WAFL 2023: Haiden Schloithe opens up on return to South Fremantle after one year in retirement

The retirement of South Fremantle champion Haiden Schloithe might have been short, but it was enough to give the Sandover medallist a mental refresh to return to his best. Schloithe, 30, stepped away from the Bulldogs at the end of the 2022 season, despite still being at the top of his 200-game career. He finished equal second in the Sandover Medal count and equalled Stephen Michael’s record with a fifth WJ Hughes Medal as the best and fairest for the club, but walked away to seek other opportunities. The former Fremantle-listed midfielder signed with North Fremantle where he played eight games before heading back to his home club of Katanning Wanderers, where he accomplished a long-held goal of winning a premiership for the Tigers. Schloithe said coach Todd Curley recently reached out to him about the possibility of resurrecting his WAFL career, which didn’t take much convincing. “Over the past two or three weeks I started to get the itch and hunger of wanting to return again,” Schloithe told The West Australian. “I thoroughly enjoyed my year away, was able to get home and win the premiership, so that part of the footy story is now complete. “Sitting back and I realised I’m relatively young and know I’m good enough to play at the level. I wanted to get back and play at Souths, help the boys out after a disappointing year.” Schloithe watched on as the Bulldogs missed the finals for the first time in eight years after a disappointing six-win season, having started eight premiership points behind everyone else because of the penalty they received for salary cap breaches in 2021. “Checking the scores and watching as much as I could, it was hard to see and what happened with losing the points, it is what it is,” Schloithe said. “During the season they were in most games but faded late and they had some injuries to key personnel towards the back end of the year that probably didn’t help - so it was hard to watch. “Me being so competitive and loving the club so much I wanted to give back and help the club and the players out and put the club back on top of the ladder where they belong.”