Rookie Clancee Pearce was a standout in round nine of the state competition, winning Fremantle’s WAFL player of the week award, while Jay van Berlo and Byron Schammer were also impressive.
Nick Suban, Kepler Bradley and Antoni Grover also appear ready for AFL recalls, with Luke McPharlin (knee) and Greg Broughton (foot) injured.
Clayton Hinkley, Hamish Shepheard and Dylan Roberton were rested from the weekend’s fixtures, while East Fremantle’s Ben Bucovaz, Steven Dodd and Chris Hall did not play with their club having a bye.
Perth’s Justin Bollenhagen and Joel Houghton have both been on increased duties at training but were again held back from WAFL duties.
Ahead of this week’s fixtures, senior development coach Simon Lloyd shared his WAFL notes with fremantlefc.com.au.
Claremont 17.4 (106) d East Perth 9.16 (70)
Byron Schammer
Byron won a lot of contested possessions, was good around stoppages and took a lot of physical hits. Six tackles highlighted his work-rate. He’s been in consistently good form for four or five weeks now and continues to be very professional.
Nick Suban
Nick had 15 possessions and made good decisions when he had the ball, particularly in the first quarter, trying to use the corridor as much as possible. Coming back from injury, it was good for Nick to get through and register a game on the Claremont honour roll.
Zac Clarke
A much-improved effort form Zac compared to the last couple of weeks. He competed really well and had an impact on the game when East Perth fought back in the third quarter. His centre bounce work was pleasing, he used his leap well and his second efforts were very good. He was really clean in close and pushed his man under the ball at boundary throw-ins a number of times.
Subiaco 22.15 (147) d South Fremantle 18.13 (121)
Antoni Grover
Antoni played the entire game at half-back and had a really good hit-out. He was opposed to small forwards for the most part, allowing him to push up the ground and get involved in the play. He rebounded, won some contested possessions and cut the angles off well with his positioning.
Scott Thornton
Scott played as a key backman and used the ball well. He showed real leadership out on the field with his voice and direction. Scott has very good awareness and he will often lead into space to create opportunities for someone else. He showed a fair amount of run and he defended with real purpose. His direction to teammates was a highlight.
Swan Districts 26.17 (173) d Peel Thunder 10.7 (67)
Michael Walters
Michael played midfield and half-forward and found space early in the game, using the ball well. He showed good run and carry, having a number of bounces in a big run down the wing that resulted in a goal. His repeat efforts continue to improve and he kicked a goal.
Clancee Pearce
Clancee played as a high half-forward, wing and half-back and was one of his team’s best. He showed the equivalent of hard AFL running patterns, moving with a lot of intensity and playing high ground time. He used the ball really well and displayed great reading of the play. If the opening is there at senior level, Clancee is ready.
Jesse Crichton
Jesse played in the midfield and started in a large number of centre bounces. He was opposed to some really experienced players in Matt Riggio and Josh Roberts. Jesse has great defensive positioning, he just needed to engage his opponent a little more starting in the centre, which he did in the second half. He’s shown some great speed, which will transfer to AFL level.
West Perth 17.12 (114) d Perth 6.19 (55)
Kepler Bradley
Kepler played as a key forward all day, took some very good contested marks and kicked 4.1. He provided a very good target for his team and converted his set shots. Kepler has definitely shown what he needed to as a forward to be considered at AFL level.
Jay van Berlo
Jay played mainly on the wing with some spells at half-forward and had a good, solid game, winning his position. Jay always works very hard and he finished with 11 kicks, 12 handballs, eight marks and a goal. Jay has done a lot of work on his disposal and it is showing. His good form has been maintained since he returned to the rookie list.
Casey Sibosado
Casey played at centre half-back all day opposed to Brent LeCras for the first half, which he found a real challenge. He mixed and matched on talls and smalls through the second half. Casey looked good with the ball in his hands and rebounded a lot off half-back. He’s playing on quality players weekly, which is really good for his development.
Tim Ruffles
Tim played across half-forward and on the wing in his first league game back and found a fair bit of the ball, finishing with 17 possessions. While normally very good with his disposal, he let himself down a bit on the day kicking 0.4. Tim’s still getting back into it after a long spell on the sidelines and he played 98 minutes. He ran very well, looked sharp around the footy and took some good marks.
