Relieved and excited Dell'Olio glad to be back with Bulldogs

CORY Dell'Olio was an excited and relieved man to be back playing last Good Friday night in South Fremantle's win over Claremont and now he only expects his form to pick up in coming weeks.

Dell'Olio had to sit out the first two games of the 2015 season but was right to resume playing when the AFL tribunal gave the Essendon players the all clear after the supplement saga that has carried on through the last two and-a-half years following the 2012 AFL season.

Dell'Olio has returned to South Fremantle in 2015 after three years with the Bombers where he played 16 AFL matches and now he has resumed his career with the Bulldogs where he previously played 58 games, kicked 109 goals and played in the 2009 premiership.

The 25-year-old kicked two goals from 10 disposals in the 38-point Good Friday win over Claremont that helped South Fremantle to a third straight win to start the season and to be the only unbeaten team left in the WAFL.

Dell'Olio was just happy to be playing again even if he expects his form to pick up now in coming weeks starting on Saturday against Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval.

"It was definitely exciting and relieving to be out there playing. I have to thank Todd (Curley) a little bit for giving me a game when I probably didn’t deserve it and I probably didn’t play that well to be honest, but it was just good to be out there and involved in the win," Dell'Olio said.

"Hopefully my form only picks up from here. I was cramping in the third quarter and I reckon I was pretty average. As a forward it's good to kick a couple of goals because that changes your form a little bit, but hopefully I pick up my form from here."

Dell'Olio was always confident he would receive the all clear to play along with the rest of his Essendon teammates, but as the deadline approached last Tuesday his nerves certainly were beginning to grow.

But being in Melbourne for the announcement by the AFL tribunal he got the news he was after and that made for an enjoyable week back in Perth from Wednesday onwards preparing to play on Friday back in the Bulldogs jumper for the first time since the first semi-final loss to Subiaco.

"It's been alright for the last month or so, but the last two weeks with it getting closer that's been tough. I felt confident the whole time with what was going on would be fine, but that last two weeks I was getting a bit anxious because you just never know," he said.

"When it went down on Tuesday it was a massive relief for everyone involved, and probably everyone in Australia and supporters of the AFL because I think everyone was pretty over it to be honest.

"Obviously I was in Melbourne early in the week and then got back Wednesday, and trained and the first thing I thought about when I was there on Tuesday was that I couldn’t wait to get back to train and play this week. It was exciting coming to training on Wednesday knowing I was getting to ready to play instead of just running laps after training. It was really good."

When Dell'Olio's time with Essendon came to an end at the end of 2014 it wasn’t always a given he would return to South Fremantle because he had enjoyed his three years in Melbourne and was considering staying there.

However, once he did decided to come home to Perth there was never anywhere else he was going to play than with the Bulldogs.

"This was the only place I would play if I was playing WAFL, but there was the possibly of staying in Victoria. In the end the pull of playing with a couple of good friends again was too good," Dell'Olio said.

"Googs (Adam Guglielmana) is one of my best mates and him and Toby Bairstow missed out in 2009 and I was pretty lucky to scrape in there. That was the main reason I did come back to possibly have that chance to possibly play in one with them over the next couple of years."