The bye couldn’t have come at a better time for South Fremantle as the reigning premiers gradually slide down the ladder after three straight losses.
Dropping one of those games to cross-town rivals East Fremantle, the Sharks have strung three together and creep up on the Dogs who sit in fifth – the Sharks lurking right behind in sixth.
Recent form hasn’t been up to the standard South Fremantle generally likes to hold, and they’re hoping they can turn it around in the second half of the season after the break.
CEO Cam Britt joined Sports Breakfast this morning.
“He [captain Chad Pearson] was transparent. He was taking ownership and accountability for where we’re at and he summarized it really well… particularly last year in our premiership year, our team defence where we just suffocate teams seems to have broken down a little bit,” he said [Cam Britt on Chad Pearson speaking to SportFM earlier in the week].
“Our red collar standard, which is our trademark, is generally characterised by doing the hard things, seeing something that needs to be done, not waiting for a teammate to do it – doing yourself the real gritty stuff… those types of efforts have probably dropped away and we want to get back to that real red collar standard.
“I think our best football is absolutely still good enough, and it’s a really fascinating season that teams are getting knocked off by oppositions you may not have expected.”
The absence of full forward and back Trey Ruscoe and Noah Strom has been sorely missed throughout the mid season with their Euro trips leaving big shoes to fill on the footy field.’
Britt says the club preferred to accommodate the plans rather than see two of their star players retire or move on from South Fremantle.
“I think internally it was well known and understood in terms of the reasons and accepted some time ago internally. It hasn’t been a significant discussion point really at any part during the season.”
“It’s pretty unique to have your full forward and your full back missing for a chunk of the season. It’s suboptimal and certainly no one in our footy club is saying that it’s ideal in any way shape or form but we’re accepting of that in the context of the circumstances of both situations and we’re absolutely hellbent on ensuring that we can do our very best to cover those roles and get ourselves back to winning games of football.”
It’s not all doom and gloom at the Doggies with the club recently announcing the extension of both League and WALFW coaches, Craig White and Pia Faletti.
“We’re delighted to have extended both Craig and Pia, we think they’re doing a wonderful job and they’re delivering some great work across our entire footy club.”
“They’re fantastic culturally at our footy club and performance wise for where our teams are at, equally they’re doing a really good job.”
The Doggies’ League side will take on West Perth at home on Saturday, hoping to get back on the winners list over a team with just one victory for the year.
IMAGE: Peter Keleman