SANFL powerhouse Central District is putting together a Plan B to cover talented utility Cameron Faulkner ahead of the club's run towards the finals.
Faulkner, who returned to the club after five years with the Western Bulldogs in the AFL, has yet to inform the club if he'll return after going to work with his dad at Roxby Downs a month ago.
"Cameron is up there working with his dad and he did say he would return," Bulldogs general manager Kris Grant told Adelaide media this week. "We are anticipating he will be back and we'd be disappointed if he didn't."
Faulkner played in the Bulldogs' reserves premiership in 2002. He was chosen by the AFL's Bulldogs in that year's draft at number 17. He was delisted by the Western Bulldogs last year after having played 18 AFL games.
Faulkner, 28, played for the AFL Indigenous All-Stars against the Western Bulldogs in Darwin in 2005. He had a wretched run with injury in his time in the AFL.
In 2005 he played in the first four rounds but was dropped and did not return until Round 12. He broke his collarbone in his return match in Round 15 against Fremantle which sidelined him for the remainder of the season. He played just three games in 2006 but sustained a shoulder injury in a Round 10 match in the VFL, further hampering his attempts to earn a recall.
Faulkner played just one AFL game last year.
Central District are entrenched in the SANFL's top five and look like repeating their charge towards yet another grand final. The Bulldogs have won six premierships this decade.
DARREN MONCRIEFF
AboriginalFootball@westnet.com.au
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Last Modified on 02/08/2008 22:37