sandilands credited Freo’s younger players for their hunger to learn, adding that it makes playing the mentor role all the more enjoyable. 

“I get a really big kick out of trying to guide, develop and grow the younger ruckmen,” Sandilands said.

“The youth we’ve got coming through are really driven as a group and the experienced guys are really willing to share their knowledge and passion as much as possible,” Sandilands said.

“I think we’ve got a really good balance of the two and I think it’s good we see some of these senior guys staying around.”