The 30-year-old credits several long-term friendships – particularly those shared with Daniel Falcone and as key features of his 200-game tenure.

Egan, a lifelong Tiger, is set to bring up his double century of matches against Hamilton Kangaroos on Anzac Day.

“I’ve loved playing at Portland, I just love the club,” Egan said.

“It’s good to have a bit of banter with the young lads and my young fella comes down with me as well. He loves the lads.

“We’ve got a good group of young kids coming through at the moment and they look like they want to stick together and hang around. 

“I came through the under 18s in a similar sort of group, myself and Falcs (Daniel Falcone) and a few other boys that you still try to beat on the training track.”

Egan said the club was on an upwards trajectory.

“We’ve had a tough couple of years but the feeling around the place in pre-season was great,” he said.

“All of the under 18 boys trained with us and we have some good young leaders coming through with Jacko (Daniel Jackson) and Moods (Jay Moody).

“They’ve taken on more on-field leadership and I’ve stepped more into the coaching side of things. At the moment there are some really good signs.”

Portland has included former VFL-listed defender Tom Sharp in its side for the Anzac Day clash, and is otherwise unchanged.

Hamilton Kangaroos have named an extended squad after captain Hamish Waldron (concussion) and Kane Quinn (soreness) were forced outs after the club’s round two loss to Koroit.

Taine Morris, James Pyke, Allan Martin, Angus Noske and James White are all fighting for spots.

Hamilton Kangaroos coach Matt Dunn said Morris had ticked boxes after suffering an ankle injury in round one.

“He missed one with that ankle, but he’s trained without any problems,” Dunn said.

“The other guys have been in good form through the reserves and had strong pre-seasons.”

Dunn said the football fraternity had “undersold” Portland’s talent and expected a tough hit-out.

“They’ve got a good young side and with guys like Luke Crane coming back from injury and Jay Moody going well it wasn’t a surprise to me to see them win the first couple of games,” he said.

“Our pressure against Koroit was terrific and we want to maintain that.

“We want to keep forcing turnovers to win the ball.”