Preseason Update with Brad Dodd

The East Fremantle Senior squad have returned to training as the continue to prepare for the 2020 season. We caught up with Football Manager, Brad Dodd for an update.

Q: We’ve seen some additions to the squad for the 2020 season, can you tell us a little bit about the players we’ve added?

BD: Having spent a year with the group, we feel we have a much better understanding of our list and the areas we needed to bolster. Being a young squad, we felt we needed to add a little bit of experience in certain areas.

Jordan Mills joins us as a Key Defender having spent close to 10 seasons at West Perth. We have a few promising Key Defenders coming through in Lachlan Bailey, Andrew Trefry and Cam Davidson, all who are working hard in the gym to build the strength to be able to compete with the competitions Key Forwards. Jordan will be invaluable for those guys, from a teaching perspective, while giving us another big body who is very good defensively one on one.

We have also added Durak Tucker to our defensive stocks. Durak has come to us from the Sydney Swans. He’s had an interrupted past 2 seasons, which has curtailed his AFL career for now, but we’re really excited with how he’s attacked his pre-season and we can’t wait to see him back out on the field. Durak has the ability to play tall and small, which adds flexibility to our Back 6 and is very good one on one, while being able to drop off and impact other contests.

Brodie Riach joins us from the West Coast Eagles, where he played 13 WAFL games in 2019. Mainly playing in defence, we’re likely to use him further up the field, either across Half Forward or on the Wing. Brodie has had a great pre-season to date and we’re really excited to see what he can produce this year.

Bradley McGowan spent 2019 at North Fremantle, having played 20 games for Peel previously. Bradley is a leading forward with a bit of X-Factor. He offers us something a little different up Forward, where he a has decent pace is good at ground level also.

We have also added a group of graduating Colts and a few additions from the Amateurs, who are all trialling to make our final squad. At this stage we’re content with where our squad is at and can’t see many other significant additions, remembering that Jordan Snadden, Alex Bray, Cam Loersch and Nick Kommer all had injury interrupted 2019 seasons.

Q: With yourself and coach, Bill Monaghan both starting last year, how do you compare the Squad to the one 12 months ago?

BD: When you bring in a lot of new people there’s always an adjustment period. The coaches need to learn the strengths of the players and the players need to learn the standards, games style and build relationships with the new guys. Bill and his coaching staff now have a stronger understanding of the group we have. The starting base level this year is higher and they’re looking to build on that further. The group have been excellent in embracing everything and it’s been a positive off-season so far. The players and staff we’ve brought in have added to the group and there’s a real drive to get better.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about some new staff appointments?

BD: We have a new Head of Strength and Conditioning in Matt D’Aloia. Matt came highly recommended from former Sharks player, and North Adelaide Premiership Coach, Josh Carr. Matt was in charge of the S&C at North Adelaide when they won the SANFL Premiership in 2018. The players have really embraced his program so far and he’s pushing the boys really hard in the gym. We’ve had some good gains from Bonomelli, Teakle, Tassone, Murphy and Davidson, to name a few. Matt has also added Sabrina Seitz and Gabriel Leone to his support team.

From a coaching perspective, all of last years team is back apart from Reserves Coach, Larry Cavallo, who is coaching the South Fremantle Colts. We are restructuring and refocusing our Development program and will announce that shortly.

Q: How does the build up towards Round 1 look?

BD: We’re running a similar structure to last season. We currently have 2 Football/Running sessions a week and 2 stand alone Weights sessions. That will run right up until the week of our first practice game in March, where we then move into in-season mode. Along the way, we’ll have a Club Busy Bee, Season Launch and Intra Club matches.

Q: What are your expectations for season 2020?

BD: Everyone is excited and really working hard at the moment. There’s a good feeling about the path we’re headed on, not just from a football perspective, but the club as a whole. A lot of time and effort has been put in over the last 12 months to put the club in a better position culturally and structurally and expectations have risen. From a football perspective, it’s now about delivering on the field.