BRANDON DONALDSON | 100-GAME MILESTONE

BRANDON Donaldson first saw Jeff Farmer and Peter Bell winning a premiership late in their careers at South Fremantle dreaming of doing the same, and he's now done that as he books his name under Craig White on the No. 16 locker with the Bulldogs.

Donaldson has spent his lifetime around Fremantle and his earliest memories of Fremantle Community Bank Oval revolve around that 2009 season where Bell and Farmer were among the stars on a Bulldogs team that went on to win a premiership.

That was the last premiership for South Fremantle until the one Donaldson himself was part of in 2020, which he is still pinching himself about, as he now prepares to reach 100 games this Saturday against Claremont at Revo Fitness Stadium.

To reach the 100-game milestone with a club that has been such a huge part of his life starting as a supporter and then playing development squad football to colts and now being a regular league player means the world to Donaldson.

"It's pretty special. The club has been a massive part of my life and I came to the club when I was 14 to start playing developing squads and I've worked all the way through to play league footy," Donaldson said.

"It's been a big part of my life and pretty much a second home. It means a lot to me and it means a lot to my family, and I'm super proud."

Getting to a milestone like 100 games allows Donaldson a chance to reflect as well and there's those early memories of the 2009 team with Bell and Farmer, but also he had the club's longest-serving captain Ryan Cook as a coach during high school as well.

And now to have his name under dual premiership winning 192-game star Craig White on the No. 16 locker is something that he's still struggling to believe is actually real. 

"There's only a couple of players who have hit the 100 on that locker so it means a lot to be there even though it's in the very corner of the room," Donaldson said.

"It's a privilege to get my name on there and it's always something that any player wants to strive for to get their name on the locker. It means a lot especially to be under Whitey who I know pretty well as well so it's a pretty special thing.

"I remember going to the footy back when I was in primary school and players like Jeff Farmer and Peter Bell, and those guys pulling on the jumper. My dream of playing probably started back then and I've always been around Fremantle, and love the club. 

"I really wanted to play footy for the club from that age and then as I worked through, I had Ryan Cook as my coach in under-14s and he was the captain at that time. I always saw it as a really big achievement if I could just play one game but to play 100 now just doesn’t seem real to be honest."

To think that he has also become a premiership player like those heroes he looked up to growing up is something that Donaldson is still struggling to comprehend really happened back in 2020.

"To be honest, it's hard to put it into words. It used to seem so unachievable and it was such a special thing to actually win that premiership and to do it," he said. 

"To have got there and ticked it off as part of my career, it's something that means a lot to me and it's something I'll look back on forever now."

South Fremantle made an impressive start to the 2023 season as well with a 43-point win at home against the West Coast Eagles with Donaldson terrific with 19 possessions and three goals in the 99th game of his career.

Donaldson was pleased with the start to the season after admittedly going through plenty of obstacles in the off-season, and coming into the new season with a bit of a feeling of having their backs against the wall.

"It was a great start to the year. We had five debutants so it was really good to see those guys be able to come in, play their role really well and understand what we're trying to do," Donaldson said.

"Then knowing we've got players like Jake Florenca to still come back into the middle and Brock Higgins and Noah Strom were out. We're in a really good spot as a group and now there's a lot of competition for spots as well. It was a good start and hopefully that can build, and we can get some momentum throughout the year.

"I think just with the things we've gone through in previous years with Covid and those sorts of things, we've had a lot of challenge and it seems to help us gel together. 

"We seem to always play better when our backs are up against the wall so that's really the message going into this year, and controlling what we can control. That's just going out every week and trying to win, and then the rest will kind of take care of itself. We're just trying to get the wins on the board and hopefully that will do the talking."

While South Fremantle's defensive work in 2022 was outstanding and why they still played finals for a seventh consecutive season and weren’t far from earning that crucial double chance, scoring didn’t come too easily.

However, based on Round 1 that might be turning around in 2023 on the back of the 15 goals kicked from 27 scoring shots and 50 inside-50 entries.

Donaldson does admit it's been a strong focus coming into the new season and he was pleased with how it came together in the opening game against the Eagles. 

"We had some challenges scoring last year so it was a focus to try and move the ball, and be a bit more attacking because we know we've got some really strong key forwards, and smalls who can score. We've just been trying to move the footy a bit quicker to get it in and let the forwards do the work," he said.

"It's a different look this year up forward for us. Obviously Mason is gone, but Jimmy at the moment is marking everything so that helps us and we've got a lot of small forwards as well. 

"They're young players but they are really exciting and we've probably got the most amount of forward pressure that we've had in years. We want to play some exciting, fast-paced and quick footy, and hopefully these boys can hit the scoreboard like they did again on the weekend."

Donaldson might not necessarily enjoy having the spotlight on him for his milestone game on Saturday, but he's looking forward to what is going to be a big weekend for his family.

"It's a bit of a weird one because I haven’t ever been in this situation before of having a milestone or anything apart from my debut," Donaldson said. 

"I've got some family from Adelaide who are actually coming over and my brother is having his engagement party as well on Sunday. 

"So they are coming over for both days but I'll just try to go into it being really grateful and proud to be there. I'll try to soak it up as much as I can but I will try to keep things as normal as possible from my end. I'll just try to enjoy the moment as much as I can and be present."