Kitchin eyes second flag with Lions after successful move westFriday, September 23, 2016 - 6:38 AM - by Chris Pike

SUBIACO midfielder Leigh Kitchin has the chance to become a dual WAFL premiership player in just his 43rd game with the Lions in Sunday's Grand Final as he continues to thrive in his move west.

Following the 2014 Grand Final victory over East Perth, Subiaco had to do some quick work to replace Simpson Medallist Jason Bristow in the midfield and they could not have possibly found a more like for like replacement than Kitchin.

Kitchin joined Subiaco from VFL club Frankston and had an outstanding 2015 season averaging over 23 touches game while playing for Western Australia in the state game win over South Australia, finishing second in fairest and best voting and playing in a premiership.

Premiership hat-trick the goal before Twomey decides future 
Twomey keeps thriving on Subiaco move ahead of 150th WAFL game 

As much as the now 26-year-old enjoyed his time in the VFL with Frankston, much like South Fremantle's 2016 recruit Shane Hockey, what he desperately wanted to experience was finals football and finals success.

Kitchin got that in 2015 and was a massive part of it in the midfield for Subiaco with his ability to win the hard, contested ball, dominate clearances and be one of the best inside midfielders in the WAFL.

Not only has he backed that up in 2016, but he has improved even further 22.8 disposals a game while starring for WA in another state game win over Tasmania and now leading Subiaco to another Grand Final.

The Lions will take on Peel Thunder this Sunday at Domain Stadium with Kitchin looking for a second premiership while Subiaco is looking for three straight and aiming to make history by becoming the first club to ever win two premiership hat-tricks in the same 10-year period.

While that hasn’t been spoken about necessarily among the playing group, everyone knows about what awaits on Sunday if Subiaco prevails and Kitchin knows the only way to make it happen is to put their full focus into trying to beat a Peel team that has had three dominant finals wins.

"I don’t know that us as a group we have directly spoken about winning three in-a-row but you definitely hear it a lot from past players and the sort from around the club who talk about it," Kitchin told 91.3 SportFM.

"But really the focus for us is just on this week because this is the only one we can do anything about now because it's in front of us. We are just staying focused on trying to make this one count as much as the last two."

Coming off winning the last two WAFL premierships, Subiaco has been the dominant team again in 2016 and had the minor premiership wrapped up by the time of the Round 23 bye.

The Lions then had the week off in the first week of the finals but one game in three weeks wasn’t a concern in the second semi-final as Subiaco beat South Fremantle by 40 points at Medibank Stadium to qualify for the Grand Final.

That earned them another week off leading into this Sunday's Grand Final against Peel but coach Jarrad Schofield hasn’t let any rust creep in by working his players hard on the training track. Kitchin has no doubt they are now primed and ready for Sunday's premiership decider.

"It has been a little bit different but I guess it's just given us that ability to train harder than you normally would with not having games on those weekends. That has meant the intensity at training has been a little bit higher and it's also given us a bit more time to have a look at the other teams," he said.

"Basically we've just done a little bit more match simulation than we normally would and more contact work than we would if we were playing on the weekend. That's probably been the main difference in our training.

"It's good to have only had one week since our last game and to have had a pretty promising game where there were still things we could improve on meant we were pretty happy with that result. We do take confidence going into this week from that."

It's impossible to ignore the fact that Subiaco will be coming up against a Peel side on Sunday in the Grand Final featuring 17 Fremantle-listed AFL players, but Kitchin is actually looking forward to the challenge that presents.

"They will have 17 full-time footballers which is obviously going to mean they will have a really, strong fit midfield and across the board," he said.

"That's exactly what you want going into a grand final having a big challenge going up against the best so we are really excited about it."

Now heading into a second Grand Final with Subiaco, Kitchin couldn’t be more grateful with the way the Lions have made him feel so welcome from the outset.

He was a big part of the reason why they went back-to-back last year despite losing Bristow, Josh Deluca, Frank Stockley, Andrew McDougall, Shaun Hildebrandt and George Hampson from 2014 premiership team.

Then from last year's team, the Lions have had to replace Sam Menegola, Shane Yarran, Matt Boland, Chris Deluca, Scott Worthington and Darren Rumble, but they have done it well and Kitchin couldn’t have enjoyed his time with Subiaco any more so far.

"They made me feel pretty comfortable from the get go so I settled in pretty quickly last year," Kitchin said.

"It's been a little bit different this year with the personnel through the midfield changing slightly so it was about learning your roles for everyone. I've really enjoyed the season again though."