Wheeler reaches century for Lions in grand final rematchThursday, March 31, 2016 - 10:21 PM - by Chris Pike

CLANCY Wheeler could very well have been Subiaco's most important player in the premierships of the last two years and the versatile big man reaches his 100th game for the Lions this Saturday against West Perth at HBF Arena.

He might be a little undersized and he might be best suited to a key position at either end of the ground, but Wheeler has performed so strongly when called upon in the ruck over his career that he has been a crucial member of their success.

Combine that with his ability to play some tremendous football both at centre half-forward and centre half-back, and he has put together an outstanding 99 games with the club that started with his debut in 2011.

Already that has included two premierships and three grand finals along with two appearances for Western Australia.

Highlighting his importance to Subiaco was his second placing in last year's fairest and best voting in a premiership season. His efforts late last season after David Madut went down injured in the ruck sharing the duties with Lachlan Delahunty was a huge part of the Lions claiming back-to-back flags.

And Wheeler and Delahunty have again started 2016 sharing the ruck duties in wins over Peel Thunder and East Perth.

Now Wheeler will notch his 100th WAFL game this Saturday when Subiaco heads to HBF Arena to take on West Perth in a grand final rematch.

It will also be part of the International Football Festival and Wheeler can't wait to play in front of one of the biggest WAFL crowds of the season.

"It's always a good rivalry there with the West Perth boys. It's very healthy and they are a quality team. They always give us a red hot go and we always know it will be a contest," Wheeler said on WAFL World on 91.3 SportFM.

"It will be another great game with it being their International Football day up there so there's usually 8 or 9000 people there so that's a great atmosphere to play in front and a great spectacle for all the fans.

"We really enjoy going up there and it's always a tough contest against West Perth. Their crowd gets fired up and it sets the mood for the day, it's great."

Wheeler has every right to lay claim to being the most versatile player in the competition given his ability to play virtually any position on the ground and to do well wherever he lines up.

He began his career as a key forward pinch-hitting in the ruck at times but there are occasions he has had to carry the ruck duties. And he has also spent significant time at centre half-back particularly in 2013 and 2014.

He is happy to play whatever role is needed for the team.

"I've always been the sort of player who gets swapped around forward and back. In 2014 I was back most of the year but I quite enjoy being swapped around," he said.

"In juniors I was always like that but right now I am enjoying playing forward more than anything but also when you aren’t getting in the game the ruck is a good way to get into the game by getting some touches and having a bit of a run around."

Wheeler's first taste of a WAFL grand final was in his first season after he had previously been weighing whether to make football or cricket his priority.

But there weren’t too many fond memories from that loss to Claremont and in fact there wasn’t many memories for him at all after he was left concussed from a massive bump in the opening minutes from WAFL and AFL premiership player Brett Jones.

"It's not a very fond memory of that grand final but a lot of my mates always remind me of it," he said.

"I don’t really look back on it very fondly and I can't really remember any of the first half of the game. He got me with a pretty decent hit there did Brett Jones but I probably woke up about half-time and came back on, but I probably shouldn’t have. It was a big hit to say the least."

The last two years have seen Wheeler play in premierships to give him much fonder memories of the big day at Domain Stadium.

While last year was special with a big win over West Perth, the previous year beating East Perth coming in as underdogs is something Wheeler will especially treasure forever.

"Probably being underdogs for that grand final we didn’t really know how we would go," Wheeler said.

"We did have a good year and had beaten them a couple of times but it was always going to be tough and the weather conditions made it tough.

"It was a very sweet victory in the end especially when most people tipped East Perth to win that. It was very good to celebrate and something I will cherish forever."