South Fremantle captain Chad Pearson says it is ‘massive’ to be able to celebrate 125 years of club history this weekend.
The Bulldogs, who debuted in 1900, are celebrating their 125th anniversary at Fremantle Oval this Saturday with four matches taking place throughout the day.
Both the senior WAFL and WAFLW players will wear heritage guernseys, which feature the names of all 1,708 past men’s and women’s players for the club.
Events, including a lunch, will run throughout the day as the club honours the moments, people and successes of the club with its members.
Speaking ahead of the weekend’s action, Pearson says acknowledging the younger playing group has widely embraced the club’s history.
“South Fremantle really pushes to be able to acknowledge the past and have a great amount of respect for everyone that’s played and the jumper,” he told SportFM.
“You can almost get lost with the younger people coming through, but something we really drive down at South Fremantle is to really embrace the history. We’ve got a lot of the legends of the club.
“The club’s done so much over the 125 years. To be in the position we are now and to be able to celebrate that on the weekend is going to be massive for the club.
“It’s something the younger guys really buy into. To be able to research and know a lot about the history of the club and it just makes wearing the jumper mean a lot more for them.”
South Freo got their season underway with a nail-biting win against Perth last weekend, putting up a fight in the final quarter to come away with a 13-point win.
The win marked the first under new head coach Craig White, who took over after Todd Curley announced his departure from the club in August last year.
Pearson said White has brought a fresh perspective to the group since starting his new role.
“He’s been super since coming along pre-season, bringing a bit of a change-up, obviously new coach and almost a whole new coaching group in the league side,” he said.
“A change of voice, a different game style, a different outlook on the game, so to be able to have him come in along with a few ex-players and a few big names has been really good for the group.
“I think it’s brought a lot of energy, and we’ve seen that throughout the pre-season. It’s been pretty hard as everyone would say about pre-season, but now we’re in the game and really looking forward to it.”
South Fremantle now face the reigning premiers, Peel Thunder, which will be bolstered by the inclusion of dual-Brownlow medallist Nat Fyfe, who returns from injury.
However, Pearson said his side isn’t focusing on Peel’s selection too much.
“We try to more focus on ourselves,” he said.
“Probably just have to wait to game day to see what kind of team they’re rolling out. It doesn’t really matter who plays from the Freo side.
“I think the Peel talent is top-notch and that’s something that’s really driven their program throughout the last, however many years. They’ve been a top contender year in, year out.”
IMAGE: SFFC