M & J Chickens Player of Round 19Wednesday, August 15, 2018 - 7:36 AM - by Chris Pike

LUKE Partington was one of a host of East Perth players to have a field day in Saturday's thumping of East Fremantle and as a result he's been named the M & J Chickens Player of Round 19.

East Perth needed to win coming into Saturday's clash with the bottom placed East Fremantle at Leederville Oval to return to the top five coming off a loss to Peel Thunder, and they sure did respond in the most emphatic fashion possible.

The Royals kicked their biggest score of the season to come away with the 114-point victory that saw them return to fourth position on the WAFL ladder with two rounds of the season to go which sees them take on West Perth this Saturday and then Peel Thunder in the final round again.

With the emphatic nature of Saturday's win over the Sharks, a whole host of Royals players could have been named Player of the Round including Jake Waterman (seven goals), Hamish Brayshaw (41 possessions), Brayden Ainsworth (39), Patrick McGinnity (33) and Nathan Blee (30).

But it was Partington who got the nod as the M & J Chickens Player of Round 19 and his timing couldn’t be better to impress either with West Coast still trying to settle their best AFL 22 ahead of the finals with a spot there to be secured in the absence of the suspended Andrew Gaff.
 

Partington has had a fine season with East Perth but hasn’t yet been able to add to his six AFL games that he played in 2017, the last of which was that famous elimination final win against Port Adelaide.

But his form at East Perth has been strong and he went to another level on Saturday finishing the afternoon with 36 possessions, 10 marks, eight entries inside the forward 50 and two goals.

That's the sort of performance that is sure to put his name up in lights for Eagles selectors and if he's unable to break in to add to his six AFL games, then he's going to remain an important piece of East Perth's run into the finals and indeed during the finals if they get there.

Partington has put together a terrific 2018 campaign with the Royals now having racked up 30 or more possessions three times while averaging 25.4 disposals over his 14 appearance of the season in the WAFL.

He is also proving himself a handy goalkicker with 13 goals to his name so with his running ability, good kicking skills and ability to rack up plenty of the ball, he has plenty to offer at both AFL and WAFL levels.

M & J Chickens Players of the Round
Round 1 – Rhys Palmer (Swan Districts)
Round 2 – Fraser McInnes (East Perth)
Round 3 – Cody Leggett (Perth)
Round 4 – Shane Nelson (West Perth)
Round 5 – Patrick McGinnity (East Perth)
Round 6 – Marlion Pickett (South Fremantle)
Round 7 – Andrew Strijk (West Perth)
Round 8 – George Hampson (East Fremantle)
Round 9 – Nick Suban (South Fremantle)
Round 10 – Ben Howlett (Peel Thunder)
Round 11 – Michael Bennell (Perth)
Round 12 – Kyal Horsley (Subiaco)
Round 13 – Lachlan Delahunty (Subiaco)
Round 14 – Cody Ninyette (Perth)
Round 15 – Brant Colledge (Perth)
Round 16 – Aaron Black (West Perth)
Round 17 – Patrick Italiano (Swan Districts)
Round 18 – Shane Hockey (South Fremantle)
Round 19 – Luke Partington (East Perth)