Dalziell to be Malaxos' No. 1 weapon for SharksThursday, March 20, 2014 - 2:14 PM - by Chris Pike

EAST Fremantle coach Steve Malaxos isn’t concerned about the loss of AFL talent at the Sharks coming into 2014 and instead will be looking to make the most of the return of Bradd Dalziell from the top level both on and off the field.

The Sharks have been one of the WAFL clubs with the most AFL-listed players regularly at their disposal largely because of their own production of line of players into the AFL, but now with West Coast and Fremantle joining up with East Perth and Peel, that obviously won't be happening in 2014.

That means that the likes of Josh Simpson, Max Duffy, Brad Sheppard, Jacob Brennan, Cameron Sutcliffe, Mitch Brown and Sam Menegola won't be running around for East Fremantle, but that isn’t something that has bothered Malaxos.

And with Steven Dodd, Mark McGough, Brett Peake, Jayden Schofield, Jack Perham and Kieran King having spent time in the AFL, the Sharks still have enough in-built experience from the top level.

Then there is the returning Dalziell, Jamie McNamara and Brock O'Brien who all return to the Sharks in 2014 with a combined 65 games of AFL experience between them.

In particular, Malaxos is delighted to have Dalziell for the 2014 season largely because he didn’t expect to.

However, the Eagles decided he wasn’t required and Malaxos not only will not look to get plenty out of him on the field this year, but also tap into his knowledge from spending several years at AFL level.

"I thought Bradd was particularly unlucky to be delisted but to have him full-time at East Fremantle we expect him to be a very good player for us," Malaxos said.

"We certainly didn’t think at the end of last year that we would be having Bradd Dalziell for the whole year in 2014, but we knew that would be the case fairly early on in the pre-season. He adds depth to our midfield and we thought that was already quite strong.

"It's also good from a coaching perspective because coming from the AFL Bradd is able to make me aware of some of the strategies and tactics used at that level to see if we can implement them at East Fremantle. That's another benefit of having guys in recent AFL experience."

Malaxos also expects at some stage in 2014 to give opportunities to some emerging players who have familiar bloodlines.

Dion Anthony is the brother of North Melbourne's Liam and looks to have many of his brother's traits while Jon Dorotich might have fought against East Fremantle his whole South Fremantle playing career, his son Jordan is closing in on his WAFL debut for the Sharks.

"Dion Anthony is a young forward and has been doing some handy things in the forward-line, Jordan Dorotich has played some solid football across half-back so they could get a chance early in the season."

As for the alignment that sees the Sharks lose their AFL-listed players, Malaxos is quite content with how it has all played out.

With a new captain Rory O'Brien, new vice-captain Andrew Stephen and experienced campaigners McGough, Peake, Tom Howlett, Dodd, Dalziell, Rob Young and the returning McNamara and Brock O'Brien, there will be no shortage of quality and leadership at the Sharks in 2014.

"Personally at East Fremantle we have embraced the alignment," Malaxos said.

"There was a lot of toing and froing about the model, but we have embraced what we are all about as a club really. We are positive and optimistic our season and not worrying about any of that."