Excitement machine Mugambwa to keep flying for Bulldogs

SOUTH Fremantle excitement machine Paul Mugambwa has confirmed he will play on in 2014 and likely the year after for the Bulldogs with the lure of life membership and the excitement from the strong band of youngsters too much to walk away from.

SOUTH Fremantle excitement machine Paul Mugambwa has confirmed he will play on in 2014 and likely the year after for the Bulldogs with the lure of life membership and the excitement from the strong band of youngsters too much to walk away from.

The 32-year-old has now played 127 games with South Fremantle since making his league debut with the Bulldogs in 2005 so in order to get to 150 matches to earn life membership; he will need to either play on in 2015 or for the team to play in at least two finals without him missing a game.

The story of the South African-born Mugambwa is one of the best ever WAFL success stories and he had to put in a lot of work, and he continues to, on his football skills after not playing the game growing up.

However, he has perhaps the biggest leap that any South Fremantle player ever has had and that has meant that despite standing only 182cm and weighing 80kg, he has been able to spend much of his career playing well above his stature and build.

Mugambwa has spent significant time in the ruck throughout his career but mostly it has been as a key forward target, but the added bonus for South Fremantle is that he is the best pressure forward in the competition as well and outstanding at ground level.

The first half of the 2013 season was tough to be the main forward target for Mugambwa given the team lost their first seven games and full-forward Ben Saunders was out injured, but has continued to battle hard.

He kicked another three goals from 14 possessions and six marks in last Saturday's thrilling and high-scoring win over East Perth at Fremantle Oval to now be leading South Fremantle's goalkicking with 32 for the season.

Mugambwa has now kicked 140 goals overall in his 127-game career and he sees no end in sight just yet while he is still enjoying what he is doing so much.

"I've always said to myself that the only things that would stop me from playing would be if my body couldn’t do it anymore or if I lost the excitement to play," Mugambwa said.

"I still love coming down and this was a great example of how exciting it can be when you see young guys make their debuts and carve it up. It's exciting times at the club and you can see the potential so I definitely want to hang around to play my role as much as I can."

There will be no South Fremantle player with a greater story to become a life member if Mugambwa is able to reach 150 games either late next year or in 2015.

That is something he would certainly be proud to achieve, but with him already having his name booked on the No. 20 locker and being a premiership player in 2009 means he already has left quite the legacy – not to mention excited each and everyone who has watched him play.

"If I play a full year next year I might end up at 148 if we don’t play finals, but I have been at the club for 11 years and I have set myself a few personal milestones. If I could get to 150 and be a life member of this club it would be an amazing achievement," he said.

"As you get older you tend to reflect a bit more and even this week I was thinking to myself that I'm not ready to leave all of this yet. I just love being around the boys and over the years I have literally seen hundreds of players come and go from this club.

"Some have stayed for two weeks and some for five years, but I have seen a lot of faces and to have been here for 11 years this club is my second home. For me to keep going with that lure of the 150 games would be a major achievement if I can get there."

While South Fremantle's attacking game was outstanding in last Saturday's 22.13 (145) to 21.7 (133) win over East Perth with Kris Miller kicking five goals, Ben Saunders four and Mugambwa three along with three from debutant Marlon Pickett, it was the other end that Mugambwa was impressed with.

Dylan Ross and Nick Borovac have held down the key defensive positions all season tremendously while Adam McIntosh has continued his emergence as a leader and key player.

However, it's important to have strong defence all over the field and Mugambwa has also been impressed with the outstanding run-with roles James Laurino has succeeded with early in his career – firstly Jarrod Kayler-Thomson and now Cale Morton.

"Our defence has probably been our best line this year. Dylan Ross, Nick Borovac and 'Smack' have been unbelievable in terms of some of the big games they've had to play against experienced players," Mugambwa said.

"Jimmy Laurino came in for his first game and shut down Kayler-Thomson and this week he got the job on an AFL player and he just did his job. Everyone in our team knows they have a role and if everyone does their job we will improve, and hopefully get more wins."

South Fremantle had a tough first half of 2013, but has now won its last three games impressively and four of the last five including victories over top-four sides West Perth and East Perth.

Mugambwa has enjoyed seeing the team come together at the end of the season and that has him excited for the future as well.

"We've got a young group and it has taken some time for everyone to find their place and role, and for us to perfect our game plan," he said.

"The game plan has changed a little bit, but over the last two months we have kind of gelled a lot tighter, the way we've been executing our game plan has been outstanding and we've got a lot of exciting young guys coming up. It's been great and hopefully we finish off with another win next week now."

While young players like Tim Kelly, Brendan Verrier, Jacob Martinez, Pickett, Warrick Andreoli, Kaiden Matera, Mitch Carter and a host of players give the Bulldogs reason for optimism looking forward, Mugambwa also knows keeping some experience around is crucial.

That's why he wants to continue playing and he has certainly enjoyed having more help in the forward-line in recent weeks not only with the return of Saunders, but with 297-game veteran Miller also joining him in attack.

With Miller still playing such outstanding football and kicking five goals last Saturday for the first time in his remarkable career, and being so close to 300 WAFL games and 150 with South Fremantle, Mugambwa can't fathom how the soon to be 33-year-old could even consider retiring.

"Obviously as you get a bit older and I'm still only 5'11 and am asked to play a key position which can be hard, but when Benny comes back in that helps us a lot. He just finds a way to kick goals and he might only have three kicks but you know they will all be goals," Mugambwa said.

"Kris Miller is just so smart around the ball and so experienced that he thinks a step ahead. It's amazing to watch him because he's not that fast and they try older and younger guys on him, and he still outsmarts them. It's been great watching him close up since he joined us up forward.

"He has to play on, I don’t think it's an option to be honest. He's close to playing 300 games and isn’t far off life membership here where it would be an amazing milestone. He is so close to those milestones and he's playing really good footy so as far as I'm concerned he should definitely be playing next year."

By Chris Pike