WAFL Team of the Week – Round 12

NAIDOC Round in the WAFL might have been greeted by some unpleasant weather, but it didn’t stop plenty of players putting themselves in contention for spots in the WAFL Team of the Week once again.

NAIDOC Round in the WAFL began on Saturday afternoon at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval with Swan Districts coming from behind to kick seven goals to one after half-time to beat Perth 9.11 (65) to 7.6 (48).

South Fremantle bounced back strongly to kick six goals to two after quarter-time and beat Claremont to retain the Jimmy Melbourne Cup with the 7.13 (55) to 3.3 (21) victory at Revo Fitness Stadium.

East Fremantle further consolidated their hold on a top two position and made Subiaco's job of staying in the finals hunt all that harder with a 9.11 (65) to 6.4 (40) win at Leederville Oval.

East Perth kept itself in the finals race this WAFL season by beating the West Coast Eagles 7.8 (50) to 4.3 (27).

The tight one of the afternoon took place at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium with West Perth maintaining their hold on top spot with the narrow 7.5 (47) to 6.8 (44) victory against Peel Thunder.

Despite the tough conditions, there were plenty of ruckmen putting up their hands for a spot in the Team of the Week including Lloyd Meek, Scott Jones, Callum Jamieson, Jeremy Goddard, Kieran Gowdie and Dakota Baldwin-Wright.

Some of the inside midfielders who had strong showings included Darcy Tucker, Shane Nelson, Luke Meadows, Angus Schumacher, Hamish Brayshaw, Jackson Ramsay, Joey Deegan, Xavier O'Neill, Josh Browne, Jye Bolton, Corey Byrne and Regan Clarke.

There were those on the outside standing out too including Neil Erasmus, Trent Manzone, Stan Wright, Angus Scott, Patrick Naish, Ryan Lester-Smith, Blaine Boekhorst, Stefan Giro, Ronin O'Connor, Bailey Rogers and Jarvis Pina.

Other midfielders to produce impressive performances were Connor Blakely, Karl Worner, Mark Hutchings, Tristan Hobley, Jack Cooley, Jackson McDonald, Jordan Snadden, Liam Hickmott, Tom Blechynden, Brendon Ah Chee, Steve Verrier, Haiden Schloithe, Ben Edwards, Austin Davis, Greg Ottaviano, Brenton Hilton, Aidan Clarke, Tobe Watson and Josh Cipro.

It wasn’t conditions made for forwards to standout but some to stand up were Tyler Keitel, Christian Ameduri, Tyron Smallwood, Sam Perkusich and Tom Edwards.

Some of the defenders to impress were Traye Bennell, Haydn Matthews, Heath Chapman, Alex Witherden, Matthew Jupp, Cam Eardley, Galen Savigni, Blake Schlensog, Chad Pearson, Glenn Byron, Toby McQuilkin, Kasey Nicholas, Tony Notte and Tony Stephens.

PLAYER OF THE ROUND – BLAINE BOEKHORST (EAST FREMANTLE)

He is 95 games into his WAFL career and playing the best football of his life as he chases some elusive success with Blaine Boekhorst delivering another best on ground performance for East Fremantle on Saturday.

East Fremantle has had plenty of obstacles thrown in their way so far in 2022 with the loss of Tom Joyce, Hugh Dixon and Luke Strnadica before the season even started, then losing Brynn Teakle in the mid-season draft and they've had plenty of injuries to deal with on top of that.

Despite that, this East Fremantle team of 2022 wasn’t going to let any obstacles given them excuses for another down season. 

Clearly tired of struggling having not played finals since 2014, with coach Bill Monaghan leading the charge, the group of experienced players remained are largely in career-best form with a good batch of emerging players beneath them, and Boekhorst is a shining example.

He's not shy on experience having played 44 matches with Swan Districts before being drafted to Carlton at the end of 2014 to end up playing 25 AFL matches over the next three seasons.

Upon returning to Western Australia, he joined East Fremantle but his 2018 season was over before it started when he ruptured his ACL and required a knee reconstruction.

He returned in 2019 and has played some good football since including a standout 2021 season which saw him named to the WAFL Team of the Year, and he's gone up another level again in 2022.

Whether it's him who is a big reason for East Fremantle's rise or playing in a better team is helping bring out the best of him, whatever the case but he is in a brilliant vein of form and he could very well be the most damaging player in the WAFL right now.

His outside game has always been his strong suit with his ability to run and carry the ball, and to also use his long-kicking skills to a treat, but he's also winning plenty of his own ball so far this season.

He continued his brilliant form with another best on ground performance on Saturday in East Fremantle's win against Subiaco with 37 possessions, seven inside-50 entries, four marks and two tackles.

More importantly for Boekhorst, he's helping the Sharks sit in second position on the WAFL ladder after 12 rounds as he attempts to play finals this year for just the second time in his career. His only other WAFL final was a first semi-final loss to East Perth when at Swan Districts back in 2013.

Players of the Round
Round 1 – Jake Florenca (South Fremantle)
Round 2 – Ryan Lim (Claremont)
Round 3 – Luke Meadows (West Perth)
Round 4 – Jesse Turner (Swan Districts)
Round 5 – Leigh Kitchin (Subiaco)
Round 6 – Blair Bell (Peel Thunder)
Round 7 – Oliver Eastland (Claremont)
Round 8 – Matthew Jupp (East Fremantle)
Round 9 – Toby McQuilkin (South Fremantle)
Round 10 – Aaron Black (West Perth) 
Round 12 – Blaine Boekhorst (East Fremantle)

WAFL TEAM OF THE WEEK – ROUND 12

BACK: Traye Bennell (PT), Chad Pearson (SF), Kasey Nicholas (P)
HALF-BACK: Heath Chapman (PT), Tony Notte (SD), Cam Eardley (EF)
CENTRE: Blaine Boekhorst (EF), Steve Verrier (SF), Austin Davis (P)
HALF-FORWARD: Ryan Lester-Smith (EF), Tom Edwards (SD), Brendon Ah Chee (SF)
FORWARD: Tyron Smallwood (C), Tyler Keitel (WP), Christian Ameduri (EP)
RUCK: Kieran Gowdie (C), Tobe Watson (SD), Hamish Brayshaw (EP)
INTERCHANGE: Shane Nelson (WP), Jackson Ramsay (EP), Aidan Clarke (SD), Haiden Schloithe (SF)
 

UNLUCKY BUNCH

There were plenty of players who delivered tremendous performances across Round 12 but couldn’t quite fit into the Team of the Round, including:

Swan Districts' Josh Cipro, Jarvis Pina, Brenton Hilton, Tony Stephens and Greg Ottaviano.

Perth's Sam Perkusich, Corey Byrne, Regan Clarke and Dakota Baldwin-Wright.

Claremont's Jye Bolton, Bailey Rogers, Ben Edwards and Ronin O'Connor.

South Fremantle's Glenn Byron, Toby McQuilkin, Tom Blechynden and Blake Schlensog.

Subiaco's Liam Hickmott, Stefan Giro, Jordan Snadden and Galen Savigni.

East Fremantle's Jackson McDonald, Matthew Jupp and Jeremy Goddard.

West Coast's Patrick Naish, Xavier O'Neill, Josh Browne, Callum Jamieson, Alex Witherden and Joey Deegan.

East Perth's Angus Scott, Angus Schumacher, Stan Wright, Jack Cooley and Scott Jones.

West Perth's Luke Meadows, Trent Manzone, Mark Hutchings and Tristan Hobley.

Peel Thunder's Connor Blakely, Karl Worner, Neil Erasmus, Darcy Tucker, Haydn Matthews and Lloyd Meek.