South Fremantle coach Craig White has responded to the rumours circling about two of his star players who are set to miss games in June and July.
White, the WAFL coach of the Year in his debut season confirmed Noah Strom and Trey Ruscoe are both going to Europe for three weeks.
“They both will miss parts of this season”, White told WAFL World.
He explained that Trey had been planning the trip for a while and had given the club his reasons for heading overseas.
“While I don’t necessarily totally agree and support it, he was upfront and really honest with us, he got our blessing.”
For Strom, the situation was a little different, as the 30-year-old was on the verge of retirement last year, White explained.
“He is a dual premiership player and a life member, he has played over 160 games. We asked him to strongly consider continuing, and we allowed the trip because we got some strong junior key backs.”
“If the WAFL were to lose him because he was going to Europe for three weeks, I think we would be doing ourselves and the competition a disservice.”
East Perth’s Corey Watts appearing as a regular panellist on WAFL World weighed in on the topic of players heading to Europe mid-season.
“It’s an interesting concept. Personally, it’s not something I would do, because it doesn’t really sit with me in terms of the commitment to it, but I can completely understand it.”
Watts added that he might change his mind on the topic later in his career.
In addition to explaining Strom and Ruscoe’s planned absences in the near future, Craig White also summarised South Fremantle’s strong season so far.
“We have probably been a little inconsistent within games, we’ve been fortunate enough to get the wins in a couple of close games, we don’t think we’ve been able to put a four-quarter performance together.”
“We’re just trying to build some continuity and consistency over the course of the game, and then each week you’re kind of hoping there is some improvement.”
South Fremantle take on West Coast at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday.
Other games being played on the weekend are Perth v Claremont, East Perth v Peel Thunder, Swan Districts v East Fremantle and West Perth v Subiaco.
IMAGE: Jack Foley