wafl.com.au Team and Player of Round 22Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - 5:35 PM - by Chris Pike

THERE were some standout individual performance in Round 22 including seven goals from Perth's Cody Ninyette, six from Subiaco's Ben Sokol and five from Swan Districts' Ricky Cary but in the end what matters is that four teams are fighting over two spots with one round remaining.

Swan Districts and East Perth both missed chances to end the finals race on Saturday with losses meaning that a fascinating final round of the 2017 WAFL season awaits this Saturday.

The Round 22 results saw Peel Thunder storm home with seven goals to nil in the final quarter to beat East Fremantle 10.8 (68) to 8.7 (55) at East Fremantle Oval. The win secures the Thunder third position and a qualifying final against South Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

Perth scored likely the upset of the season with Cody Ninyette the star booting a career-best seven goals in the 14.14 (98) to 13.15 (93) victory against East Perth at Lathlain Park.

Claremont also kept its season alive and stopped Swan Districts from securing a finals berth with a 13.17 (95) to 11.5 (71) victory at Steel Blue Oval.

Ben Sokol then kicked six goals and the returning Kyle Halligan four as Subiaco won an 18th straight match beating West Perth 19.14 (128) to 6.10 (46) at Leederville Oval.

The Round 22 results leave Subiaco (18-1), South Fremantle (15-4) and Peel Thunder (12-7) safe in the top three positions but that's where it gets interesting.

Swan Districts (10-9) remains fourth ahead of East Perth (9-10), West Perth (9-10) and Claremont (8-11).

The Round 23 matches include Swan Districts playing East Fremantle, East Perth taking on Subiaco and Claremont hosting West Perth.

Wins for Swans and the Royals and the race is over, they play finals.

A Swans defeat and West Perth could potentially replace them depending on percentage if the Falcons beat Claremont.

A Royals defeat and a West Perth win will see the Falcons replace them, and a Tigers win and they could replace them dependant of percentage.

Then there is Perth in eighth position at 3-17 whose season is over leaving East Fremantle (2-18) with one last chance to avoid the 2017 wooden spoon. 

wafl.com.au PLAYER OF THE ROUND – CODY NINYETTE (Perth)

As if Perth's season-ending upset victory against old rivals East Perth wasn’t lifting enough to finish the disappointing 2017, but the fact that it was on the back of such an exciting performance by an emerging young small forward makes it all that better.

The Demons had lost their past 11 games and faced a big job up against an in-form Royals who were playing for their season on Saturday, but they put in their best performance of the season for their third win to give some hope looking towards 2018.

And Cody Ninyette was the most exciting part of that finishing up kicking a career-high seven goals to go with 22 possessions, nine marks, four tackles and three inside-50 entries.

Not only did he kick seven goals, but he showed his outstanding temperament to kick the game-winner with the last major of the afternoon to put Perth in front in what become a storming home finish by the Demons.

With speed and natural goal sense and great skill, he is without doubt a player to keep watching for the future.

wafl.com.au TEAM OF THE ROUND (times named)
BACK: Corey Adamson (4), Declan Jackson (4), Blake Wilhelm (1)
HALF-BACK: Tom Bennett (2), Haydn Busher (6), Ryan Murphy (3)
CENTRE: Jesse Crichton (1), Jye Bolton (8), Liam McKenna (1)
HALF-FORWARD: Patrick McGinnity (5), Lachlan Delahunty (6), Ian Richardson (4) 
FORWARD: Cody Ninyette (4), Ricky Cary (6), Ben Sokol (3) 
RUCK: Corey Gault (8), Clint Jones (7), Leigh Kitchin (9)
INTERCHANGE: Jonathon Griffin (2), Sharrod Wellingham (1), Rowen Powell (1), Adam Faulkner (3)

BACK POCKET – COREY ADAMSON (Subiaco)
The former baseballer is having an outstanding first season with Subiaco and perhaps deserved more time at West Coast continuing his rapid upward curve since changing sports. Is a tough and creative defender who deserves his place in the state team this year and had another 22 possessions, seven marks and six inside 50s in Saturday's win against West Perth.

FULL-BACK – DECLAN JACKSON (Subiaco)
The Subiaco full-back had a big task up against dangerous West Perth forward Tyler Keitel and he took the honours in the battle with Subiaco on the way to its 18th consecutive victory. Held his opponent to just three marks and two goals while having nine possessions himself.

BACK POCKET – BLAKE WILHELM (West Perth)
He was moved on to Subiaco livewire and Bernie Naylor Medal leader Liam Ryan after 100-game player Kody Manning moved further up the field for West Perth largely because of a nagging ankle complaint. But he stuck to just one of his two goals for the game and finishing with 20 possessions and seven marks himself.

HALF-BACK FLANK – TOM BENNETT (East Fremantle)
Jayden Schofield has been a standout in his role as a running defender in a difficult season for East Fremantle in 2017, but he wasn’t there and somebody needed to fill that void. He did so tremendously providing great run off half-back to finish the game against Peel Thunder with 23 possessions, seven marks, six inside 50s and two goals.

CENTRE HALF-BACK – HAYDN BUSHER (Claremont)
Deserves to be considered the form key defender of the competition having had an outstanding second half of 2017. Remains a key part of Claremont's hopes of making finals and will have a big job against one of West Perth's key forwards on Saturday. But last week was strong again against Swan Districts and finished with 33 possessions and 10 marks.

HALF-BACK FLANK – RYAN MURPHY (Claremont)
Has become an important player at Claremont with his run and drive off half-back. He was tremendous again in Saturday victory against Swan Districts with another 31 disposals and seven marks.

WING – JESSE CRICHTON (East Fremantle)
It's no secret that the former Fremantle-listed utility has had a difficult 2017 season trying to find a way to have an impact in whatever role he has been asked to play by coach Rob Wiley. But the last couple of weeks he has been allowed to play as a free-wheeling midfield with good results. On Saturday, he had 28 possessions, 10 tackles, six marks, six inside-50 entries and a goal.

CENTRE – JYE BOLTON (Claremont)
The reigning Sandover Medallist is without question right back to the form that saw him widely considered the best WAFL player in 2016. He put in another standout effort in the midfield on Saturday amassing 41 possessions to go with nine inside 50s and six tackles.

WING – LIAM McKENNA (Perth)
He hasn’t quite been able to recapture his standout form of the past two seasons with Perth through the middle after crossing from Peel Thunder. That has largely been because of injury, though, and the hard-running, goalkicking midfielder was back to his best Saturday in the win against East Perth with 25 possessions, seven tackles, five marks and five inside-50 entries.

HALF-FORWARD FLANK – PATRICK McGINNITY (East Perth)
His own strong performance as co-captain wouldn’t have been enough to make him happy about a day where East Perth potentially cost itself a finals chance while also unable to in the 100th game of fellow captain Kyle Anderson along with big man Fraser McInnes. He continued his good form both in the middle and forward, though, with 27 disposals, 10 marks and three goals.

CENTRE HALF-FORWARD – LACHLAN DELAHUNTY (Subiaco)
The usual ruckman has been allowed to spend more time forward of late with the emergence of Adam Creeper and in the absence of Clancy Wheeler, that's an important role for him to play. Despite being a good field kick, he continues to lack confidence in front of goal but still kicked three in the win against West Perth to go with 27 disposals, eight hit outs and six marks.

HALF-FORWARD FLANK – IAN RICHARDSON (Claremont)
He is one of the most decorated WAFL players this century having played 189 matches and kicking 372 goals. He represented WA in the first six seasons of his career and won a Simpson Medal while he's also played in two premierships and won a fairest and best award. But he is showing no signs of slowing down or losing motivation having another three goals to go with 15 possessions and five marks in Saturday's win against Swan Districts.

FORWARD POCKET – BEN SOKOL (Subiaco)
Is continuing to show that when he has a big day he can kick a big bag of goals and Saturday was his day against West Perth. Booted six goals in the 82-point victory from 17 possessions and seven marks. It's the best haul in his 41-goal season to date having kicking five goals in Round 3 also against West Perth having also booted seven against his old team South Fremantle last year.

FULL-FORWARD – RICKY CARY (Swan Districts)
The enigmatic full-forward from Swan Districts returned to the line-up against Claremont on Saturday and despite the loss, he provided a strong target and kicked five goals from limited opportunities with just seven kicks. He now has 39 goals for the season.

RUCK – COREY GAULT (Swan Districts)
The fight to be considered the best ruckman in the WAFL for 2017 is a fascinating one and he is making a strong charge to win that spot ahead of Claremont's Mitch Andrews and South Fremantle's Brock Higgins. Despite his team losing to Claremont on Saturday, he couldn’t do much more finishing with 20 disposals, 34 hit outs and four marks.

RUCK ROVER – LEIGH KITCHIN (Subiaco)
The prolific midfielder continued his standout third season with Subiaco and he had to lead the way on Saturday in the absence of Kyal Horsley, Justin Joyce and Chris Phelan. Remains a tough and prolific ball-winner racking up another 29 touches, six inside 50s, five marks and a goal.

ROVER – CLINT JONES (Perth)
The Demons skipper has had a remarkably consistent season deserving of even more respect given his continued standout performances despite the struggles of his team. His form and work ethic has never diminished and that's why he deserved to taste a win to 2017 as much as anyone on his team. He had a big say in it as well with another 38 possessions and five tackles.

INTERCHANGE – JONATHON GRIFFIN (Peel Thunder)
The experienced Fremantle ruckman came up against his original WAFL club on Saturday who he played in the 2012 grand final with and put together a strong showing in the middle for the Thunder. Ended up with 17 possessions, 37 hit outs, four marks and two goals.

INTERCHANGE – SHARROD WELLINGHAM (East Perth)
He might be disappointed to have lost his place in the Eagles line-up with his future somewhat uncertain looking towards 2018, but the 2010 Collingwood premiership player still has all the tools to be a standout player. He showed that despite East Perth's loss to Perth with 34 disposals, eight marks and eight inside-50 entries.

INTERCHANGE – ROWEN POWELL (Subiaco)
Is one player desperate to cement himself in the Subiaco league side ahead of the finals and he did his chances no harm on Saturday against West Perth. Spent much of the game on the wing but remains capable of going forward and he was particularly impressive overhead with his marking. His tall and athletic so has all the tools to be a difference-maker. Had 25 possessions, nine inside-50 entries and five marks.

INTERCHANGE – ADAM FAULKNER (Swan Districts)
The prolific midfielder continues to fight against the odds at times on the ball for the black-and-whites. Having now played 109 matches, his consistency deserves to be admired and he fought hard against Claremont's on-fire midfield on Saturday finishing with 33 possessions and five tackles.

UNLUCKY BUNCH
There were plenty of players who delivered tremendous performances across Round 22 but couldn’t quite fit into the Team of the Round, including:

East Fremantle's Cameron Eardley, Jack Perham, Jonathon Marsh, Dion Anthony and Ambrose Ryan.

Peel Thunder's Calvin Thorne, Haydn Matthews and Garrick Ibbotson.

Perth's Corey Byrne, Aidan Tropiano, Kurtis Chester and Devin McFarlane.

East Perth's Kyle Anderson, Nathan Blee, Jake Waterman and Jordan Snadden.

Subiaco's Wayde Twomey, Kyle Halligan, Hayden Kennedy and Craig Hoskins.

West Perth's Luke Meadows, Trent Manzone, Shane Nelson and Scott Simpson.

Swan Districts' Taryce Stewart.

Claremont's Keifer Yu, Jared Hardisty, Matt Guelfi, Matthew Palfrey and Bailey Banfield.