Youngsters, Katanning six give Bulldogs positives to finish 2015

SOUTH Fremantle might have lost its last game of the WAFL season against Peel Thunder but it was an exciting look into the future with a host of young players standing up and it was also a day to remember for Katanning with six players from the town playing for the Bulldogs.

South Fremantle has long been touted as the ‘Premier Family Club’ in the WAFL and that has again been evident on the field throughout the 2015 season with the number of brothers playing together.

The obvious is dual premiership winning twins Kyle and Ashton Hams who both had outstanding seasons playing together for the first time since 2010.

Steven and Brendan Verrier also both played league and reserves football together, while Zac and Noah Strom, and Adam and Mitch Carter played in the reserves alongside each other.

And then in the final round of the season last Saturday against Peel Thunder at Mandurah’s Bendigo Bank Stadium, second-gamer Kade Stewart was joined by older brother and debutant Tim Stewart as the brothers from Katanning played in the league side together for the first time.

That saw Ashton Hams, Kyle Hams, Tim Stewart, Kade Stewart, Haiden Schloithe and James Laurino all play in the league team together for the first time giving Katanning six representatives in the South Fremantle line-up.

South Fremantle coach Todd Curley was obviously not satisfied with the Bulldogs losing their last four games of his first season in charge to end up missing finals for a fourth straight season, but he sees plenty of exciting signs for the future with the amount of young talent coming through.

“I thought for the majority of the day it was probably our young players who were our better players,” Curley said.

“They got a bit tired towards the end, but certainly our young blokes are something for us to be excited about. We also have a few blokes who will come back from injury and another key forward would be pretty nice, but we are pretty excited about the young group we have going forward.”

While the season is over for South Fremantle’s league and colts sides, the reserves are in prime position to win a second premiership in three years under coach Tony Walters.

The Bulldogs’ reserves finished the season four games clear on top of the ladder to now earn the bye in the first week of the finals waiting to see whether they face Subiaco or Swan Districts next Sunday in a second semi-final with a grand final berth at stake.

Curley will now help wherever he can to get the reserves group ready for a crack at the finals, but it won’t be easy at selection with James Laurino, Mitch Carter, Josh Branchi, Jacob Dragovich and Tim Stewart available to play after finish the season in the league team.

“It will be great especially for the bunch of players,” he said.

“There are 30 or 35 guys available, and a lot of them are in that 18 to 22 age bracket, so it’s a chance for them to build for next year, and build a pretty strong together by playing finals footy. It will go up a level now for them in finals and hopefully they stand up.”

While the season didn’t pan out at South Fremantle how Curley would have liked in his first year involved at any WAFL club aside from West Perth, but he has learned plenty along the way and is confident the Bulldogs will be ready for a crack at returning to the finals in 2016.

“As a new coach, I’ve had to get to know 70 or 80 new players, a new staff and we’ve had a new coaching group in place with a new footy manager. I’ve learned a lot and we’ll all be a lot better placed going into next year,” Curley said.

“We’ve got some tentative dates for when we’ll start and what we want to do, but the real focus now is probably supporting the reserves group and working out who’s available, and who will play going into the next month.”