wafl.com.au Team and Player of Round 18Tuesday, July 25, 2017 - 2:53 PM - by Chris Pike

A COUPLE of West Perth big men combined for 13 goals while a midfielder racked up 51 possessions, Subiaco's back-line was instrumental in its 15th consecutive victory and another five goals from a South Fremantle forward were all part of the standout WAFL Round 18 performances.

There were just the three matches in Round 18 of the WAFL with South Fremantle claiming a fifth straight victory beating East Perth 18.13 (121) to 14.7 (91) at Busselton's Sir Stewart Bovell Park with Blaine Johnson kicking five goals and Shane Hockey collecting 30 possessions.

West Perth also returned to the winner's list after losing four straight matches to beat Perth for a 13th straight time, winning 18.18 (126) to 11.7 (73) at Lathlain Park with Shane Nelson racking up 51 disposals, Tyler Keitel kicking seven goals and Nick Rodda six.

It was then a grand final rematch at Bendigo Bank Stadium with Subiaco proving too strong beating Peel Thunder 12.14 (86) to 6.4 (40) with the back-line of Jordan Lockyer, Aaron Heal, Declan Jackson, Greg Clark, Wayde Twomey, Angus Litherland and Corey Adamson outstanding.

Following 18 rounds of the 2017 season, Subiaco (15-1) remains clear on top of the ladder with South Fremantle (12-4) is also with a handy advantage in second.

Peel Thunder (10-6) remains third with Swan Districts (9-6) and West Perth (8-7) rounding out the top five.

Claremont (6-9) and East Perth (6-9) remain in finals contention still with five games remaining while East Fremantle (2-13) and Perth (2-15) are separated by just 0.35 per cent.

wafl.com.au PLAYER OF THE ROUND – SHANE NELSON (West Perth)

He has been in outstanding form all season and has even racked up 50-plus possessions against Perth previously, but it's hard to imagine he has ever played a more dominant game than he delivered in Saturday's 53-point win over Perth at Lathlain Park.

Player of the Round honours could have comfortably gone to Tyler Keitel or Nick Rodda who combined for 13 goals for West Perth, but without Shane Nelson's work in the middle they might not have received those opportunities.

He finished the afternoon with 51 possessions, 11 clearances, nine entries inside the forward 50, eight marks and five tackles in as complete and dominant a performance as you are likely to see.

The dual fairest and best winner, and premiership player is having perhaps the best season of his career and that's saying something. With him doing his work in the midfield, West Perth will always be a competitive outfit.

wafl.com.au TEAM OF THE ROUND (times named)
BACK: Ben King (2), Aaron Heal (3), Blayne Wilson (4)
HALF-BACK: Aaron Naughton (2), Jordan Lockyer (3), Greg Clark (1)
CENTRE: Aaron Black (5), Luke Partington (4), Kyal Horsley (8)
HALF-FORWARD: Brant Colledge (1), Matt Taberner (5), Blaine Johnson (5)
FORWARD: Liam Ryan (7), Tyler Keitel (5), Nick Rodda (3)
RUCK: Brock Higgins (4), Shane Nelson (7), Shane Hockey (2)
INTERCHANGE: Patrick McGinnity (2), Tim Kelly (7), Lachlan Delahunty (4), Leigh Kitchin (7)

BACK POCKET – BEN KING (West Perth)
The lockdown defender continues to be given the big jobs by West Perth coach Bill Monaghan and is rarely beaten. He was given the task on Perth's Brennan Stack on Saturday who had kicked seven goals earlier in the season against West Perth, and kept him to just one goal and four kicks. He had 12 possessions, five marks and three tackles himself.

FULL-BACK – AARON HEAL (Subiaco)
The premiership and state defender has now played four games back from his broken jaw suffered against Peel back in Round 11 and put in an outstanding defensive performance against the Thunder on Saturday. Continually repelled attack after attack ending the game with 26 possessions and 14 marks.

BACK POCKET – BLAYNE WILSON (South Fremantle)
Coming off a week where he was tagged against Swan Districts, the key defender put in a strong performance against the team he played in two grand finals with while listed with West Coast. Had a significant impact in the eventual 30-point victory with 21 possessions and eight marks.

HALF-BACK FLANK – AARON NAUGHTON (Peel Thunder)
The 17-year-old was playing his second league game and showed that his debut performance last week was no fluke with another strong showing. It was all the more impressive given it was against Subiaco and despite Peel losing the game by 46 points. Despite that, he still managed 17 possessions, 11 marks and a goal.

CENTRE HALF-BACK – JORDAN LOCKYER (Subiaco)
Missed the trip to Esperance against Claremont last week but returned on Saturday and was tremendous as a rock in defence for Subiaco in the 46-point victory against Peel Thunder. Finished with 24 possessions and five marks in another outstanding performance.

HALF-BACK FLANK – GREG CLARK (Subiaco)
Could very well be in career-best form now and has cemented his spot in a Subiaco team that makes it hard to do that with the form and depth at the Lions. Has been outstanding in recent weeks and continued that on Saturday against Peel with 18 disposals, four tackles and a goal.

WING – AARON BLACK (West Perth)
Was at his hard-running best all day on Saturday on the wide expanses of Lathlain Park where he could take full advantage of his superior running power. Racked up 36 possessions, six marks and five inside-50 entries in the big win over the Demons.

CENTRE – LUKE PARTINGTON (East Perth)
The West Coast-listed midfielder continues to show outstanding form on the ball and when going forward for East Perth to make his continual omission at the Eagles a strange one. It looks likely to come to an end sooner or later after another 29 possessions and two goals for the Royals against South Fremantle in Busselton on Saturday.

WING – KYAL HORSLEY (Subiaco)
There is just no slowing down the inspirational Subiaco captain as he put in another standout performance in Saturday's 46-point victory in Mandurah against Peel. Ended up with 29 possessions, eight tackles and six entries inside the forward 50 for the afternoon.

HALF-FORWARD FLANK – BRANT COLLEDGE (Perth)
Was Perth's highest profile recruit coming into the season and while he hasn’t quite delivered what the Demons were hoping, he showed a glimpse of his ability with by far his best performance of 2017 on Saturday despite the 53-point loss to West Perth. Ended the game with 33 possessions, nine marks, seven tackles and five inside-50 entries.

CENTRE HALF-FORWARD – MATT TABERNER (Peel Thunder)
Surely he has earned another crack in the malfunctioning Fremantle forward-line after another strong showing in Peel's loss to Subiaco on Saturday with 25 possessions, 11 marks, 10 hit outs and two goals. Over the past three weeks he has now had 77 disposals, taken 34 marks and kicked 13 goals.

HALF-FORWARD FLANK – BLAINE JOHNSON (South Fremantle)
Despite South Fremantle's forward-line featuring Ben Saunders, Mason Shaw and Cory Dell'Olio, he is the leading goalkicker only four goals behind Subiaco's Liam Ryan in the Bernie Naylor Medal race. Kicked another five goals in Saturday's win against East Perth in Busselton with four of them coming in the second half in a tremendous display. Has kicked 18 goals in his past four games.

FORWARD POCKET – LIAM RYAN (Subiaco)
The Bernie Naylor Medal leader proved the difference in attack between Subiaco and Peel at Bendigo Bank Stadium on Saturday. The livewire Lions forward booted four goals from 12 possessions and seven marks.

FULL FORWARD – TYLER KEITEL (West Perth)
He has been the best tall forward in the competition all season taking by far the most marks and especially contested grabs while also having more shots than any other player in the league. The only thing letting him down has been his kicking on goal. But he found the major opening more often on Saturday booting a career-best haul of seven goals to go with 21 possessions and eight marks highlighting the dominant force the 21-year-old will become.

FORWARD POCKET – NICK RODDA (West Perth)
Started the game down back but when West Perth realised it didn’t need two key defenders against Perth's forward-line, he went forward and had a remarkable impact. Kicked a career-best six goals with his overhead marking a real highlight. Had 12 possessions and 10 marks along with his bag of six.

RUCK – BROCK HIGGINS (South Fremantle)
He took on his former East Perth team in Busselton and had to carry the ruck for South Fremantle up against both Jonathan Giles and Scott Jones. He ended up being the best ruckman on the ground finishing the afternoon with 17 possessions, 31 hit outs and four entries inside the forward 50.

ROVER – SHANE HOCKEY (South Fremantle)
Last year's South Fremantle fairest and best winner is now right back to his best form of 2016 putting in another tough and prolific display in the 30-point win over East Perth in Busselton. Ended up with 30 possessions and eight tackles for the Bulldogs.

INTERCHANGE – TIM KELLY (South Fremantle)
He is in the middle of a remarkable season with South Fremantle and is proving to have so many strings to his bow both through the middle, at stoppages, in open space and then in attack. Kicked three crucial goals against East Perth on Saturday to go with 21 disposals, six tackles and six inside 50s.

INTERCHANGE – LACHLAN DELAHUNTY (Subiaco)
He was undersized in the ruck and had his work cut out against Jonathon Griffin who had a good day for Peel, but the versatile Subiaco big man did his best work around the ground having a significant impact on the final result. He ended up with 23 disposals, 19 hit outs and five inside 50s.

INTERCHANGE – PATRICK McGINNITY (East Perth)
The East Perth co-captain might have only kicked 42 goals in his previous 73 WAFL appearances and just three in nine matches in 2017, but proved the Royals best avenue to goal on Saturday in Busselton. Kicked his team's first three goals of the game and finished the afternoon with five majors along with 18 touches and five tackles.

INTERCHANGE – LEIGH KITCHIN (Subiaco)
The midfielder got forward to kick three crucial goals for Subiaco to make it the first time in his 59 appearances with the Lions that he's ever kicked multiple goals. He also had 21 possessions and five marks to have a big say in the Lions' 15th straight victory.

UNLUCKY BUNCH
There were plenty of players who delivered tremendous performances across Round 18 but couldn’t quite squeeze into the Team of the Round, including:

Peel Thunder's Rory O'Brien, Traye Bennell, Alex Bray, Jonathon Griffin, Brady Grey, Luke Ryan, Sam Collins and Michael Tassone.

Subiaco's Justin Joyce, Adam Cockie, Angus Litherland, Wayde Twomey, Corey Adamson and Craig Hoskins.

East Perth's Chris Masten and Francis Watson.

South Fremantle's Jacob Dragovich, Steve Verrier, Steven Edwards and Ben Saunders.

Perth's Aidan Tropiano, Clint Jones, Corey Byrne and Taran Etto.

West Perth's Blake Wilhelm and Jay van Berlo.