Saunders to return and strengthen forward-line

WHILE South Fremantle coach Paul Hasleby is happy with how the Bulldogs' back-line is coming together, he knows his forward-line is a work in progress and it will be significantly strengthened this week with the returns of Ben Saunders and John Sgherza.

South Fremantle's young back-line led by Nick Borovac and Dylan Ross has battled hard right throughout 2013, but the forward-line has lacked punch despite the best efforts from Paul Mugambwa, Adam Guglielmana and Alistair Gillespie.

What has been missing is that spearhead with Saunders being restricted to two games and in both of those despite kicking five goals, fractured his collarbone in each.

However, last year's Bernie Naylor Medal winner as the league's leading goal scorer is set to make his return this Saturday against West Perth at Arena Joondalup.

Sgherza has kicked 14 goals in just eight games this year and he's set to return this week as well as is ruckman Sean Tighe who missed the three-point loss to Claremont prior to last week's bye.

Hasleby is glad to have all three back particularly for Saunders to add some potency to the forward-line.

"Seany Tighe comes back in and Ben Saunders is another one who will get an opportunity provided he trains well this week. Shaun Bewick isn’t too far away either so it will be good to have those guys in to ease the burden on some of the other guys who have been carrying it all year," Hasleby said.

"He (Saunders) proved in that first time he came back that he can come in and have an immediate impact when he kicked three goals in the first game we won.

"The kamikaze style that he plays means you are never quite sure if the shoulder is going to get through, but his pressure is elite and that's all we ask of him. If he does that, he makes the players around him a lot better."

South Fremantle's forward-line of 2011 when the Bulldogs last played finals and before Hasleby took over as coach had plenty of avenues to goal with Cory Dell'Olio kicking 51 goals, Callum Wilson 46, Ryan Murphy 26 and Hasleby himself 22.

That instantly meant that 145 goals went out of the team that he took over as coach and while Saunders was a great success story in 2012 winning the Bernie Naylor Medal, Hasleby is well aware that the forward-line remains a work in progress.

"Clearly, though, we need to find some more avenues to goal and that will be our recruiting strategy over the coming months," he said.

"Even from the year before we also lost Callum Wilson, Cory Dell'Olio, Ryan Murphy and myself so that's a lot of goals we've had to try and replace. It's a forward-line in transition and we need to continue to add to that.

"No doubt, once our side is fully fit but we need to get a bit of extra support in that forward-line."

The back-line, though, looks to be one that if all the players stick in for the long haul can form the backbone of South Fremantle for years to come.

Even though Andrew McCarrey and Brendon Gulley aren’t there who would have been pencilled in as key men coming into the year, the group back there is working well together.

Small/mid-size players Craig White, Adam McIntosh, Adam Carter and Mitch Carter have been doing well, but it's the key position players like Borovac, Ross and Justin Monaco who have been the cornerstone of the defensive unit standing firm despite plenty of pressure throughout the season so far.

"Dylan Ross has been fantastic and I'm really happy for him. I put a lot of pressure on him when he first came into the league side last year but he has responded the way you hope as a coach. He is really disciplined now, he's hard and he is reaping the benefits," Hasleby said.

"Nick Borovac just gives 110 per cent every day and you wish you could have four or five of him because of the way he throws himself at the contest. He is developing into a player who some of the clubs at a higher level need to start having a look at.

"Justin has come off a really low base in terms of his pre-season is getting some big jobs on some of the opposition's key forwards and doing it well."

By Chris Pike