Retiring White looks to bow out with two Bulldogs wins

CRAIG White has announced his retirement after two premierships and earning life membership at South Fremantle, but he's not quite done yet with his sights on bowing out with wins against West Perth and Peel Thunder in what loom as the 191st and 192nd games of his glittering career.

White committed to the Bulldogs in 2003 having moved to Perth from Williams and completing his schooling at Aquinas, and had a remarkable first three years playing in a colts premiership in 2003, reserves premiership in 2004 and then the league triumph in 2005.

There was another premiership to come in 2009 and now White has announced that the 2015 season will be the last of his career that has included the two flags, him earning life membership, being a long-time part of the leadership group and vice-captain as well as captain on occasion, and one of the most consistent and versatile players in the competition.

The 30-year-old began and will now finish his career as a forward, but in between he was a key part of South Fremantle's outstanding defensive unit where he became one of the best players in the WAFL at setting up play out of the back-line.

White has been at South Fremantle since 2003, aside from one year away playing and coaching in Sydney in 2012, and has now played 190 games, kicked 112 goals and feels the time is right to retire at season's end.

"I'm pretty content with the decision but to take that final step has been the toughest over the last couple of weeks," White said.

"It's obviously played on my mind now for probably 12 months and I'm fully content in my decision. The last week to actually say that I am going to retire has been really tough, and to decide to step away after 12 years isn’t easy but I'm happy with my decision."

White did consider retiring at the end of 2014, but with the Bulldogs finishing off winning the last five games of the season, welcoming a new coach in Todd Curley while premiership teammates Kyle Hams and Cory Dell'Olio returned along with the arrival of Blayne Wilson, he was excited to play on.

Things haven’t gone totally smoothly this season with White spending a rare month in the reserves in the first half of the season, but he's been a strong contributor since working hard in the forward-line leading hard up the ground and delivering the ball precisely inside the 50.

However, he has missed the loss to Peel following last week's bye with a shoulder injury but is more than happy with his decision to have played in 2015.

"At the end of last year we had a bit of momentum to finish the season with and over the summer we brought in a couple of recruits who we thought could help us to have a good year, and we had a new coach so it was all pretty exciting times at the club," he said.

"We had a great summer and start to the year, so at that time I was pretty happy. It was a bit tough during the middle part of the year when my form wasn’t the best but even then Todd was really good about it and so was the club, and I was able to work through and get back into the side.

"I've enjoyed the season and it's been good playing under Todd who has felt his way out this year and the boys can only move forward from here."

White is now confident of returning to play his last game at Fremantle Oval this Saturday against West Perth and then to finish off the season, and his career, in Mandurah against Peel Thunder in the final round. Wins over finals bound opponents is now his goal.

"That's the plan but I'm definitely not 100 per cent playing yet. I'm hoping that Swanny and the team can get me up for this week, though, so I can have one last game at home and then hopefully be right to go for the game down at Peel as well," he said.

"It would be nice to get these last two games on my belt and hopefully go away with a couple of wins. The last six weeks has been a little bit disappointing, but if we can finish the season on a high and the boys can build a bit of momentum going into the off-season, and I can enjoy a couple of wins as well to finish off with would be exciting."

Not only has the South Fremantle Football Club been a massive part of White's life, but he has become one of the best clubmen in the history of the Bulldogs and he's hoping that's something his younger teammates can follow on with.

"For the last 12 or 13 years, it's been a big part of my life and it's probably shaped the person that I am at the moment," White said.

"I've been able to mature from a young smart arse, into an older open-minded senior player who can put the club first and try to let the younger guys know the club comes first before yourself. If you can be a clubman, that's a major part and it's something the younger guys can really take on board."

While White's 2012 spent in Sydney as playing-coach at the Balmain Dockers will cost him the chance to play 200 games for South Fremantle, it's not something he regrets at all because of the amount of personal and professional development it gave him.

"I don’t regret that at all and it actually probably allowed me to play on this year again. I matured in a way over there where I learned to see things from the point of view as a coach," he said.

"I learned how to respect the fact that coaches have hard to decisions to make, and how clubs and coaches work on the decisions they make. The main reason I went around this year was that I was content that if I ended up in the reserves that I would see it out and do everything to get back into the ones side.

"But if I didn’t have that year as a coach, I might have played a couple of reserves games and then stepped away. It gave me a good grounding to see things from all angles and it probably got me this extra year to get me close enough. It's a little disappointing not to get to 200 but I'm really content to either finish on 190, 191 or 192. I think that's still a pretty good effort."

White certainly does see a future in coaching for himself down the track, but his more immediate thoughts are on enjoying his first break from football in 2016 that he's ever had, and to enjoy married life after his wedding later this year to Lucy.

"I think I can see myself coaching, but from now I'll take a year off completely aside from playing football somewhere at a lower level. In terms of coaching, I'll probably step away for a year," White said.

"I understand the time to put in, so taking a year off just to enjoy other things in life and to relax a little, and I'm getting married at the end of the year, so I'm looking forward to that.

"You obviously don’t want to step out of the game for too long because then you lose touch with everything that's evolving, but I might have a year or two out and then get back into coaching at some level whether it's at local level, or in the colts, reserves or as an assistant somewhere. That's something that is definitely of interest."