Craig White - South Fremantle FC Coach (15.09.2026)

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Mark Duffield (1:00)

Welcome back to the SEMWA studio out here at Optus Stadium. Tuesday morning in Perth, 19.5 degrees outside, building to a very warm top of 27 degrees later in the day. Well, until Sunday, this bloke remains the reigning Premiership coach in the WAFL.

His name is Craig White. And of course, he coached South Fremantle to the flag last year. Whitey, welcome.

Craig White (1:27)

Good morning, Duff. Thanks for having me on.

Mark Duffield (1:29)

How did you pull up, mate? I've got a note from my producer, Paul Heath, saying, obviously, a conversation you had off air ended up being a bigger night than they all expected. So I presume you're a bit dusty, like Jake Florenca.

Craig White (1:44)

Yeah, it was a great night of celebrations, obviously, to give Jake that reward. And there was probably five or six players that didn't attend the night that ended up making their way to the crown at about 11 o'clock, and we kicked on for a few hours, which was great.

Mark Duffield (2:00)

So tell us about Jake and the season that he's had.

Craig White (2:04)

Yeah, just a really consistent year from our point of view. I think last year in 2025, it was his first year, he'd really been able to get a full season in for about five years. So that continuity into a great preseason.

And then probably just a little bit more of a responsibility with Hamish Free and Matty Parker missing a lot of the footage throughout the year. He really had to take the leadership role in the midfield and just a super consistent year from Jake.

Mark Duffield (2:33)

But for those injury affected years, it felt like he would have been pretty close to graduating to the next level, Whitey.

Craig White (2:41)

Yeah, well, I think he was one of the COVID players when the Eagles had all those issues through that period and he played his one-out-of-hell game. And yeah, probably just probably three or four years in a row where he just had injury troubles and body issues that he couldn't get right. And I think that just the timing of all of that meant that he had his mental troubles with footy and find his love for the game. And thankfully, he did the work between 2024 and 2025 and got his body right. And he's had two great years and to cap it off with a premiership last year and now the highest individual award, I think it's just a credit to himself.

Mark Duffield (3:19)

So some of these injuries were pretty significant, weren't they? I mean, was there an Achilles tendon at one stage, I think? And also a knee, is that right?

Craig White (3:28)

Yeah, that's right. I think he had a couple of issues with his knees and then he had the Achilles in the, in the, and he missed the 2020 Grand Final side. So even that, you know, to go along with all the other injuries, to miss a Grand Final, I think, was a, was a mental toll that he had to deal with. And, you know, something that, you know, I'm sure when he looks back and thinks, gee, I could have gone and given it up, but he, you know, we're all glad, I think, at our football club, I think the Wofflin General, that he kept going and I think he's got the nickname, the Ferrari, for a reason.

Mark Duffield (4:02)

The Ferrari because of his explosive speed?

Craig White (4:06)

It's also just probably the class, I think it is, stuff and, you know, just everything he does is, you know, high quality. So he's probably not the quickest player off the mark, but gee, he's super clean in the contest. And yeah, look, doesn't waste any disposals either.

Mark Duffield (4:22)

Now, let's go back over your own season. It was kind of an up and down year. It was the sort of year that a reigning premier often has, I feel, like where sort of at times you looked like the team that you were in 2025, and then at other times it felt like you were drifting off the pace a bit.