Player Column – Cory Dell’Olio 100 Games

IT was great to reach the 100-game milestone for South Fremantle on Monday and it made it even better to celebrate with a win in a derby. It is something I have been looking forward to ever since returning back to the club in 2015.

It was a long time ago back in 2008 when I debuted and to finally reach the 100 games after 10 years of senior footy is something I am very proud of. To finally be on the locker with some greats including Matty Clucas, who was a player I looked up to and watched when I was a young kid, is awesome.

It absolutely means a lot to me. I grew up going for this club along with all my family and to not only play one league game which was an original goal of mine but to reach 100 and put my name on the #3 locker with some great names is very special.

It wasn’t my greatest day, unfortunately got a poke in the eye late in the first half and could not regain my eye sight which was a little frustrating but I am fine to play this week. To get the win on Monday was also great for the occasion and also for the team as a response was needed from the previous week.

I was really disappointed in myself with what happened early in the year and knew I had done the wrong thing to not only to the team but also to Asher Samelko and first and foremost it was great to see him back and playing.

With missing the first four games of the season I went away and did some training and was lucky enough to get back into the side and have played some OK football but probably at times inconsistent. With enough games under my belt this season now it would be good to contribute on a more consistent basis over the game.

The senior playing group still believe we have a lot of work to do even though we have been going reasonably well since losing to Subiaco in first game.

We have had a positive start to the year and a massive positive being we have had to blood some young kids including Noah Strom and Chad Pearson who have stood up really well with more experienced players being injured or unavailable.

To be where we are at the moment gives us a really good stepping stone into the second half of the year but are under no illusion we still have lots to do to reach what our end goal is.