McGough hungry for ultimate success with SharksSaturday, September 6, 2014 - 10:45 PM - by Chris Pike

EAST Fremantle might not be entering the finals quite in the form it hoped, but the important thing is the Sharks are there to former skipper Mark McGough as he tries desperately to win an elusive premiership with a strong group of experienced teammates.

McGough has now played 98 matches with East Fremantle since arriving in 2010 and was captain up until giving up the role to Sandover Medallist Rory O'Brien this season.

With his future up in the air along with several teammates, and with Steven Dodd already announcing his retirement, time is ticking on this Sharks' teams chance to win a premiership together.

They did get close making a grand final from third position in 2012 before losing to Claremont in the decider and now the Sharks are back in the finals again from third spot and their campaign begins this Sunday at home to Swan Districts in a cut-throat first semi-final.

With not only McGough but time ticking away for Rory O'Brien, Brett Peake, Steven Dodd and Rob Young to win a premiership together with the Sharks, the former skipper is glad to be back in the finals with another opportunity of achieving the ultimate in 2014.

"We came home with a strong run toward the end of last year but missed the finals and that's what you play footy for. We have now put ourselves in a situation where hopefully we can go on and do some damage," McGough said.

"We play to try to get that ultimate success and it's good to have a senior group of players together like we have here who have been here for a while, and stuck around.

"Even Bradd Dalziell has come back to our team now who was there for that grand final two years ago. It's been a long time since East Freo won a flag so it would be nice to win one. That's why we all play footy and that's why I'm still going."

If East Fremantle beats Swan Districts in the first semi-final, it will mean that McGough will reach 100 games with the Sharks in the preliminary final against the loser of Sunday's second semi-final between East Perth and Subiaco.

Young will also play his 150th game and Peake his 100th in the preliminary final as well, and getting to a century with the Sharks will mean a lot to McGough who spent time in the AFL with both Collingwood and St Kilda earlier in his career.

"Playing 100 games for East Freo would be a massive achievement and honour especially having been captain of the club. Getting to 100 games would be nice, but winning a flag would be better," he said.

"It would mean a lot to me. It would be the first time I would have ever done that at a footy club so it would be pretty special to me. Peakey will play his 100th with East Fremantle the same week and Youngy will play his 150th so there is a bit of incentive there for the boys to win, but really you don’t need any extra motivation to win a final."

East Fremantle booked in its position to host the first semi-final with a 62-point win over Swan Districts a fortnight ago, but before that the Sharks had lost two of their last three games and then also went down to Subiaco by 25 points in the final round last weekend.

While not the ideal way to enter finals, McGough knows that it matters little now that the finals are actually here.

"A lot of the boys seemed a bit flat actually and I think actually Subiaco was a bit as well, it was a tricky game. Even being on the bench a couple of times, I don’t think it would have been a great spectacle to watch and it was just one of those days," McGough said.

"It is disappointing to play like that heading into the finals, but from where we came from when we were 3-4 at one stage to end up getting a home final is really pleasing.

"We still have a lot of confidence from when we played Swans last week even though we know they will be a totally different team when we play them in the finals this week. It's a good challenge for the boys, but it's pleasing that we get to have that home ground advantage."

While McGough is glad that East Fremantle gets to host Swan Districts in the first semi-final on Sunday at ATOM Stadium, he doesn’t expect it to have too much of an impact on the final result.

He also expects Swan Districts to be a much different side than the one they placed a fortnight ago.

"I think it's definitely an advantage in some way. We did win up at Bassendean in a final a couple of years ago so we would have been happy to go there, but we do have our home rooms and supporters, and they have to travel. That might only be five per cent in our favour but it still helps," he said.

"I think they will come out red hot and they will be a different team from what we played last time. We are expecting a really strong contest like you get any time you play in a final."

McGough never envisioned that he would call Perth home or that the East Fremantle Football Club would end up meaning so much to him when he first arrived in 2010, but that is indeed the case.

He isn’t sure if his WAFL career will extend into next year with a wedding in April on the cards, but he will remain living in Perth no matter what.

"I sort of just came over to get away from Melbourne and play at a bit higher level of a competition again, and try living somewhere different," he said.

"Now I'm getting married to a local girl next year and I teach at a good school here with some good mates so it looks like I'm stuck here in Perth for a while."