Ultimate team man White reaches 150 gamesThursday, June 27, 2013 - 10:51 AM - by Chris Pike

CRAIG White has been all about the team his whole career and he's been part of a lot of success in his time with South Fremantle, but this Saturday the focus deservedly turns to him as he plays his 150th game with the Bulldogs to earn life membership.

White came up to play with the Bulldogs from Williams and the country boy had an incredible three-year run playing in the 2003 colts premiership, 2004 reserves premiership and then the league triumph of 2005 when the Bulldogs beat Claremont in the decider.

Those early days White was a small forward and he kicked 59 goals in his first 56 league games but then coach John Dimmer thought he could use his abilities at the other end to set up playing coming out of defence and that's where he has stayed ever since.

White was again a key player in the team that won the 2009 premiership even if his grand final day itself was over early with a shoulder injury.

That made him a two-time league premiership player to go with his colts and reserves flags in just seven years with South Fremantle.

Now after a year off in 2012 where he headed to Sydney and was outstanding playing and coaching with the Balmain Dockers while working with PowerPlay Sports, White has returned to South Fremantle and will reach his 150th league game this Saturday at Fremantle Oval against Perth.

The 28-year-old is now tremendously proud to reach the mark.

"It is a bit flattering actually reaching this milestone. A little bit of fuss gets made about you and it has been something I've been trying to work towards over the last five or six years," White said.

"Once you get to 50 or 60 games you have the goal to get to 100 to get your name on the locker, and then once you get to 100 you have the goal to get life membership at 150. I qualify for that now and hopefully it occurs next year."

White's 100th game back in Round 2, 2010 was a heavy loss to Claremont at Claremont Oval so he is glad that his 150th will be at Fremantle Oval and he's certainly hoping for a better result, but he hopes not too much of a fuss is made for him.

"I'm glad it is going to be here at Fremantle Oval as well. My 100th game was at Claremont and we got touched up by 102 points back in 2010 so hopefully at home against Perth we can be competitive and give ourselves a chance come the final siren," White said.

"I've already chatted to Hase and asked that nothing too big is made of the deal. Hase said he will do his due diligence in doing a little bit, but that's part and parcel of a milestone. I definitely like the low key approach to let the team go about their business as usual."

"Personally it will mean a lot to me on Saturday. It's something that I have looked forward to and it has driven me to play footy. I don’t think it's a massive thing for the group even though certain boys will draw what they can from it, but at the end of the day it's just another game and one where we will be trying to get ourselves off the bottom of the ladder."

White perhaps never realised just how high of standard football in the WAFL was until he went away and experienced a level below last year. That's partly why he feels he had a slow start to 2013, but he feels he is getting back to some form now the longer he keeps playing back with the Bulldogs.

"I would liken that competition over there to the A-grade amateurs over here. The fitness levels, intensity, skill level and all that is a level below the WAFL and you kind of take for granted the levels you were at two years ago because of that," he said.

"Personally I would only call my season average to fair at this stage. Slowly over the last three or four weeks I've been starting to feel better with more game time and getting more run into my legs. It's probably been harder than I expected to get back into the swing of things but now that I'm back into it with a good base under me it's starting to come a little easier."

Reflecting back on his career to date, White was quick to pay credit to his colts coach Roger Kerr, reserves coach Glen Davies and his only South Fremantle league coach John Dimmer until this year for the success he's been able to be part of in his career.

As well as the obvious highlights of the premierships he's played in, a few underdog wins stick out for White as well.

"Looking back on my career at this point, it has been very good and I have been lucky enough to have a lot of very good coaches over the time with Roger Kerr, Glen Davies and John Dimmer. That period of 2003, 2004 and 2005 was very special and then I have just been grateful that we have had a lot of successful at the club in my time," he said.

"I've been really lucky in my career to play in premierships and they are amazing, but all finals footy is something you cherish. We played finals in every year except one under John so that's always special and so are the Foundation Derbies.

"This year's win would actually rate right up there with the top few wins I've had and over my career those hard fought wins stick out when we've been underdogs. There was a game against East Perth on a wet, rainy night and there's been times when we have been down and out and I will always remember those fondly."

Having experienced so many successful times during his career, White certainly doesn’t enjoy seeing where South Fremantle sits on the ladder at present but he does see signs that things are heading in the right direction for the future.

"We are going through a tough time at the moment, but hopefully the circle will change and the boys will be back up at the top in the years to come. It is bitter sweet at the moment," White said.

"You can't be at the top forever, but we definitely won't be jumping off ship and us experienced guys are doing all we can to help teach these young guys get the best out of themselves to make sure we aren’t down here for too long. I think we just have to keep working on getting a consistent effort.

"Hase has been driving that for the last five or six weeks after we did have a good patch of form, but it's about sustaining that for longer periods of time. It is slowly coming, but it's definitely still a work in progress."