New Bulldogs Boss Praises Premiership Mentor

After honing his coaching craft for nearly a decade Craig White feels prepared for the challenge of taking charge at South Fremantle this season.

Replacing premiership coach Todd Curley is daunting, but White is grateful for the support the club has shown him during pre-season.

“I’m both excited and anxious which was the case before our first practice game against Subiaco a few weeks ago, so going into Round 1 there’s no doubt I will be on edge,” White said.

“The excitement is driven by the playing groups buy in over the preseason and then the support from fans and members over the preseason.”

“The biggest challenge has been getting the balance right and trying to empower others and not feel like I need to do everything,” he said.

“I have been very lucky to put together a great coaching group and the support staff and football department as a whole.”

White credits his development to Darren Harris, a West Perth Premiership coach who was his mentor at Claremont.

“I spent two years under Darren at the Tigers as an assistant coach in 2017 and 2018 where a lot of my philosophies around coaching come from,” he said.

“I still carry my notebook from those 2 years to every game and reference them nearly every week.

“I then spent the last 6 years at Curtin Wesley in the Perth Football League where we were lucky enough to have some success.”

Having taken advice and guidance from the likes of Harris, the two time South Fremantle premiership player, is determined to be his own man.

“I have changed slightly over my short time as coach but hopefully I will be regarded as a supportive, rewarding coach that values roles and hard work,” White said.

“I was different as a leader when I played but have more recently in the past two seasons found myself working out how to get the best out of young men as individuals.”

A Bulldog through and through, White represented the club at Colts and Reserves level and played 192 League games.

“Expectations are that we need to return to finals,” White said.

“That coupled with the offseason recruits and being able to retain most of the squad means we have expectations that we need to embrace.

“Internally we understand a new squad, new game plan and new coaching group may have some teething problems early, but we feel we have set ourselves up in the pre-season to give ourselves a shot at finals in 2025.”