Wilhelm hoping acts of three follow FalconsFriday, September 21, 2018 - 7:43 PM - by Chris Pike

HAVING already handed South Fremantle a third straight preliminary final loss and seeing his former basketball team lose a third consecutive decider, Blake Wilhelm is hoping West Perth can now inflict a third successive Grand Final defeat on Subiaco this Sunday.

Wilhelm has turned himself into a star performer now having settled into a role at half-back for West Perth to the point where he was named to the WAFL Team of the Year in 2018 with 69 games under his belt, but he came so close to dedicating himself to basketball.

He spent his latter teenage years playing basketball at the Wanneroo (now Joondalup) Wolves and he still has a strong connection to that club through former teammates and his housemate is Wolfpack State Basketball League guard Reece Maxwell.

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Not to mention the Wolves are now based at the new basketball stadium at HBF Arena alongside West Perth's Joondalup base, but he is more than happy with the decision he made five years ago now to dedicate himself to football.

Wilhelm arrived at West Perth in 2013 going on to play eight reserves games that year and another 19 in 2014 as he was developing nicely as a running defender with good athleticism and kicking skills.

He broke through for seven league games in 2015 and now for three years straight he has continued to get better season on season, and game on game, to the point where he is a reliably strong contributor for the Falcons with his run and carry off half-back.

The 26-year-old is a major reason why West Perth is in Sunday's Grand Final against Subiaco as well and is one of the Falcons most important players as they attempt to upset the Lions and stop them from going through 2018 undefeated.

In a quirk, West Perth could hand Subiaco a third straight Grand Final loss on top of the Wolfpack losing a third straight SBL Grand Final earlier this month to the Perry Lakes Hawks and just a week after the Falcons gave the Bulldogs a third consecutive preliminary final defeat.

"I did not know all those stats and I only found out after we beat South that it was just their third prelim in a row. I hadn’t even thought of that but I did know the Wolves one because my housemate has played in all of those," Wilhelm said.

"It could be a good omen but at the end of the day Subiaco is an incredibly good side who have won 19 in-a-row. 

"They've been up there for a long period of time so we just have to really bring our best on the day, like we did last week, and keep that flowing through to having a red-hot crack.

"I think it will be a really tight contest throughout the whole game and it's one that everyone should come down to have a look at and support both sides."

Going back to the pre-season leading into 2013 when Wilhelm decided he would fully throw himself into football and give it a real crack and leave basketball behind, he just felt like he might have a better chance of succeeding with the oval ball.

Now even though his housemate still plays with the Wolves and the basketball arena is right next door to the football oval, he's still comfortable that football was the right call.

"I'm really happy with my footy at the moment and all the mates I've made at West Perth. I see all the Wolfpack guys all the time and we joke about me coming back, but that Wolves team is really solid and incredibly stacked so I probably wouldn’t be able to get in there even if I wanted to," he said.

"I'd always tossed it around in my head because I love both sports and I still love to play basketball whenever I can with mates and I keep in close touch with the Wolfpack guys too and Reece Maxwell is my housemate. 

"It was a tough decision because I loved playing with those guys but I was on the fringe in the basketball team and then playing WAFL was something I wanted to play as a kid as well. 

"The opportunity came up to give it a crack and I thought it was something that wouldn’t happen for everyone so I wanted to throw my all at it and see what happens. 

"If it didn’t work out I was thinking I might be able to come back to basketball, but luckily West Perth took a chance on me and it has seemed to work out really well so far heading into a Grand Final this weekend."

Initially when Wilhelm decided to return to football, it did take some time to get used to it again and to find where he was best suited to play. But that running defender role soon became clear that is what best suited him.

"It definitely did take some time coming back. I had played juniors pretty much up to 14s and then I missed a fair chunk playing basketball and then I came back through the Amateurs to play colts and played a couple of seasons at Wanneroo," Wilhelm said.

"I was playing a bit back there as well as inside-mid as I was trying to find my feet again after missing a big chunk of my development years. Then when I came down to West Perth it was a feeling out process and I didn’t really know where I was going to play. 

"But I felt I might be best suited to down back with my run and athleticism, and I've just kind of stuck there. I felt it was a good spot for me so I've thrown my all at it and it's something that has worked out well."

Not only has Wilhelm become one of the best players at half-back to set up play for his team in the WAFL, but the added benefits it has provided West Perth in 2018 is a significant reason why they have now reached a Grand Final.

West Perth started the season with Andrew Strijk in his familiar role across half-back with Kody Manning playing forward but at any moment those two could swap and do so effectively.

But when Manning suffered a season-ending knee injury it threatened to throw everything in the Falcons team out of whack. That was unless Wilhelm was able to help play the role that Strijk usually would with his run and drive off half-back.

He has been able to do that superbly and that has allowed Strijk to go on and play deep forward alongside Tyler Keitel and the pair did that so successfully that they ended up sharing the Bernie Naylor Medal.

Wilhelm has fitted seamlessly into Strijk's role at half-back and the benefits for the Falcons have been enormous.

"It was obviously really sad to see Kody go down early because he is a massive part of our team. He's been around the club still but it's obviously a tough time for him leading into the Grand Final, but he's excited for us to play in it as well," Wilhelm said. 

"And nobody can really be like Strijky and be like him and as good as he has been for so long down back. But to go forward and win a Bernie with Tyler as well is pretty amazing. He just seems to be getting better with age and he's a bit of a freak of nature.

"But I guess I've been able to improve my game a little bit which has meant he's been able to stay forward and be damaging. With him and Jay down there now they are two dangerous experienced forwards with Keegan down there being the pest he is too.

"That's meant our forward-line has been really strong but from a back-line perspective we are all quite young back there and I'm one of the elder ones there now.

"But the way we work is having that team focus on united defence and one week one of us might rack up some big numbers then the next it will be someone else. That's just the way we play and we've got that united focus."

To think West Perth would be playing in a Grand Final after losing to South Fremantle in the qualifying final by 98 points took a fair bit of belief, but the Falcons hit back well to beat Claremont to give themselves another crack at the Bulldogs.

Wilhelm is still coming to terms with preparing to play in his first Grand Final, but doesn’t want to think too much about what winning will feel like just yet.

"I'm over the moon to be in a Grand Final to be honest, it's a crazy feeling. This week has just been one where we all talk about wanting it to happen a fair bit," he said. 

"We try to keep grounded but we are just excited as a whole playing group and me personally as well to make it to such a big time of the year. It's new and exciting as well being at Optus so it's two new experiences in one being at that stadium and in a league Grand Final for the first time.

"You do think about what winning might be like, but then you try to reign yourself back in. it's only human to think how good it would be like to win and celebrate with your mates, but you can't get too far ahead of yourselves. 

"There's a long way to go to get to that stage, if you get there at all. You keep yourself grounded during the week but also being excited and having those nerves in the back of your mind too because it means it means something really big to you."

The way West Perth played last week to win was inspiring to advance to the Grand Final and Wilhelm has no doubt if they bring that same effort and intensity for four quarters that a premiership isn’t without question on Sunday.

"It was really just a week of resilience because we had that 98-point loss two weeks before and then we came out against Claremont with something to prove and we showed that we were playing better," Wilhelm said.

"We probably didn’t hit that full game style like we did against South the week after but we were heading towards that and then against South we knew we had to prove something. It had been nine losses in-a-row to them and they are a quality team. 

"They were always going to come out firing but we knew from the start that we had to put the pressure on and hope that would be good enough to keep them on the back foot the whole game. We were able to maintain it which is something we've tried to do all year so it was really pleasing."

The fact that West Perth's players have continued to perform despite the financial difficulties the club has faced in recent months and the club's very existence even being in jeopardy for sometime makes it even more special for them to be in a Grand Final now.

"We have three values that we've stuck to for the whole year which is being professional, relentless and united. When this stuff all came out it obviously wasn’t great, but it's all being worked through now with the right people in charge which is good," Wilhelm said.

"When it came out it was a bit of a shock to most of us and we just tried to keep that separate from our footy, and the club has been really good about letting us control what we can on the field and they will try to sort the other things out. 

"We've had a number of chats throughout the year about just controlling the way we play and give it our best, and that's what we have focused. The playing group potentially became even more united just because we have something to prove that this won't define us and we'll define our own path."