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Googs' Gabble – Adam Guglielmana Column State Game

Friday, May 23, 2014 - 5:22 PM - by Adam Guglielmana

WITH the State game between WA and the NEAFL this weekend I thought it would be topical to have a go at picking a team to represent the WAFL.

It must be said that apart from the vision we watch previous to playing the upcoming opposition we don’t actually get to see a lot of the opposition play, so the team I have picked isn’t so much based on form, but more on what I have witnessed firsthand over a period of time. I have no doubt I have missed some players who are in hot form but have based my selections on who we at South Fremantle put a lot of time into, and those that have damaged us in the past.

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Small Talk – Ashton Hams Column State Game

Friday, May 23, 2014 - 12:44 PM - by Ashton Hams

I AM really looking forward to the State game actually this Saturday. It will be my first time playing for WA and it's a bit of a surprise I've been picked, but especially to play with the other three South Fremantle boys I'm really looking forward to going to Sydney with them and giving it a good crack.

It means a lot to play for WA. It's a bit disappointing that it's not as big these days as it used to be, but there's definitely a spot for it and I think everyone in the WAFL should be aiming to play for the State. I'm lucky enough to be in the squad and to hopefully be playing.
It's actually a bit weird training, travelling and now preparing to play with some of the guys in the team because I know I definitely have had a few run ins with some of them over the years. To now be teammates with them is a bit weird at first, but you quickly work out that they are good blokes. It's just that you hate them when you play against them, but you always find out that they are good blokes off the field.
It's also good to now get the chance to play with a few of the blokes at Swans who my brother Kyle played with. I have got to know them for a while now because of that and it's going to be good playing with those guys.
Especially the East Fremantle guys it's a bit weird because we will be playing them straight after the game in the derby the next Monday. Obviously with guys like Doddy being at East Freo for so long and myself being at South for so long, it will be weird playing with the East Freo guys and then playing them straight after, but for now we'll enjoy it, have a bit of a laugh and I'm sure we'll also get into each other a bit.
Kyle was able to play in the State side the past two years and I know he had a good Saturday night when they went away to Adelaide. He loved the chance to get around the boys he played against for a long time and making some great mates – especially Doddy and Aaron Black from West Perth. He loved the opportunity. It would have been nice if he was still playing in the WAFL so we could have played together, but it wasn’t to be.
I'm also looking forward to my South teammates Saundo, Cooky and Schloithey playing as well. Haiden has been one of the best midfielders in the comp the way he's been playing, Cooky is our captain and our leader, and I can see all those three playing and playing really well. With Benny up at full-forward, hopefully he goes well and kicks a bag for us which would be nice.
It's always tough to pick a team like this and looking at some Souths guys, I reckon Googsy is a bit unlucky. He has been in really good form the past month or so since moving down back. Dylan Ross also has been getting an award every week and is in great form. I know Amesy and Doddy are good defenders, but Rossy would be the next key back I would pick.
The game is now being played out at Blacktown and I actually played a game for the Eagles there against GWS back in 2012. I didn’t get a kick, though, and I got ran down holding the ball so I don’t have the best memories out there. Hopefully I go a bit better this time. It was still a great experience going out there even though it's out in the sticks. It's a bit of a drive, but it's not a bad oval and it's something different so it will be good to get back there.
It's a bit disappointing the game was moved because there is probably going to be about three people out at Blacktown. It would have been nice afterwards to watch the GWS and Richmond game and have a beer, but there's not much we can do about that now. It would have been nice to play in front of a few more people and then watch that game afterwards, so that is disappointing but we are still putting on the jumper for the State and I'm sure all the boys are still looking forward to it.
Playing for WA probably isn’t quite as good as winning a premiership, but apart from that it is without doubt one of my career highlights. I never thought I would play for WA but then watching Kyle get to play, he just loved it and played really well in it and he now has his jumper hanging up. Since he did that, I always thought I would want to do it and it's a big effort I reckon playing for your State so I'm really looking forward to it.
By Ashton HamsI AM really looking forward to the State game actually this Saturday. It will be my first time playing for WA and it's a bit of a surprise I've been picked, but especially to play with the other three South Fremantle boys I'm really looking forward to going to Sydney with them and giving it a good crack.

It means a lot to play for WA. It's a bit disappointing that it's not as big these days as it used to be, but there's definitely a spot for it and I think everyone in the WAFL should be aiming to play for the State. I'm lucky enough to be in the squad and to hopefully be playing.

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Cook, Saunders, Schloithe, Hams to play for WA

Thursday, May 22, 2014 - 2:49 PM - by Chris Pike

FOUR South Fremantle stars will be representing Western Australia this Saturday in the 2014 State match against the NEAFL at Blacktown in Sydney.

South Fremantle captain Ryan Cook will be representing WA for the third time having previously played in 2011 and 2012 while Ashton Hams, Ben Saunders and Haiden Schloithe will be pulling on the Black Swans jumper for the first time.
All four will be crucial in the WAFL's clash with the NEAFL as well with Saunders the main goalkicking target up forward, Hams likely to be asked to set up play off half-back, Schloithe given an important role in the midfield and across half-forward, and Cook being asked to be one of the main ball winners and carriers in the line-up. 
The WAFL's opponent this year is a combined side from the North Eastern Australian Football League which features teams competing from New South Wales, the ACT, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
The NEAFL features some familiar faces including the likes of Ryan Brabazon, Eddie Sansbury, Jacob Derickx, Cleve Hughes and Will Sierakowski.
Cook is now in his third season as South Fremantle captain and fourth year with the Bulldogs following his time in the AFL with Collingwood, and the 26-year-old will be representing WA for the third time.
Cook previously played for the WAFL representative side in 2011 in the win over Queensland at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium when he racked up 26 possessions, and then he also played in 2012 in a narrow loss to South Australia in Adelaide.
In three years with the Bulldogs, Cook has won two fairest and best awards as well as playing for WA twice already and he is again in the middle of an outstanding 2014 season averaging almost 25 possessions a game.
Schloithe is in his first season back with South Fremantle after time with Fremantle, and the Bulldogs colts premiership star has taken his game to another level in 2014.
The 20-year-old is in the middle of an outstanding season with the Bulldogs that is seeing him averaging almost 26 disposals a game while also kicking 11 goals in eight matches along with drawing 33 free kicks and laying 26 tackles.
His form in 2014 included a remarkable three-week run between Rounds 4 and 6 where he racked up 102 possessions in three games and then kicked four goals in South Fremantle's win over East Fremantle on Anzac Day.
As well as winning a lot of the ball, he has kicked seven goals the last three games.
It might come as a surprise to many, but despite having played 123 WAFL matches, being a dual premiership player, Simpson Medallist and having played 39 matches with West Coast in the AFL, Hams will be playing for WA for the first time on Saturday as well.
The 27-year-old is back full-time at South Fremantle this season having retired from the AFL at the end of 2013.
He started 2014 playing across half-forward and through the middle, but over the past month has shifted to playing across half-back which has included him picking up 66 possessions in Rounds 5 and 6.
Across the season, he has averaged 26.5 possessions a game including having more than 30 disposals on four separate occasions. Not to mention his experience and outstanding kicking skills, and he was a natural selection to play for WA for the first time.
Full-forward Saunders will also be representing WA for the first time with the 22-year-old set to play at full-forward and be the main forward target with help from big men Nick Rodda and Tony Notte, and Ryan Davis, Kody Manning, Paul Bevan and George Hampson around him.
Saunders joined South Fremantle from Claremont in 2012 and has kicked 115 goals in 36 matches for the Bulldogs. He kicked 66 in 2012 to win the Bernie Naylor Medal as the league's leading goalkicker before managing just eight games due to collarbone injuries in 2013.
He has now kicked 23 goals in eight matches so far in 2014 including 16 in the last four.
WAFL SQUAD
Claremont – Luke Blackwell
East Fremantle – Steven Dodd, Tom Howlett, Jamie McNamara, Andrew Stephen
East Perth – Brendan Lee
Perth – Paul Bevan
South Fremantle – Ryan Cook, Ashton Hams, Ben Saunders, Haiden Schloithe
Subiaco – George Hampson
Swan Districts – Tallan Ames, Blaine Boekhorst, Ryan Davis, Tony Notte
West Perth – Jordan Jones, Chris Keunen, Kody Manning, Shane Nelson, Laine Rasmussen, Nick Rodda, Jay van Berlo
By Chris PikeFOUR South Fremantle stars will be representing Western Australia this Saturday in the 2014 State match against the NEAFL at Blacktown in Sydney.

South Fremantle captain Ryan Cook will be representing WA for the third time having previously played in 2011 and 2012 while Ashton Hams, Ben Saunders and Haiden Schloithe will be pulling on the Black Swans jumper for the first time.

All four will be crucial in the WAFL's clash with the NEAFL as well with Saunders the main goalkicking target up forward, Hams likely to be asked to set up play off half-back, Schloithe given an important role in the midfield and across half-forward, and Cook being asked to be one of the main ball winners and carriers in the line-up. 

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Bulldogs lose to Thunder to miss out on fourth straight win

Tuesday, May 20, 2014 - 1:26 AM - by Chris Pike

THE bye appeared to sap South Fremantle's momentum with the Bulldogs unable to stretch their winning run to four with Peel Thunder winning by 24 points in Mandurah to get its first victory of 2014.

South Fremantle lost its first four matches of the 2014 season, but then responded well with strong victories over West Perth, East Fremantle and Claremont to find some tremendous form prior to the Round 8 bye.
That break came at the worst possible time for the Bulldogs with them desperate to continue playing and continuing the winning form particularly following the dominant 64-point win over Claremont at Fremantle Oval.
A win could have also had South Fremantle on the verge of a place in the top-four, but to Peel's credit the Thunder outplayed the Bulldogs for most of the day and then kicked the last three goals of the game after being challenged in the fourth quarter to win 11.13 (79) to 7.13 (55).
South Fremantle now has another break this weekend with the general bye for the State game against the NEAFL in Sydney on Saturday. That leads into the Foundation Derby at Fremantle Oval on the WA Day Monday before yet another bye so it's a difficult period for the Bulldogs to manage.
Wingman Shaun Bewick was outstanding all day for South Fremantle at Bendigo Bank Stadium finishing with a game-high 31 possessions to go with six marks and four inside-50 entries.
Adam Guglielmana continued his form as one of the very best small defenders in the competition with another 27 possessions while captain Ryan Cook racked up another 26 disposals, Brendan Verrier 26, Steven Verrier 25, Tim Kelly 22, Toby Bairstow 21, Haiden Schloithe 20 and Ashton Hams 20.
Ben Saunders threatened to tear the game apart kicking three goals in just over 10 minutes to start the game, but he didn’t kick another goal the rest of the afternoon despite five more gettable shots.
Down back, Dylan Ross was outstanding for South Fremantle yet again and not only did he hold Matt Taberner goalless after he booted five the previous week for Peel, but he finished with 19 possessions and 10 marks.
Kris Miller also came into the South Fremantle team after continued strong form in the reserves with the champion midfielder playing the 302nd WAFL game of his career, and 149th with South Fremantle.
He was rotated heavily and finished with 15 possessions, four marks and two inside-50 entries.
Peel's reserves also got its first win of the season beating South Fremantle 11.14 (80) to 6.15 (51).
Emmanuel Collard and Kaiden Matera kicked two goals each for South Fremantle with Jason Maskos picking up 27 possessions, Joe Pantano 27, Ben Sokol 26, Traye Bennell 25, Lewis Harvey 23, Bailey Matera 23, Anthony Collica 21 and Marty Walley 20.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs colts beat the Thunder 11.7 (73) to 7.8 (50).
Cameron Loersch booted five goals for South Fremantle's colts with Brad Kersten adding three. Braden Fimmano racked up 26 possessions, Jacob Dragovich 24, Brandon Donaldson 21 and Jesse Mirco 20.
SOUTH FREMANTLE 3.3 5.3 5.7 7.13 (55)
PEEL THUNDER 3.1 6.5 8.11 11.13 (79)
SOUTH FREMANTLE – Goals: Saunders 3; Schloithe, White, S Verrier, Cook.
Best: Bewick, Guglielmana, Ross, Cook, Kelly, B Verrier, S Verrier.
PEEL THUNDER – Goals: Sylvia 3; Brown, Apeness, Grey 2; Menegola, Simpson.
Best: Jones, Crozier, Grey, Menegola, Brown, Ballard, Bradley, Dann.
By Chris PikeTHE bye appeared to sap South Fremantle's momentum with the Bulldogs unable to stretch their winning run to four with Peel Thunder winning by 24 points in Mandurah to get its first victory of 2014.

South Fremantle lost its first four matches of the 2014 season, but then responded well with strong victories over West Perth, East Fremantle and Claremont to find some tremendous form prior to the Round 8 bye.

That break came at the worst possible time for the Bulldogs with them desperate to continue playing and continuing the winning form particularly following the dominant 64-point win over Claremont at Fremantle Oval.

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Colts Report - Round 9

Monday, May 19, 2014 - 5:37 PM - by Arthur Maskos

THE South Fremantle colts side continued its 2014 campaign with a hard fought win against a resolute Peel Thunder team that was looking for consecutive wins.

The two sides were greeted with slippery conditions from overnight moisture on the Bendigo Bank Stadium surface. As expected, the greasy ball was difficult to control. This along with the physical nature of the Peel boys, the effectiveness of the Bulldogs was stymied for most of the first half.
With few highlights in the first term the team was only able to build a slender lead of two points as the siren went to end the quarter.
Midfielders Jacob Dragovich (23 disposals) and Jake Florenca matched the physical presence of their opponents and gave the red and whites some resistance to the pressure being placed on each of our ball handlers.
The frustration grew as the second term continued in the same vein as the first. Players from both sides began to find themselves in small fracases around the ground.
The Peel team had finally got the response they were after as the South team retaliated and lost their cool.
Peel managed to rattle a few of the newer members of the South team who struggled with the physical nature of the game. With a mere single scoring shot for the second quarter the Bulldogs were lucky to be only eight points in arrears at the main break.
Term three was dominated by South Fremantle as the conditions became more to their liking. The moisture on the ground dried and the clean skills of the Bulldogs were evident more often.
Braden Fimmano and Jesse Mirco were good contributors all day. They were instrumental in keeping the opposition goalless for the third term and also gave defensive rebound to set up many of South’s forward forays.
Brad Kersten and Cameron Loersch were dangerous up forward as tall marking targets. Brandon Donaldson and James Culleton lifted the forward pressure and the team seemed to have broken free of the tight grip of the Mandurah-based team.
The game was still in the balance in the final term and it took all the regular ball winners to wrestle the ascendancy back from a determined opposition.
Kade Stewart and Corey Salmon began to win the hard ball. Brad McPhail and Braden Fimmano continued to stymie the Peel forwards and Brandon Donaldson ran hard to give the tall forwards an opportunity to grasp some telling marks.
Both Kersten and Loersch stood tall with eight goals between them (five in the final term), to steer the Bulldogs home to their eighth win of the year.
It was pleasing to see the team withstand the slippery and physical conditions to prevail when they could easily have let this game slip from their grasp.
The players and staff are looking forward to the break and are also pleased to be in a solid position on the premiership ladder.
With second spot and a two-game break on third it gives the coaches an opportunity to reflect and consider our strategies in the second half of the season.
We wish our state representatives, seniors and colts all the best as they represent WA this coming weekend.
I would personally like to thank my assistants and volunteers for their efforts so far and hope they are all looking forward to the exciting football from the colts side in the coming weeks.
Arthur Maskos
SFFC Colts CoachTHE South Fremantle colts side continued its 2014 campaign with a hard fought win against a resolute Peel Thunder team that was looking for consecutive wins.

The two sides were greeted with slippery conditions from overnight moisture on the Bendigo Bank Stadium surface. As expected, the greasy ball was difficult to control. This along with the physical nature of the Peel boys, the effectiveness of the Bulldogs was stymied for most of the first half.

With few highlights in the first term the team was only able to build a slender lead of two points as the siren went to end the quarter.

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Lucky Lottery Winners - Week 4

Monday, May 19, 2014 - 3:41 PM

Congratulations to the following members who won in our fourth Lucky Lottery draw!

Frank Foster - 427
Jim Regan - 977
John Wilson - 1268
Craig Cumming - 277
Geoffrey Cole - 229


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Round 9 Preview v Peel Thunder

Friday, May 16, 2014 - 4:27 PM - by Chris Pike

SOUTH Fremantle enters Saturday's clash with the winless Peel Thunder on a three-game winning streak and fresh off the bye, and a win at Bendigo Bank Stadium could see the Bulldogs move into the top-four heading into the WAFL State game.

A team not having won in 12 months up against one fresh and on a three-game winning streak might not ordinarily be a clash to look forward to, but Saturday's contest in Mandurah between Peel Thunder and South Fremantle looms as a fascinating one.
South Fremantle started 2014 slowly losing its first four matches but then turned things around with the Bulldogs scoring impressive wins over West Perth, East Fremantle and Claremont.
That saw the Bulldogs improve to a 3-4 record before the bye last weekend and now they could head into the State game on 4-4 and potentially even be in the top-four depending on other results.
Peel has not won a game yet in seven attempts this season but has not been thrashed in any game with its biggest loss being by 35 points against Swan Districts and that was a game that it actually led by 34 points early in the third quarter.
The Thunder's average losing margin is only 21 points so they are competitive without being able to get over the line and that was never more evident than last Sunday.
Peel was terrific for most of the day at Arena Joondalup against West Perth, particularly in the second quarter, and led by 42 points at half-time.
The Thunder were still 30 points in front at three quarter-time and 17 points to the good heading into time-on in the final quarter, but somehow the Falcons kicked three goals to win by a point.
Peel has now not won since beating East Perth at Bendigo Bank Stadium in Round 10 last year. It is a streak stretching 18 matches.
Peel doesn’t have any players in the WAFL's squad to play the NEAFL next Saturday in Sydney, but South Fremantle does with Haiden Schloithe, Ashton Hams, Ryan Cook and Ben Saunders all looking to continue their strong form to book a place in the WA team.
Schloithe has been in outstanding form in the midfield and is also a goalkicker, Hams has controlled the games he has played across half-back recently, Cook is a hard-running ball magnet leading the way for the Bulldogs and Saunders has kicked 13 goals in his last three games.
Key defender Dylan Ross could consider himself unlucky to not be in the squad so far and another strong showing against a tall Peel key forward such as Matt Taberner, Jack Hannath, Craig Moller or Michael Apeness might rocket him into calculations.
South Fremantle was in outstanding form prior to the bye last week having won three straight matches and as a result coach Paul Hasleby has little need for changes.
Paul Mugambwa remains out of the line-up while James Sellar should be better for the run against Claremont prior to the bye coming back from a knee injury and now with an extra two weeks of training.
Kris Miller and Alistair Gillespie are both fighting to come back into the South Fremantle league team and Mitch Banks is a chance to make his debut, but it looks most likely that the Bulldogs will take on Peel with an unchanged line-up from the side that beat the Tigers by 64 points.
The Thunder will lose Tom Sheridan to Fremantle from last Sunday's team that went down to West Perth by a point, but Peel should once again have a strong line-up at its disposal.
Dylan Winton also goes out of Peel's team but while Garrick Ibbotson and Matt Taberner have been named as outs, both are expected to play with the Thunder and not the Dockers again this week.
Peel should also be strengthened by the return from Fremantle of Clancee Pearce and Hayden Crozier with Toby Gianatti, Aiden Field, Brennan Gillam and Tom Vandeleur all in the mix to play after solid form in the reserves.
Captain James Flaherty is likely to return after missing the game against West Perth and his reward likely is the defensive job on 2012 Bernie Naylor Medal winner Ben Saunders.
RESERVES TEAM
T Bairstow, M Banks, T Bennell, M Bolger, S Borovac, J Branchi, M Carter, A Collica, A Galiano, A Gillespie, M Gundry, J Hall, L Harvey, B Hill, K Hogan, T Kelly, J Maskos, B Matera, K Matera, K Miller, S Mills, J Pantano, J Parry, M Russell, B Sokol, T Stewart, Z Strom, J Symmans, J Tartaglia, B Verrier, M Walley
COLTS TEAM
D Cabassi, B Colbung, J Culleton, J Depane, B Donaldson, J Dragovich, B Fimmano, J Florenca, J Foster, M Grubelich, O Ham, B Kersten, C Loersch, J McComb, G McLeod, J McMaster, B McPhail, J Mirco, D Moore, A Nodari, L Pearson, C Salmon, N Strom, B Truss, S Williamson
By Chris PikeSOUTH Fremantle enters Saturday's clash with the winless Peel Thunder on a three-game winning streak and fresh off the bye, and a win at Bendigo Bank Stadium could see the Bulldogs move into the top-four heading into the WAFL State game.

A team not having won in 12 months up against one fresh and on a three-game winning streak might not ordinarily be a clash to look forward to, but Saturday's contest in Mandurah between Peel Thunder and South Fremantle looms as a fascinating one.

South Fremantle started 2014 slowly losing its first four matches but then turned things around with the Bulldogs scoring impressive wins over West Perth, East Fremantle and Claremont.

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Bewy's Banter – Shaun Bewick Column Round 9

Wednesday, May 14, 2014 - 5:44 PM - by Shaun Bewick

GROWING up myself and Rohan were always naturally going to play at West Perth and we became the fourth generation in our family to play there, but we both now are creating our own paths at South Fremantle and my twin brother at the Brisbane Lions in the AFL.

I guess playing football was always going to happen given the way we grew up in such a strong football family.
Some of my earliest memories were when dad (Corry) was captain-coach at North Beach and it's amazing the connections you make. There was always another kid hanging around with me and Rohan, and it turns out that it was Brock Higgins and now I'm playing with him here at South Fremantle. We became really good friends and now 18 or 20 years later we are playing in the same team.
From early on, I remember always being down at the footy club with dad and I think it was a natural that me and Rohan would end up playing footy. Dad had finished at West Perth before I can remember anything about his time there, but as soon as I started taking any slight interest in footy, because of my last name it all revolved around uncle Darren from what he did at Essendon. I really picked up the love of the game from watching him play in the AFL.
We didn’t get attention because of the Bewick name at school so much, but in community footy we obviously were recognised for being Bewicks. Dad was our coach in the juniors, but a lot of people would tease us about ending up playing at West Perth because we are Bewicks and stuff like that. It didn’t happen so much at school and it wasn’t until we got into playing colts football at West Perth that Bewick factor really came about where focus came on to us because of our surnames.
Dad has been involved in football his whole life. He played 128 games for West Perth and kicked 195 goals. He was coach of our Kingsley team for a long time, he coached at North Beach, he coached out at York for a while and was coach of the West Perth 16s for five years before finishing up there the same year that I finished at West Perth. From when I was about 12 to almost 20, he was always my coach or helping with my footy in some way.
He would still come down to senior training a couple of times a year to do some goal kicking work with Anthony Tsalikis and a few of the other forwards. He would always have some form of involvement one way or the other. He is a life member at West Perth and was always welcome around the club in the early stages of my career there.
Dad's connection started early. His mum has been a West Perth supporter just about her whole life and her husband Ron played 115 games for West Perth, played in the 1960 premireship and was involved in a premiership after he stopped playing, and was on the board and a state selector. He had a lot to do with footy so that's where Nan got that from. Even her dad was Joe Brooker who was the coach of the 1942 premiership team. If you put it that way there have been four generations of Bewicks down at West Perth.
Some guys at West Perth knew about dad and saw his name on the locker and everything, but obviously Darren was the most famous member of the Bewick family. Everyone watched AFL and knew him from that and I loved watching him play for Essendon as well. I am very happy that the red hair didn’t pass on to us, though, he can keep that. He and Glen, another of my uncles, is a red head so we are grateful that it missed a few of us.
Glen even ended up coaching East Perth there for a while. I was still playing colts at the time and he was pretty close to getting the West Perth job when Bill did, but he ended up coaching East Perth. There wasn’t any strange feelings in the family about him coaching the enemy. We were all happy for him to get the chance to coach at that level, I know dad was happy for him, and he got the job after a really good performance coaching the colts. That helped him get his foot in the door at Freo so it was good for him.
I actually only just found out that he also played a season for East Perth in the reserves so maybe he had a bit of blue and black in his blood. Putting all that into it, I don’t think anyone worried about him coaching East Perth given he had already pulled on their jumper.
At the moment, dad is still working for North Melbourne as a scout after doing it for Essendon a long time before that. Glen works for St Kilda as a scout and has been doing that for a couple of years now. Their other brother Richard is also a life member at North Beach and he was my colts coach there, and is still involved in coaching. And Darren is still the coach of the Eastern Rangers in the TAC Cup. So they are all still involved in footy and probably always will be.
When myself and Rohan first got down to West Perth, we were lucky to be top-aged colts so we got to play three years of colts but it both took us a while to adjust. In our first year we didn’t play a game and I ended up playing a game before him. It took us until the last four games of our second year to finally get a colts game so it started very slowly for us. Then the year after as top-aged colts we found our footing a bit more. Then the last month of that year we played a few games in the reserves and from there, Rohan made his debut in Round 1 of 2009 when I was emergency.
Rohan broke his leg that year so he missed a fair bit of footy, but I managed to play four league games later in the year including the final we lost to Swan Districts. I then played 12 games in 2010, but Rohan had a really good year and ended up getting drafted after doing well at the state screenings. He was drafted by Gold Coast and then they swapped Jared Brennan with Brisbane so that's how he ended up there. I still had another year at West Perth after he was drafted, but at the end of 2011 I moved to South Fremantle.
I am still at South Fremantle and he is obviously still at Brisbane Lions so I guess you could say we are building our own reputations outside of West Perth now. In 2012, he probably had his best AFL season and he's now chalked up his 50th game this year and I had a good year in 2012 as well in my first season at South Fremantle. I am up to 56 WAFL games now and he is up to 52 AFL games so since he left for Brisbane, we have ended up playing around the same amount of games at senior level. He just obviously is getting paid a lot more to do it than I am though.
In 2010, we played 10 matches in the league team at West Perth together which was good. Mum and dad enjoyed that chance to watch us together and now it's been a few years since they have been able to do that.
Mum has been to watch a lot more of his games than dad does. She seems to get all the little trips over to Brisbane. She went over to see him last week for Mother's Day. Dad probably gets over to watch him two or three times a year, but mum might go five or six times. After my last game against Claremont, the second it finished they drove home to Joondalup to watch the start of Rohan's game on TV. They do their very best to watch both of us still. Rohan's games definitely take priority for mum.
There's no doubt I would like to play with Rohan again before we finish up. Hopefully Rohan has plenty of years left in the AFL, but he seemed to have his niche spot under Vossy and doesn’t seem to have that anymore under Leppitsch. He is out of contract this year so we will wait and see if he gets another deal at Brisbane or another club.
If he ends up back in WA and out of the AFL, I obviously would love to have him join me at South Fremantle. We probably are missing that type of marking forward player so he would fit in very well in our team and would be a very handy player to have. It's not something I have thought a lot about until now, but I'm sure mum and dad would love to see us play together again. They might want it more than we do, but we would enjoy it as well.
By Shaun BewickGROWING up myself and Rohan were always naturally going to play at West Perth and we became the fourth generation in our family to play there, but we both now are creating our own paths at South Fremantle and my twin brother at the Brisbane Lions in the AFL.

I guess playing football was always going to happen given the way we grew up in such a strong football family.

Some of my earliest memories were when dad (Corry) was captain-coach at North Beach and it's amazing the connections you make. There was always another kid hanging around with me and Rohan, and it turns out that it was Brock Higgins and now I'm playing with him here at South Fremantle. We became really good friends and now 18 or 20 years later we are playing in the same team.

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Lucky Lottery - Week 3

Wednesday, May 14, 2014 - 11:15 AM

Congratulations to the following members who won in our third Lucky Lottery draw!

Margaret Redpath - 973
Paul Vasoli - 1201
Guilio Mosca - 844
Anna Kristancic - 654
Dom Ricci - 994

Draw 4 will commence on Friday 16th May.

It's not too late to be in the next 7 draws, so make sure you bring your $60 to be in this exclusive members only draw.  You have to be in it to Read More [+]

Bulldogs finding strong form after slow start

Saturday, May 10, 2014 - 5:47 PM - by Chris Pike

SOUTH Fremantle has now won three straight matches for the third time under coach Paul Hasleby, but for the first occasion it has happened at a point where the Bulldogs can capitalise on it.

In South Fremantle's last two years under Hasleby, it has started slowly and then played catch up the whole way through and despite strong finishes on both occasions, the Bulldogs never seriously threatened to make finals.
Finals looked a mile off after four games of 2014 with South Fremantle losing all four against Subiaco, Perth, East Perth and Swan Districts, but things have quickly turned since then with three straight wins over West Perth, East Fremantle and Claremont.
South Fremantle now has the bye this week and is a real chance of levelling its ledger at 4-4 with a clash against the winless Peel Thunder following the break.
Hasleby deserves a lot of the credit for the turnaround with South Fremantle as well.
Following a 75-point loss to East Perth, he threw things around including moving Ashton Hams and Adam Guglielmana into the defence, veteran defender Craig White into the forward-line along with usual half-back Mitch Carter.
The result has been Hams playing outstanding football setting up play from half-back and Guglielmana is playing some of the best football of his career as a small defender.
Meanwhile, up forward White is now playing as South Fremantle's main lead-up target and is doing it tremendously having taken 25 marks in his four games as a forward, and kicking seven goals.
Meanwhile, Carter has been playing as a defensive forward and working hard in that role, but has also chipped in with four goals the past two weeks.
Hasleby has also added Toby Bairstow into the midfield to good effect, Brock Higgins has been outstanding in the ruck, Haiden Schloithe has been the form player in the competition, key defenders Nick Borovac, Dylan Ross and Zac Strom have been outstanding, and youngsters Tim Kelly, Jacob Martinez, Marlon Pickett, Brendan Verrier and Steven Verrier have stepped up.
Bairstow did a couple of run-with roles when he first came into the team and limited the influence of Shane Nelson in particular against West Perth keeping him to 13 possessions, while he has found plenty of the ball himself averaging 18 disposals a game.
Higgins has been called on to be the No. 1 ruckman after James Sellar went down injured with a knee and he has been outstanding after joining from East Perth in the off-season.
Schloithe was a little quiet against Claremont having been closely tagged by Corey Yeo, but he still kicked two goals and in the three weeks before that racked up 102 possessions including four goals in the win over East Fremantle.
Down back, Borovac, Ross and Strom have often been oversized but have battled hard as key defenders and the rewards are starting to come with the Bulldogs only conceding 27 goals the past three weeks against the Falcons, Sharks and Tigers.
On top of that, Martinez, Pickett, Kelly and Brendan Verrier are building on the form that they started to show in 2014 while Steven Verrier has been a welcome return from the AFL.
It hasn’t been all smooth sailing with 301-game veteran Kris Miller having spent the last four weeks in the reserves and racking up 113 possessions the last three weeks, but that has shown that no favourites are being played and that nobodies position in the team is safe with the Bulldogs desperate for a first finals appearance since 2011.
By Chris PikeSOUTH Fremantle has now won three straight matches for the third time under coach Paul Hasleby, but for the first occasion it has happened at a point where the Bulldogs can capitalise on it.

In South Fremantle's last two years under Hasleby, it has started slowly and then played catch up the whole way through and despite strong finishes on both occasions, the Bulldogs never seriously threatened to make finals.

Finals looked a mile off after four games of 2014 with South Fremantle losing all four against Subiaco, Perth, East Perth and Swan Districts, but things have quickly turned since then with three straight wins over West Perth, East Fremantle and Claremont.

Read More [+]

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