Wilson reaches 100 WAFL games but aims for century with Bulldogs

BLAYNE Wilson grew up wanting to play for South Fremantle and now he's got to do that the past two years as he reaches his 100th WAFL game this Saturday and sees no reason he won't end his career at the Bulldogs.

Having played his junior football at Halls Head and coming through the ranks at Peel Thunder, Wilson played his first 36 WAFL matches there while being picked up by the West Coast Eagles along the way.

The Eagles alignment with East Perth saw Wilson play his next 29 matches with the Royals where he took part in the losing grand finals of 2013 and 2014 while also playing nine AFL games for West Coast.

But when he was delisted at the end of 2014, there was really no other club that Wilson considered joining and a large reason for that was that his father and uncle had played with South Fremantle.

So the Wilson family was a happy bunch when Blayne signed with the Bulldogs for 2015 and now almost two full seasons on, it has proven successful.

Before a shoulder injury last year, Wilson had a strong first season for South Fremantle including playing for Western Australia in the state game victory over South Australia and now he has been outstanding all of 2016 in a Bulldogs team locked into second spot with one round remaining.

That final game of the home and away season takes place this Saturday at Lathlain Park and it just happens to be the 100th in the WAFL for Wilson made up of 36 at Peel, 29 with East Perth and what will be his 35th with South Fremantle.

While longer term Wilson would like to play 100 games with South Fremantle to book his name on the No. 30 locker, reaching 100 matches in the WAFL is something he is proud of in its own right.

"It's still a good effort to play 100 WAFL games and it will be good to play a lot more as well. It's a good start at the moment but hopefully I can play 100 here at the Bulldogs and keep on playing some decent footy," Wilson said.

"I'll take 100 games anywhere obviously and it's good to play 100 in the WAFL but I didn’t really imagine that would be at three different clubs at the start. That's been a bit of a journey but a good one so far and I'm happy with where I'm at, at the moment.

"It's a family club here and it's awesome. I can see myself finishing my career here and getting my name on one of the lockers will be a great honour. So playing 100 games at this footy club would be great and I don’t see myself going too far in the future, but right now I'm just focusing on what's ahead of us for the rest of this year."

Given Wilson had looked at home in his AFL matches and continued to be a key part of East Perth's back-line in 2013 and 2014, it was somewhat a surprise that he was delisted when he was.

But despite that, once it happened he was quick to sign up at South Fremantle not only because of his family history, but because of the Bulldogs players he wanted to play alongside and because it was a club he always wanted to be part of.

"To be honest I was probably always coming here with dad having played here along with my uncles and so forth. I also knew a few boys down here like Hamsy and Schloithey so the opportunity arose and I pretty much jumped at it with both hands and haven’t looked back," he said.

"Our progress and improvement in my two years here has been tenfold so it's really exciting times for us, especially going into finals footy now which we missed out on last year. It's going to be a great experience.

"The family loves coming down here to get around the past players and everything who they knew already. Mum and dad are always up in the bar pretty blind when I get up there after the game, but it's good fun and it's a great family club here. Everyone gets around everyone, and the unity with all the boys and family and partners is just awesome."

Wilson's first season with South Fremantle might have ended early with him going in for shoulder surgery and then with the Bulldogs not making finals, but things have all come together tremendously in 2016.

Wilson is happy with his form, but more importantly is happy to know that finals are only just over a week away. The Bulldogs do want another good performance against Perth this Saturday, though, to ensure they go into the qualifying final against West Perth in good form.

"It's been really good this year. I've played every single game so far and I think I've improved on last year and we have as a team obviously to now be qualified for the finals. The whole team is really hungry and excited for finals now this year and it's a great opportunity for us," he said.

"We're still trying to improve every game we play so we'll go out there with all intentions to win the game and play our best footy to try and set ourselves up for the finals to start the week after.

"We have plans and structures in place that we want to fine tune before finals so we'll look to do that on Saturday to get used to some different set ups. It's an exciting time for us and we are looking forward to the next three games and seeing where we end up."

Not only has Wilson had a tremendous season down back for South Fremantle, but alongside Josh Pullman, Chris Luff, Marlion Pickett, Adam Guglielmana, Matthew Gundry and Jason Maskos the back-line has been a great strength for the Bulldogs.

"The back six or seven we've got at the moment is great. We are a bit of a team within a team, and we get around one another a lot and do different things together," Wilson said.

"It's great at the moment with the unity we've got down there with the different guys like Pullers and Marlion. Pullers has been great for us this year and he's a bit of a rock for us and we just bounce off one another to be honest.

"Hopefully we can work well together into the finals and hold up under pressure. I have to give the midfield a bit of a plug too and their pressure has been a lot better than it was last year to make our jobs a lot easier."

The 24-year-old has likely had the best and most consistent season of his career at centre half-back for South Fremantle where he could very well be the best key defender at taking intercept marks and setting up his team out of the back-line in the competition.

"I like being able to set up the play offensively as well and my defensive game to lockdown on my opponent is something I've been working a lot on," he said.

"It's always a challenge in my game to get the balance right and it's something I continue to work on week to week, but I love trying to take the intercept marks to set up play.

"We've got Marlion down there who is probably the best running defender in the league so I just try to do my job at the moment and the other guys can all help set up play as well while Pullers and Luffy do the big jobs on the best big forwards. They are both really reliable and trustworthy as all the defenders down there are. We all want to be reliable for one another and trusting of each other."

South Fremantle is now guaranteed of playing finals in 2016 for the first time in five years starting with a qualifying final against West Perth at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

Wilson is one Bulldogs player who is no stranger to finals having played in the 2013 and 2014 grand final losses for East Perth against West Perth and Subiaco respectively, and is looking forward to being part of September action again.

"It's a great time of the year knowing we are actually going to play finals. Last year it was a bit of a sting after I had just played in two grand finals in-a-row. I've always had that fire in the belly after losing both of those to try and get back there again to win a flag," Wilson said.

"The group we've got this year is one we can have a really good crack at it with even though we know how much of a challenge it will be. The boys are ready and if we keep our heads down and bum up, we can achieve some good things this year."