If it wasn’t for brother and former Fremantle teammate Troy, Justin Longmuir feels he would more likely be working on a farm instead of being the senior coach at Fremantle.

Speaking in the Greats with Garby podcast, Longmuir spoke about growing up with his older brother in the towns of Gabbin and Koorda in WA’s wheatbelt.

He said it was Troy’s obsession with sport that saw him find another passion away from the farm.

“We were really different growing up I was always out on the farm always driving headers, tractors and utes whereas he just loved sport. Troy always had a footy in his hands, every pair of trees he would use as a set of goals and he would always be onto me about having a kick, or playing cricket or playing basketball,” Longmuir told the Greats with Garby podcast.

“We only had each other so he would always be at me to have a game with him…he was definitely more interested in sport than me.”

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Justin said it was Troy who ‘paved the way’ for his journey into the AFL.

Troy made his debut in 1998 for Melbourne and Justin followed with his debut for Fremantle in 1999.

The older Longmuir’s trade to Fremantle saw the pair united as Dockers for the 2000 season.

“I was two years younger than Troy so having to fight out of my weight division a lot really helped me become the player I was,” Longmuir said.

“Dad would often come home early from work and kick the ball up to us. We would play one-on-one until I cracked the sh… and went inside because Troy was beating me up.

“It was good grounding for me - little did I know at the time - it was really helpful and I think there is a lot of studies and a lot of good footballers and sports people out there who have had that sort of grounding.

“I probably wouldn’t have found footy if it wasn’t for Troy when he led the way and got drafted the year before I did.

“I think West Perth invited me down on the back of him getting drafted…I drove down every weekend and played at West Perth colts and that got me drafted and I don’t think that would have happened without Troy paving the way and showing me that I could do it.

“I’ll be forever grateful for the lessons he taught me as a young fella but also the path he paved towards the AFL.”

While his older brother played a key role in Longmuir’s AFL career, Justin believes his country upbringing helped him develop the problem solving attributes he relies on as a coach.

“I loved growing up in the country, I loved farming, I loved helping Dad on the farm before and after school. Looking back on it, that gave me a lot of the things that made me a good coach - I feel I’ve got a good grounding in work ethic, I’m a good problem solver on the back of having to problem solve on the farm at an early age.

“As a kid I would pull apart motors on the farm and out them back together just to see if I could do it and what they were about.

“That’s what I’m trying to do now with the game plan, a lot of things I’m good at now, I was good at back then and I’ve got a good grounding in a lot of areas because of my interests on the farm…having a lot of responsibility as a kid I remember driving heavy machinery at 13 or even younger than that.”