Maskos and Bulldogs aim to continue visiting teams winning derbies

SOUTH Fremantle defender Jason Maskos had to patiently wait for a league opportunity this year but he's done well the last three weeks and now is looking forward to helping the Bulldogs make a run at a first finals appearance since 2011.

Maskos didn’t find his way into the South Fremantle league side until Round 13 this season but he's now played the last three games and has improved on each occasion as part of a back-line unit that has been holding up well.

South Fremantle might be struggling to kick goals in the absence of Ben Saunders, and with Josh Pullman, Paul Mugambwa, Cory Dell'Olio and Jacob Dragovich spending time out injured and in the reserves in recent times, but the back-line has been doing well to keep the Bulldogs in games.

And Maskos has settled in well over the last weeks after being rewarded for some strong consistent form in the reserves this season as part of a team that remains on top of the ladder.

Maskos and South Fremantle are now preparing for the final derby of 2015 this Sunday at ATOM Stadium and with the recent trend of the last 10 derbies being won by the opposing side, playing away from Fremantle Oval certainly holds no fears.

And while East Fremantle has now lost its last seven games to be all but out of finals contention, Maskos knows that the Sharks can't be taken lightly on Sunday, and if he wasn’t aware then he has no doubt coach Todd Curley makes sure everyone is fully aware of it this week.

"We've been the underdogs in derbies a few times in recent years but somehow miraculously have come back to win in the last couple of minutes, or had big wins. We know we will have to bring our A-game and not get at all complacent, and Todd will definitely make sure of that for us," Maskos said on 91.3 SportFM.

"It's definitely a bigger game than most weeks. When you run out onto the ground and you hear the roar of the crowd it's completely different than what you are used to. And no matter where you are on the ladder, it usually comes down to whoever comes ready for the day. Whoever comes ready to play early seems to win the games in derbies most of the time, and it really gets you up and about."

South Fremantle currently sits in sixth position on the ladder with a 7-7 record and that is a good indication of the up and down season the Bulldogs have had so far this season.

The Bulldogs are doing a lot of things right, but just not finishing the job and one thing that has stood out from last week again Claremont is that they can't afford to give up a five-goal deficit at quarter-time like they did against the Tigers, and similarly on WA Day against the Sharks.

However, Maskos feels things aren’t far away from clicking fully together with six games of the season remaining.

"The positives were the last three quarters of the game, but the first quarter when we looked at it on video we just weren’t hard enough on our men. But after that to claw our way back into the game, we thought we did well but we just didn’t take our chances in front of the goals," he said

"We think we are going pretty well, but there are just some small things during games that are letting us down. On the weekend we only played three quarters of footy and in the first quarter we put ourselves too far behind. We feel like we are good enough to make it, it's just that we aren’t showing it fully yet."

Maskos got his first taste of league football back in 2012 playing four games after a successful colts career under his father, and now league assistant Arthur.

Maskos then played six games in 2013 and another six in 2014, but it took 11 reserves games in 2015 before new coach Curley brought him up and given the way the reserves have been playing, and the league side being in finals contention he has no problem with having to earn his spot.

"We have had a pretty good reserves team this year so to get your way into the league team for any of us back there it has been pretty tough," Maskos said.

"There are plenty of people who can play my role down back, so I just had to keep playing consistent footy and then Todd told me when I got my opportunity I had to keep playing my way of footy. That's where it's got me now and it's good to be in the league side at the moment."