Red and WHITE – Craig White Column Round 20

FOR this week's column I was asked to pick my best South Fremantle team that I've played with and considering there have been so many great players and 36 premiership players trying to get them down to 22 was really tough.

There is a group of more than 30 made up of blokes who have played forward and back, midfield and forward, midfield and back so it's hard to get the right combination. But essentially I tried to pick blokes where they played their best footy in my time.

This exercise gave me the chance to look back on my career as well and I wouldn’t be in the top 30 players so that means that I have learned from 30 or 40 better players than myself. The grounding that I got when I first came up from the colts and learning from those senior guys held me in good stead, and gave the leadership qualities that I needed to make sure that I was still in the team going forward. And then coming forward with the Hams boys, Cooky and seeing how far Duff has gone on now, it just shows that we did have a strong group then and there's not too many from today's team in my side, but I can see in three or four years time that the colts group coming through could have the same success that we had.

Now on to the team I picked.

Sam Hunt is my full-back and he's someone I warmed to straightaway when he came across from Geelong, and I still keep in contact with him today. He was fiery at the start and over the top, but he then just became an integral part of the group, a great clubman and just a really good defender who could also attack and hurt blokes going the other way.

I had Kyle and Ashton in the back pockets and what stood out about them was just their one-on-one ability to win contests. They just hardly ever got beaten whether it was being attacking or to beat someone and especially in grand finals they stood up. We started as a forward group together and then ended up with each other in the back-line so I have played pretty much all my footy at the same end of the ground as those guys. They had the ability to shutdown somebody and then also attack, and then play well in the big games is what sets them apart from most players.

The half-back line was definitely the toughest one for me to pick. We've got Gaulty, who is the best leader I've played under, and then Northy, Scotty Thornton and Duff who I ended up going with and they were all really good decision-makers. I think what set Duff and Northy apart was their skills and decision-making ability because they could set the game up so well.

Toby McGrath is my centreman and he pretty much carried us as along from the 2005 grand final and through that 2005 to 2009 period. He just led the group and his ability to win the one-on-one contests and play well on the big games to win Simpson Medals, captain the State team and be a premiership captain is a credit to Toby and the legend that he is at the club.

Clint Jones is a lock as one of my wingman and he won back-to-back best and fairests before he went away to St Kilda, and he was an integral part of the team when I first started playing. He was just so much fitter than everybody, he got pretty strong in the gym and just his ability to continually rack up possessions on the wing was a big part of our team when we had success between 2004-06.

It's great to see guys you played with go on and have success. I have followed Duff, Dells, Hamsy when he went up, Jonesy and Callum Wilson when he went up when they have been in the AFL. I have followed their progress closely and you get a kick out of seeing them do well at the next level.

Ryan Cook is on my other wing and he is pretty much the only player in my side who isn’t a premiership player just because of his running ability, work rate and ability to break away that sets him apart. He kind of had the captaincy thrust upon but he has taken it head on and since his ability to lead the group has been awesome. He has become a really good mate as well and he's been the perfect clubman since coming across.

Evan Hewitt is at centre half-forward and just his ability to never get beaten and provide a contest made him standout. Evan was such a big body and made my job as a small forward so much easier. He was a dead eye in front of goal, he worked in well with the other forwards, he was very smart and someone who was so important. Looking back now you realise how important a good, solid centre half-forward can be if you can get your hands on one. It gives you such an advantage and Callum Wilson played that role for us pretty well when he was up and going especially in the 2009 grand final, but really there hasn’t been too many centre half-forwards across the whole WAFL since Evan retired.

Ryan Murphy is my obvious pick for full-forward and there was a period there when he would just kick goals at ease. He would just kick 60 or 70 goals with us in a season while playing five or so games with the Dockers that year. He was very quick on the lead and people probably didn’t realise that, but then his finishing ability was so good. He just would never miss and you knew that he would hit the scoreboard whenever the ball was in his hands.

Jeff Farmer is in one forward pocket and his ability to have fun was great. We got him back a couple of times when he got in trouble with the Dockers and he turned it on a few times, and he probably gets into the side because of where he came from and what he's done. He was called the 'Wizard' for a reason and we probably didn’t see the best of him, but his ability to be a good clubman as well was awesome.

We saw the best of Andrew Siegert when he was still with the Dockers and I remember in 2004 when Capuano was our ruckman, they had great chemistry in the middle and Siegs was so strong out of the middle, and could get forward to kick goals. He was probably also the reason I played in the 2005 grand final when he missed with injury. I forged a good relationship with Siegs and just his ability to be tough over the footy and win the ball, and kick goals as an attacking midfielder or high half-forward was awesome.

Jaymie Graham as an all-rounder was such a great clubman, a family man and bloke, and then as a footballer he could do it all. He could be a full-forward, centre half-back or ruckman and he's still held in very high regard at the club and I still look up to him to this very day.

Kris Miller is my ruck rover and he was just an awesome talent. I ended up playing more games with him than anyone and just his ability in close, knowledge of the game to bring other blokes into it, his stoppage work, his hands and then to hit the scoreboard and kick goals was second to none.

Belly was super generous with his time and by coming back to play that year, nobody probably expected him to do that and for him to come back and be a leader like he did, give guidance to the younger blokes and actually play well, was just awesome. He probably gets into the team for what he did previously, but I think the club is still in debt to him for what he gave for that 12 months.

Then there are the players who I couldn’t fit into my 18 and it's just impossible to pick a 22 and that speaks volume for the teams we've had over the last 10 years. We've been through a good period and the work rate of some of those guys in the mix as well like Ryan Webb and Matt Clucas taught us as a young group was just invaluable. I then played a heap of footy with Theo and played in two premierships with him, and then there is Gilly, Keren Ugle and Tippa who are all awesome players in their own right. It was tough to narrow it down from there to four on the bench.

I think if Theo didn’t go to East Fremantle for those four years he would be in my starting 18. In the games he did play for us, he was a big game player and played great grand finals and I forged a good relationship with Theo coming through juniors with him, and then in those two premierships.

This has also given me the chance to look forward to our premiership reunion from 2005 next year. I haven’t seen some of the guys for a long time and I'm looking forward to it. No doubt it will be a big couple of days and I'm sure there will be a bit of crap spoken over the table that night.