Bulldogs bank on four youngsters returning from AFL

BACKING in youth from South Fremantle's zone continues to be the Bulldogs' No. 1 focus and that has only been enhanced with the return to the club of four players from the AFL system.

Blaine Johnson (Carlton), Mason Shaw (Port Adelaide), Dylan Main (West Coast) and Tom Vandeleur (Fremantle) have all returned to South Fremantle for the 2016 WAFL season after finding themselves off AFL lists at the end of 2015.

It is a credit to South Fremantle that the club was able to secure the signatures of all four local products in an age when it's increasingly difficult to ensure the return of players to their original clubs with the other teams in the WAFL quick to swoop.

However, the four players all wanted to return straight to South Fremantle with the double aim of helping the Bulldogs become successful again at league level, and trying to impress sufficiently personally to earn another crack at the AFL.

South Fremantle coach Todd Curley is delighted to have all four of them at his disposal for his second season in charge of the Bulldogs.

Shaw and Johnson appear capable of adding further firepower to a forward-line already including the likes of Ben Saunders, Josh Pullman, Jacob Dragovich and Zac Strom.

Vandeleur earned his stripes as a defender but has proven himself capable of playing a variety of roles at either end of the ground the last two years with Fremantle and Peel Thunder while Main adds further running power and versatility to the Bulldogs as well.

Curley is looking forward to seeing what all four can deliver this season after developing from being part of South Fremantle's strong colts teams of recent years.

"I'm really happy especially with the four guys back from the AFL system. They are still really young and they are ex-South Fremantle boys so it's great to have them home," Curley said.

"They've had an impact just by being around the place since we started, but the exciting thing is that we will be a lot younger especially at reserves level.

"We think that will give our younger players to play in key positions and in the midfield where we think they can develop quicker. We made a conscious decision that we wanted to be younger at twos level, but that certainly hasn’t affected our depth overall we don’t think."

Curley has been through something similar to what all four players have experienced himself having spent a year with Collingwood to begin his AFL career.

He then returned to West Perth, starred in the 1995 premiership and ended up back in the AFL with the Western Bulldogs where he become a key component in a team that made preliminary finals in 1997 and 1998.

On the back of that, he will be doing everything he can to help Johnson, Main, Vandeleur and Shaw playing strong football in 2016. And if that helps them earn another crack at the AFL in 2017, he will only be too happy for them.

"It's tough coming out of the AFL system and for all of them if they had the choice, they would still be there but the fact that they are able to come home to their original club with still some guys they have played with previously will certainly help them assimilate back into a good place," Curley said.

"We'd love nothing better than for them to come back and improve as players and people, and hopefully get another shot."