Bulldogs top up talent in quest to return to finalsThursday, March 10, 2016 - 12:34 AM - by Chris Pike

FOUR talented South Fremantle products back from the AFL, an experienced hard bodied recruit and the son of a legend are among the arrivals at the Bulldogs for 2016 as coach Todd Curley tries to guide them back to the finals in his second season in charge.

Curley took over as coach of South Fremantle last season for his first ever involvement in a WAFL club outside of West Perth where he was a premiership player as well as captain and coach.

The season showed signs of promise and gave Curley something to build on, but a fourth straight season of not playing finals meant South Fremantle still had plenty of further improvement to do.

There has been plenty of experience departing with the likes of Craig White, Paul Mugambwa, Kyle Hams, Dylan Ross and James Sellar, but the addition list is an impressive one for the Bulldogs.

Welcoming back local products from the AFL isn’t always a foregone conclusion for WAFL clubs but Curley was delighted that Mason Shaw (Port Adelaide), Dylan Main (West Coast), Tom Vandeleur (Fremantle) and Blaine Johnson (Carlton) all decided to return to South Fremantle for 2016.

"I'm really happy especially with the four guys back from the AFL system. They are still really young and they are ex-South Fremantle boys so it's great to have them home," Curley said.

"They've had an impact just by being around the place since we started, but the exciting thing is that we will be a lot younger especially at reserves level.

"We think that will give our younger players to play in key positions and in the midfield where we think they can develop quicker. We made a conscious decision that we wanted to be younger at twos level, but that certainly hasn’t affected our depth overall we don’t think."

An experienced, hard bodied midfielder was high up on South Fremantle's wish list as well and Frankston VFL captain Shane Hockey fits that bill perfectly.

"He (Hockey) has settled in really well. He is a good fella and he's been here a few times in the past couple of years anyway because he has some really good mates here. He has settled in really well and he's a solid midfielder who has played inside mid his whole life," he said.

"We don’t have a lot of experience in that area so we spoke to him about coming over to have an impact, but also to teach the good group of core mids that we have. We think he can help them and he's been fantastic so far."

Another couple of players who could have an impact in their first seasons with the Bulldogs are Claremont recruit Steven Edwards and the son of Bulldogs legend, and West Australian and Australian Football Hall of Fame inductee Petera Matera, Jordan.

Curley has so far been impressed with both on the eve of the 2016 season.

"The thing that has stood out with Jordy since he's been here has been his work ethic. He just works super hard. He has been impressive and he is probably a little bit of a different player to his dad, but he's pretty keen to make his own mark," he said.

"Certainly on the track he (Edwards) looks exciting and hasn’t missed a beat since he's been here. He has trained hard and he hasn’t said much, but he just does the work. He will get every opportunity like all our boys will and hopefully it works out as a win-win for both clubs with the trade we made for Dylan Ross."

It's difficult to go through any full pre-season campaign with only good news and that has unfortunately again been the case for the Bulldogs coming into the 2016 season.

Cory Dell'Olio returned to South Fremantle in 2015 after his time with Essendon and the 2009 premiership player was gearing up for a strong 2016 where he would bring up his 100th WAFL game.

However, it was that time at the Bombers that came back to bite when he was one of the 34 past and current Essendon players suspended for all of 2016.

Then just a week before the Bulldogs played their first intra-club hit out, emerging leader Jarrod Parry suffered a cruel blow injuring his knee at training and requiring the third reconstruction of his career, but first on his right knee.

Curley certainly feels for both Dell'Olio and Parry but is confident both will be back for the start of the 2017 season.

"Cory being suspended is really disappointing. Obviously he's been letdown there and unfortunately he has to miss a year of footy, which is pretty tough. We'll just support him the best way we can. Jarrod is a devastating loss for the club and the player group," he said.

"He is such a fantastic young leader who hasn’t had much luck in the past. It was a really innocuous incident so for him to do his knee and miss the year is devastating.

"He has had the reconstruction already and we will support him the best way we can and another of our young blokes will have to stand up."

The Bulldogs are now gearing up for their Round 1 clash with West Perth at Fremantle Oval on Saturday March 19. Curley is hoping for a similar result in the same fixture last year when the Bulldogs beat the Falcons by 35 points.

"It will be a good game for Round 1. It's on TV and hopefully we get a good crowd down here. It will be fantastic to get the season started," Curley said.

"You can train and play intra-clubs with match practice as much as you like, but we are pretty eager to test ourselves against opposition to be able to gauge ourselves.

"That all leads into Round 1 and obviously they played in a grand final last year and we didn’t play finals, so it's a good yard stick for us first up to see where we're at."