M & J Chickens Player of WA Day Round 9Wednesday, June 6, 2018 - 7:32 PM - by Chris Pike

NICK Suban was trumpeted as one of the biggest off-season recruits when he signed with South Fremantle and he delivered his best performance of 2018 in Monday's WA Day Foundation Derby victory.

Suban joined South Fremantle for the 2018 WAFL season following his 156-game AFL career at Fremantle and after a solid start to his time with the Bulldogs, he went up another cog on Monday and has been named the M & J Chickens Player of the Round as a result.

There was some stiff competition across the WA Day round of WAFL action too for Player of the Round honours with Brandon Matera and Ben Howlett standouts in Peel Thunder's win against Claremont on Saturday with Brayden Noble and Warrick Wilson especially impressive in Swan Districts' win against Perth.

Tyler Keitel then booted six goals for West Perth in the Falcons' WA Day Derby win over East Perth, but in the end Suban's best performance of 2018 couldn't be overlooked.

Suban played the last 10 games in succession of the AFL season in 2017 at Fremantle and showed solid enough form to maintain his spot, and making it somewhat a surprise when he was delisted at the end of the season.

That brought an end to his outstanding 156-game career at the Dockers that included him playing in the 2013 Grand Final and earn life members of the club.

There was a chance for him to continue his AFL career interstate in 2018, but with his life now settled in Perth, he decided that even if it meant he wasn’t playing at the top level, his life was to stay in Western Australia.

That meant that he had to decide on a WAFL club and it was South Fremantle he sided with and he has gone on to have a solid start to the season, playing mostly off half-back for the Bulldogs with occasional stints in the midfield.

Leading into his first WA Day Foundation Derby having previously played in the WAFL with Claremont and Peel Thunder where he became a triple premiership player, Suban had been averaging been averaging 18.3 disposals and been in solid form.

But with South Fremantle missing captain Dylan Main and prolific midfielder Shane Hockey in Monday's clash with East Fremantle, Suban stood up and delivered a brilliant performance to help the Bulldogs to the 73-point win to make it six straight against the Sharks.

It was clearly Suban's best performance of 2018 with South Fremantle as he finished with 28 possessions, six inside-50 entries, five marks and five tackles.

Suban also kicked two goals and they were his first two majors of the season and as a result his first in South Fremantle colours.

M & J Chickens Players of the Round
Round 1 – Rhys Palmer (Swan Districts)
Round 2 – Fraser McInnes (East Perth)
Round 3 – Cody Leggett (Perth)
Round 4 – Shane Nelson (West Perth)
Round 5 – Patrick McGinnity (East Perth)
Round 6 – Marlion Pickett (South Fremantle)
Round 7 – Andrew Strijk (West Perth)
Round 8 – George Hampson (East Fremantle)
Round 9 – Nick Suban (South Fremantle)