WAFL Insider: Subiaco Lions send another warning, Eagles’ cheeky one-game ring-in shines
Subiaco has put the WAFL on notice in its past two games, stars are returning for the Swans and Dogs, while a one-game recruit for West Coast just piled up possessions, writes BRAD ELBOROUGH.
WAFL round four is in the books – here are the major talking points, with Subiaco knocking off the 2022 grand finalists back-to-back and West Coast scoring a cheeky one-day recruitment.
Lions send out another warning
Subiaco’s past fortnight has been pretty good.
After beating 2022 runner-up Claremont, the Lions suffocated reigning premier West Perth, restricting the Falcons to a miserly 6.9.
Former Fremantle ruckman Zac Clarke was devastating for Subiaco, with 41 hit-outs, 23 possessions, six marks and a goal.
Without Aaron Black (hamstring), West Perth struggled to get the ball forward, managing only 38 inside 50 entries.
Subiaco is one of five sides with a 3-1 record but has the worst percentage of them.
However, Claremont (top) and East Fremantle (second) have enjoyed large wins against the undermanned West Coast reserves.
Timing may hurt Lions
West Coast’s AFL injury list should start to shrink before its round 14 bye.
That aligns with the end of the WAFL’s first full round of fixtures.
The last team to play the Eagles reserves is Subiaco, in round nine.
By then, the Eagles reserves should be much stronger than what they are currently.
In round one, South Fremantle beat by 43 points an Eagles team that had eight AFL-listed players, including Jack Petruccelle and Xavier O’Neill.
But the Eagles twos fielded only six AFL-listed players against West Perth (winners by 169 points), four against East Fremantle (108 points) and five against Claremont (111 points), none with more than 11 appearances at the top level.
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The Demon fight in force
Ten minutes of footy before three-quarter-time cost Perth its first win on Saturday.
East Fremantle kicked four goals to one in the only period that it looked in control.
Young ruckman Dakota Baldwin-Wright set the tone for probably Perth’s best performance this season.
The 24-year-old was aggressive at throw-ups and won clearances in a career-high 26-possession game.
Defender Jack Avery, 20, also returned a career-high with 33 touches.
The Sharks led by one point at half-time and would have copped a spray from coach Bill Monaghan.
Inside 60 seconds of the restart, the Sharks kicked the first goal of the second half, with Hugh Dixon kicking his third.
Too early for Tiger call
It’s hard to judge top side Claremont. The Tigers’ only game against another top-five side was a 31-point loss to Subiaco.
They produced a 1.6 start against West Coast on the weekend and missed a few shots on top of that.
Maybe Jack Buller’s absence from the forward line, due to a calf injury, had an impact.
Max Minear made the most of his extra chances in attack, though his dismal return of 0.7 going into this game went to 0.8 before he finally found his range early in the second half.
He finished with 3.2 in the Tigers’ score of 23.16.
Stars fill their boots
There was strong support on social media last week for Claremont’s Jye Bolton after he was left out of the WA State squad.
The 31-year-old has won two Sandover Medals, four Simpson Medals (three in state games and one in a grand final).
He’s been in the WAFL Team of the Year seven times.
He was everywhere in the 111-point win over West Coast, with 40 possessions.
The Tigers’ other Sandover Medallist, Bailey Rogers, collected 34 and kicked four goals.
They also welcomed back captain Declan Mountford, who had 26 touches and also kicked a goal.
West Coast’s cheeky ring-in
The Eagles were cheeky on Sunday, organising a one-day clearance for former Port Adelaide midfielder Kane Mitchell from the Avon league, where his team had a bye.
The 33-year-old used to play for Claremont, where he won a Sandover Medal.
Still super fit, he collected 33 touches against his old club.
He’s reportedly pulled up well and will return to Quairading this weekend.
Will Schofield played in his second WAFL game, collecting 11 possessions.
Schofield is expected to miss this week against Perth though, due to media commitments.
Swans on the board, finally
Swan Districts finally won its first game, beating South Fremantle by 18 points.
The win ended a frustrating start to Andrew Pruyn’s reign as coach, losing the first three games by single-figure margins.
It also ended the Swans’ nine-game losing streak at Fremantle Oval.
Due to the closeness of those earlier losses, the win was big enough for the Swans’ percentage to jump above 100 (102.08%).
Swans to regain midfield talent
The Swans now start welcoming back players off their injury list.
Midfielder Frank Anderson, who injured his knee in the 2021 elimination final loss to West Perth, is eyeing a round six return against Claremont, probably in the twos.
That’s where Tony Notte played 70 minutes last weekend and his return to league level is close.
Aidan Clarke (hamstring) and Josh Cipro (groin) are pushing for selection this week.
However, Sam Fisher (hamstring) and Brayden Spackman are likely to be sidelined until round seven.
Dogs’ own gun ready to return
One of South Fremantle’s stars, Matthew Parker, returned through the reserves in round four.
Parker, 27, produced a 29-possession performance in the Dogs’ eight-point loss.
He played 11 games for Richmond over two seasons after being picked up in the 2021 mid-season draft, yet returned to WA midway through 2022 for personal reasons.
He made 19 appearances for St Kilda over two seasons before that.
Jake Florenca, a top-up player for West Coast last season, also returned to the Dogs on Saturday through the reserves, picking up 13 touches.
Royal way to first loss
When the unbeaten top side enjoys 11 more inside 50 entries than their opposition, you’d expect a solid win.
But East Perth squandered its chances against Peel Thunder, dropping its first game of the season, by 33 points.
The Royals had 23 scoring shots to Peel’s 21 but posting 6.17 hurt.
East Perth had five goals on the board at the 25-minute mark of the first term and led by 21 points.
Then they gave up the next 11 goals.
Looking to step up
Peel Thunder fielded 10 Fremantle players in its 33-point win over East Perth.
Josh Treacy took 10 marks but missed chances to have a greater impact on the game.
Karl Worner collected 33 possessions and Nathan Wilson had 26.
Tom Emmett picked up 17 touches and also booted three goals, two of them just before half-time to give the Thunder a 20-point lead.
West Coast fielded only five AFL-listed players against Claremont. Ruckman Callum Jamieson continues to perform strongly at WAFL level.
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