Tara Murray
Western Bulldogs premiership player Luke Dahlhaus is reuniting with his former teammate Clay Smith at Point Cook next year.
The Western Region Football League division 1 club announced on Tuesday that Dahlhaus, who played 225 AFL games with the Western Bulldogs and Geelong, would join the club next season.
Dahlhaus retired from the AFL at the end of the 2022 season, having played 10 games this year and wasn’t part of the Cats AFL premiership team.
Smith said there was plenty of excitement in the playing group and the wider WRFL community, following the announcement of Smith joining the club. He said their friendship played a role in Dahlhaus coming on board.
“We’ve been struggling for the last few years and to get someone of that calibre will help the club as a whole,” he said.
“It’s also nice to have a mate around to help me with the young kids.”
Smith said he was unsure if Dahlhaus would take on an official leadership or coaching role, but expected him to provide plenty of leadership either way.
He said Dahlhaus had enjoyed working with the younger players at Geelong while in the Victorian Football League this year.
“He’s been in the AFL system for 11 or 12 years,” he said. “He wants to come down and enjoy local football.
“He did say in the VFL he took on a leadership role and stepped up and talked more which is unlike him.”
Smith said Dahlhaus would spend a bit of time in the midfield which he was looking forward to.
For Smith the signing of Dahlhaus is a massive boost as he heads into his first season as senior coach.
Smith takes over from Brett Jacobs. Jacobs stood down as coach having coached the side since 2019. He said it had been a big six weeks since the season ended as he starts preparation for next season.
“I’m excited about it,” he said. “Brett and I had a really good relationship during the year.
“We knew the transition was coming and he let me take training and take a lot more at games.
“We still speak now bouncing ideas off each other.”
The Bulldogs are set to announce some more signings in the next couple of weeks.
Smith said they had looked to add a bit more experience to the group as they look to continue their development. The Bulldogs finished this year ninth with four wins.
“We looked at the side and wanted to add a little bit more depth,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot of players between 24 and 25 and a couple of older guys who are set to hang up the boots.
“We’ve got such a strong junior program with our under-18s making the grand final. We’ve got the young guys coming through, but we want to put some more players around them to take the pressure off them.”
