CURLEY CAN'T FAULT BULLDOGS RESPONSE TO COVID-19

WHEN you have spent the lifetime in football that Todd Curley has, there's little you haven’t experienced but this build up to the 2020 season has been like nothing else but the South Fremantle coach can't fault the work his playing group has put in regardless.

Whether it's coming through the ranks as an exciting young talent at West Perth, having a stint at Collingwood before coming back to be a WAFL premiership star and then become a rock solid AFL player in strong Western Bulldogs teams, or then finishing his career back at the Falcons and immediately becoming senior coach, then working as an AFL assistant at Fremantle and since now coaching South Fremantle the last five years, there was little new for Curley to experience.

Then things were relatively on track like normal in preparation for the 2020 WAFL season. Curley had guided South Fremantle though another whole pre-season, they've completed their planned intra-club matches and then were preparing to play real opposition for the first time.

But then the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic hit home and suddenly things were thrown into chaos. The WAFL season was initially postponed with no guarantee of it starting up again and Curley had no access to his players aside from through computer or phone screens.

Eventually there was light at the end of the tunnel with the WAFL eyeing a start date for the 2020 season on Saturday August 1, that's now come forward to this Saturday against East Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

All of a sudden after the most bizarre of 2020 years so far, with a game now to prepare for on Saturday, suddenly things start to feel a bit more normal for Curley and his Bulldogs.

"It's definitely starting to feel a bit more normal this week. We got to the stage where we thought we had what we planned to be our final intra-club hit out in March and then everything got shutdown the Monday the week of our first match against opposition," Curley said.

"We chose that we thought we probably only needed one hit out against opposition before the season starts and we've just played a game against East Perth. In that regard, we are that one week further in our preparation than we got four months but everyone just wants to play now. 

"We might have taken things for granted before, but now everyone really appreciated how lucky we are to live in WA and how important it is to spend time together, and how much we love being involved in footy. The overwhelming feeling I think is just loving this opportunity now to get back out and play."

While Curley, his players and the South Fremantle Football Club as a whole always remained hopeful and confident of a WAFL season still happening in 2020, there was a time there where it was anything but a sure thing of eventuating.

But once there was a start date to aim for, there was a great feeling relief from everyone and while already happy with the way his players handled the situation, Curley couldn’t have been happier with the whole approach his group has taken to now be ready to go for Round 1.

"We always had the hope that we'd play and our footy club was really bullish that if we could play, that we would and that we should. So from a footy club point of view, we remained positive and were always working towards getting back to play," Curley said.

"Whether that was going to be early June, early July, early August or whenever, we didn’t really know. But probably a couple of weeks before it was officially announced we started to get the feeling trickling down that it was more likely than unlikely. 

"And then even when it eventually got brought back to the July 18 start date, we were always a couple of days behind the decisions the AFL made. But it's really important for people in general that we are able to get outside now and participate in some physical fitness, and be involved in hobbies and being able to engage with your friends. 

"That was really important and it was a tough five or six weeks when we couldn’t do that, but the boys have been fantastic and for us we are really thankful that we are going to get the opportunity to play. We're also really careful as well and we want to make sure we lead in the community and do everything right to make sure we can all push on in the right direction."

Having had his team ready to go to start playing real opposition back in March and a lot of work done to be ready for Round 1, and then to have that taken away and to virtually be nothing given we had a couple of months lockdown sure was a new experience for Curley and the Bulldogs.

So was it then to slowly start to be able to work together again and to ramp up preparation to get ready to start the season a second time, but ultimately in perspective the fact the WAFL can actually start up shows we've come a long way considering what's happening elsewhere across the world.

"It's been strange for everyone else as well so you have to put it into perspective that we all went from living in a great state where we could virtually do whatever we want to suddenly have those simple rights taken away based upon medical advice, which we fully understand," Curley said.

"While it did affect us, there was so much going on in the community with people losing their jobs and the risk of people getting sick, stuck overseas and everything else meant there were a lot bigger things going on. 

"We switched pretty quickly into what was almost like a remote pre-Christmas training program and all of a sudden we learned about Zoom and Webex, and catching up in small groups when we were allowed. 

"We stayed linked that way and my focus switched more to player welfare and mental health especially over those four to six weeks. Then once the OK came to train in small groups, we jumped at that chance because we thought it was important to get everyone back together. 

"To our boys' credit, they continued to do what they could by training mainly on their own and to stay engaged as a playing group. They came back in remarkably good shape really given for a while there was no promise of a season. We've been really happy and now we just want to get back to playing, and have fun and enjoy it. That's what we have missed more than anything."