TABtouch Team of Round 4Wednesday, April 25, 2018 - 10:07 AM - by Chris Pike

IT was ANZAC Round in the WAFL running from Thursday through Sunday with plenty of standout performances from individuals as Subiaco, East Perth, West Perth and South Fremantle all came away victorious.

The round got underway on Thursday night at Leederville Oval with Subiaco continuing its remarkably dominant start to the season beating Claremont 20.15 (135) to 7.7 (49).

Then on Saturday, East Perth beat Perth 21.10 (136) to 15.9 (99) at Lathlain Park and West Perth overcame Swan Districts 15.6 (96) to 9.11 (65) at Steel Blue Oval.

The round concluded with the ANZAC Derby on Sunday afternoon at East Fremantle Oval with South Fremantle continuing its recent dominance of East Fremantle, winning 18.24 (132) to 5.8 (38).

Following four rounds of the 2018 WAFL season, Subiaco is clear on top with a 4-0 record and amazing percentage of 259.1.

South Fremantle (2-1) is second ahead of West Perth (2-2), East Perth (2-1) and Swan Districts (2-2).

Peel Thunder (1-2) is just outside the top five ahead of Perth (1-3), East Fremantle (1-3) and Claremont (1-2).

TABtouch TEAM OF THE ROUND

BACK: Blayne Wilson, Angus Litherland, Aaron Heal
HALF-BACK: Blake Wilhelm, Will Schofield, Greg Clark
CENTRE: Cody Leggett, Kyal Horsley, Sharrod Wellingham
HALF-FORWARD: Ashton Hams, Tyler Keitel, Rhys Waters
FORWARD: Brandon Donaldson, Brad Stevenson, Jack Petruccelle
RUCK: Fraser McInnes, Chris Phelan, Shane Nelson
INTERCHANGE: Julian Ameduri, Oliver Eastland, Shane Hockey, Jay van Berlo

BACK POCKET – BLAYNE WILSON (South Fremantle)
The 128-game WAFL veteran continues to be a rock down back for South Fremantle and has started 2018 strongly both defensively and as an intercept marker while also setting up play out of the back-line well for the Bulldogs. He had another 20 possessions, seven marks and four inside-50 entries in Sunday's ANZAC Derby win against East Fremantle.

FULL-BACK – ANGUS LITHERLAND (Subiaco)
With the loss of Declan Jackson from being the regular full-back in 2018, he has had to fill that void and he's had a dominant start defensively to his second season with Subiaco. The former Hawthorn player was tremendous again on Thursday night keeping Beau Maister to just nine kicks and no score while having 19 possessions and seven marks.

BACK POCKET – AARON HEAL (Subiaco)
He has now been a mainstay of Subiaco's back-line through most of this dominant run of Grand Finals in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 even though he missed the premiership of 2014. Now with 75 games under his belt, the 25-year-old has become a strong leader for the Lions and was outstanding again in Thursday night's win over Claremont with 19 disposals and four marks while helping keep Tom Lee to four kicks and one goal.

HALF-BACK FLANK – BLAKE WILHELM (West Perth)
Without Kody Manning and Andrew Strijk on Saturday once the former went down injured and the latter was out of the side from last week, he needed to play an even bigger role for the Falcons to provide some drive off half-back and he did the role tremendously in the win against Swan Districts. He had 23 possessions and four marks in the eventual 31-point win.

CENTRE HALF-BACK – WILL SCHOFIELD (East Perth)
He is an experienced AFL player at West Coast with 165 games under his belt and he's showing his quality now the past couple of weeks defensively in the WAFL with East Perth. He was tremendous down back in Saturday's win over Perth for the Royals finishing with 20 disposals and five marks.

HALF-BACK FLANK – GREG CLARK (Subiaco)
He found himself back in the reserves a couple of weeks ago but the 20-year-old has responded impressively to be among Subiaco's standout performance the past couple of games and he knows he needs to keep performing to hold his spot. He was impressive on Thursday night against Claremont with 21 possessions, four marks, four tackles and four inside-50 entries.

WING – CODY LEGGETT (Perth)
Coming off his Player of the Week honours in Round 3 following Perth's upset victory over Peel Thunder, he gave his all again despite Saturday's loss to East Perth finishing with another 31 possessions, 14 tackles, five inside 50s, four marks and two goals.

CENTRE – KYAL HORSLEY (Subiaco)
The inspirational captain continues to be in remarkable form to start the 2018 season and is showing no signs of slowing down at 30 years of age and with 165 WAFL appearances with the Lions under his belt. Even though his numbers are impressive and he had another 31 possessions, six marks and a goal in the 86-point thumping of Claremont, it's the way he leads from the front and is such an imposing presence on the field and around the ball that makes him such a standout.

WING – SHARROD WELLINGHAM (East Perth)
It was somewhat a surprise when West Coast didn’t keep him on their AFL list for 2018 with the 2010 premiership player playing some good games late in 2017 and with X games under his belt. But that turned out a huge bonus for the Royals as he signed on full-time with them and he showed just how valuable he will be on Saturday in the win over Perth finishing with 25 possessions, four marks, four tackles, three inside-50 entries and three goals.

HALF-FORWARD FLANK – ASHTON HAMS (South Fremantle)
The 193-game dual premiership and two-time Simpson Medal winning veteran has settled into a role more permanently forward so far in 2018 and especially in the absence of the suspended of Cory Dell'Olio, it's working a treat. After kicking three behinds early on Sunday, he ended up with four goals for the day along with 20 disposals, nine marks and seven inside-50 entries in the 94-point win.

CENTRE HALF-FORWARD – TYLER KEITEL (West Perth)
He is coming off an outstanding past two seasons firstly in 2016 as big ball winning intercept defender and then in 2017 as a strong target in attack who had the most shots on goal in the league from a tall forward. He's had an up and down start to 2018 to date in attack, but had a strong performance on Saturday against Swan Districts with three goals from 12 kicks, seven marks and six inside-50 entries.

HALF-FORWARD FLANK – RHYS WATERS (Subiaco)
Subiaco needed to find some fresh avenues to goal in 2018 and he has filled the void tremendously so far on return to the Lions after taking a year off in 2017. Again on Thursday night he was on fire against Claremont at Leederville Oval booting another five goals from 24 possessions and six marks.

FORWARD POCKET – BRANDON DONALDSON (South Fremantle)
After spending the opening two games of the season for South Fremantle in the reserves, he broke into the league side for the ANZAC Derby on Sunday and was a dynamo up forward and working up in the midfield. He ended up delivering just about a best on ground performance with three goals to go with 29 disposals, four marks and three inside 50s.

FULL-FORWARD – BRAD STEVENSON (Subiaco)
With the loss of Liam Ryan and injury absence of Clancy Wheeler, Subiaco has needed a tall forward to stand up over the opening four rounds and he couldn’t have possibly done so any better. He kicked another four goals from eight kicks on Friday night to now have 17 goals in four games in 2018.

FORWARD POCKET – JACK PETRUCCELLE (East Perth)
The mid-size forward is in his first season on West Coast's list and put together his most impressive performance in Saturday's win against Perth kicking four goals from his eight kicks. With the Royals needing goalkickers and West Coast looking to develop some for the future, it was an exciting sign moving forward for both.

RUCK – FRASER MCINNES (East Perth)
With the loss of Scott Jones and Drew Petrie from 2018, injury to Nathan Vardy and with Nic Naitanui and Scott Lycett cemented at West Coast, between East Perth and the Eagles the Royals are lacking big men right now. That's where he has needed to stand up and he continued his career-best form on Saturday against Perth with 14 possessions, 46 hit outs and two goals.

RUCK ROVER – CHRIS PHELAN (Subiaco)
Like his captain Kyal Horsley, he is showing no signs of slowing down at 29 years of age or with having 153 games under his belt with Subiaco. He did battle a knee injury the second half of 2017 before making it back for the Grand Final and missed Round 1 this season, but has been in imposing midfield form since including another 35 possessions, four marks, three tackles, three inside 50s and a goal against Claremont.

ROVER – SHANE NELSON (West Perth)
The triple fairest and best winner has started the season in stunning form to earn Player of Round 4 honours for his performance in Saturday's win for West Perth against Swan Districts. He finished the afternoon with 47 possessions, nine marks and a goal.

INTERCHANGE – JULIAN AMEDURI (East Perth)
He shared East Perth's fairest and best award in 2017 alongside Nathan Blee and Fraser McInnes, and has again started 2018 solidly as perhaps the best tackling midfielder in the competition. He had a big say in the Royals' win against the Demons on Saturday with 22 disposals, 14 tackles and a goal.

INTERCHANGE – OLIVER EASTLAND (Claremont)
He was given the responsibility of carrying the Claremont ruck on Thursday night against Subiaco's Zac Clarke and Lachlan Delahunty with Jeremy Goddard back in the reserves and following the retirement of Mitch Andrews over summer. He stood up well despite the 86-point loss finishing with 20 possessions, seven marks, 18 hit outs and three entries inside the forward 50. 

INTERCHANGE – SHANE HOCKEY (South Fremantle)
The 2016 South Fremantle fairest and best winner has started 2018 in strong form on the ball for South Fremantle and his hard, contest ball winning has been instrumental now in the victories against West Perth and East Fremantle. He delivered 28 possessions, six inside-50 entries and a goal in Sunday's thumping win against East Fremantle.

INTERCHANGE – JAY VAN BERLO (West Perth)
The former skipper has settled into a bit of a different role so far in 2018 as he enters the veteran stage of his career, but he is finding a way to be equally effective. Spending more time up forward for the Falcons, he provided a good target off half-forward on Saturday in the win over Swan Districts finishing with 21 possessions, 12 marks and two goals.

UNLUCKY BUNCH
There were plenty of players who delivered tremendous performances across Round 4 but couldn’t quite fit into the Team of the Round, including:

Subiaco ruckman Zac Clarke.

Claremont's Jye Bolton, Jack Beeck, Ryan Murphy and Ryan Lim.

Swan Districts' Rhys Palmer, Jesse Turner and Tony Notte.

West Perth's Corey Chalmers, Trent Manzone, Aaron Black and Luke Meadows.

East Perth's Brant Colledge, Clint Jones, Corey Byrne and Kristian Cary.

East Perth's Brayden Ainsworth, Shayne Hille, Will Maginness and Jarrod Brander.

East Fremantle's Jayden Schofield, Jarrad Jansen and Dylan Winton.

South Fremantle's Haiden Schloithe, Marlion Pickett, Dylan Main and Blaine Johnson.