Two more signings, 298-game star to play on

THE South Fremantle Football Club wishes to announce two more signings for the 2014 WAFL season and also to confirm that a veteran on the brink of 300 matches will be continuing his career.

Not content with the already confirmed signings of James Sellar, Ashton Hams, Josh Pullman, Haiden Schloithe and Steven Verrier, the Bulldogs can now also confirm that former versatile East Perth big man Brock Higgins and Gold Coast Suns NEAFL player Stephen Mills will be at the club in 2014.

On top of that, 298-game WAFL star Kris Miller is a confirmed starter for the 2014 season with the 33-year-old set for his 16th campaign in the league as he is about to bring up the remarkable 300-game milestone in Round 2 against Perth under lights at Fremantle Oval.

South Fremantle has already made strong improvements to an exciting young list for 2014 with Hams (West Coast), Sellar (Melbourne), Schloithe (Fremantle) and Verrier (Richmond) all signing on with the Bulldogs after time in the AFL.

Former Swan Districts forward Josh Pullman has also returned to WA from Queensland and will add some size, bite and grunt to the South Fremantle forward-line in 2014.

Higgins adds some depth and quality to South Fremantle’s big men department with the 24-year-old capable of spending time in the ruck, as a marking target up forward or even in defence if required on occasion.

With East Perth’s line-up still possessing big men Paul Johnson and Josh Smith, and topped up by West Coast’s Scott Lycett, Jeremy McGovern, Fraser McInnes and Callum Sinclair who can play as tall forwards and the ruck, it’s fair to say Higgins was in an uphill battle for a regular league game in 2014.

So he was looking for another club to continue his WAFL career at and found no better place than Fremantle Oval to do that.

Higgins first lobbed at East Perth in 2011 from Swan Athletic and came in to make his league debut that year being thrown in the deep end to carry much of the ruck load in the second half of the campaign.

He played 10 matches in 2011 and added another seven in 2012 before playing 14 in 2013.

However, he was forced out of the team come finals time and missed the grand final loss to West Perth when the Royals welcomed back some West Coast AFL talent.

Higgins is now ready to put together all his natural tools as an athletic big man to become a key player for South Fremantle in a variety of roles in 2014.

Mills is a teenage key position player from Queensland who has played both with the Gold Coast Suns’ reserves team and with the Southport Sharks showing an ability at each end of the ground.

Mills only started playing football in Rockhampton when 13 but when he moved down to the Gold Coast he started to get more serious about the game.

As a 17-year-old, he began playing in the Gold Coast Suns NEAFL side and even had a hit out on the SCG against the Sydney Swans reserves in 2012.

He played with the Southport Sharks in 2013 including his team’s loss to Claremont at Patersons Stadium so he at least has had a taste of playing in the west and against a rival WAFL club.

On that night, Mills showed his class kicking a goal from the boundary on the half-time siren but the key position youngster has shown himself capable of playing at both ends of the ground.

Meanwhile, Miller has decided to continue his remarkable WAFL career for at least one more season and currently sitting on 298 games, he needs just two more to reach 300 in the league and only five for 150 with South Fremantle to earn life membership at the Bulldogs.

As evidenced by his 2013 form, though, Miller is not playing on just for those milestones.

Miller began the 2013 season in the midfield playing as good football as ever racking up plenty of the ball before spending the second half of the campaign in a new small forward role.

That saw him kick 20 goals in the last 11 games of the season including a haul of five for the first time in his career.

After starting his career with East Fremantle where he played 153 games and was a fairest and best winner, Miller crossed to South Fremantle in 2007 and has put together a remarkable list of accolades.

Miller is a three-time WJ Hughes Medal winner as the club’s fairest and best winner and a key member of the 2009 premiership team.

As always, some players have left South Fremantle ahead of the 2014 season as well with Victorian pair Sean Tighe and Mitch Banner both electing to return to Melbourne having signed with VFL club Williamstown.

League premiership player from 2009 and reserves premiership player from last year Reece Adams also won’t be with the Bulldogs in 2014 nor will his reserves premiership teammates from 2013 Jarrad Winter and Alex Grima.

By Chris Pike