The lure of winning a premiership and potentially replacing Matthew Pavlich as captain were big factors in David Mundy re-signing with Fremantle for the next three seasons.
The lucrative AFL deal inked on Tuesday will tie Mundy to the Dockers until the end of 2017, the 28-year-old turning down offers to return home to Victoria.
Mundy was drafted by Fremantle in 2003, spent a season as a key defender in the WAFL with Subiaco in which he won a premiership and made his AFL debut in 2005 as a backman.
However, he is now one of the leading on-ballers in the league having won Fremantle’s best and fairest in 2010, coming second last year and being a driving force behind the Dockers making last year’s grand final.
While Mundy admitted there was certainly a pull there for him to return to Victoria, his wife is West Australian and with the fourth-placed Dockers travelling so well, the decision to stay in Perth didn’t prove too difficult.
“It’s a major life decision so I don’t apologise for taking the time I felt I needed to make this decision but the pull to move close to my family was definitely one of the major factors that I was considering,” Mundy said.
“I am more than happy to stay here; I love playing my football here and I am obviously very grateful that Fremantle gave me my shot, 10 years ago, so I am just hopeful to repay that faith.
“I’ve been through some bleak years at Fremantle and they’re not times that I want to really go back to. I feel like we’ve got a very strong culture here at the moment, which will really help propel the group forward.”
The re-signing announcement is another big tick for Fremantle and coach Ross Lyon on the back of Mundy’s midfielder partner Nat Fyfe also committing his future to the club last week.
It also caps off a big seven days for Mundy, who celebrated his 200th AFL match in the western derby win over West Coast on Saturday, and he will be one of the first in line to take over from Matthew Pavlich as captain whenever he either retires, or steps aside.
Mundy is keen to take on that leadership role if it eventuated.
“It’s not something that I would be scared of or shy away from,” Mundy said.
“It won’t be my decision ultimately, it won’t be one person’s decision so all I can do is be the best leader I can be and if that happens, it happens.”