TABtouch Team of Round 10Wednesday, June 19, 2019 - 7:24 PM - by Chris Pike

THERE were just the two matches in Round 10 of the WAFL and two of the league's best-credentialed veterans delivered match-winning performances for the teams with South Fremantle's Nick Suban and Claremont's Kane Mitchell the weekend's standouts.

With East Fremantle, East Perth, Perth, Subiaco, the West Coast Eagles and West Perth all sitting out Round 10 of the WAFL having played last weekend, the four teams that had the Round 9 bye all took part on Saturday and Sunday afternoons this week.

The round got underway on Saturday afternoon at Mandurah's David Grays Arena with South Fremantle beating Peel Thunder 10.14 (74) to 11.5 (71) on the back of kicking the last two goals, including the winner from former Thunder premiership player Nick Suban.

Then on Sunday afternoon, Claremont worked on top of Swan Districts at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval with Kane Mitchell leading the way with a best on ground display as the Tigers ran out 11.9 (75) to 6.5 (41) winners.

With South Fremantle winning its seventh straight game to join Subiaco on an 8-1 record, it sets the scene nicely for this Saturday's top-of-the-table clash between the Bulldogs and Lions at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

Claremont (6-3) improved to second position on the back of two straight wins with Perth (6-3) and West Perth (4-5) rounding out the top five.

Peel Thunder (3-6), East Fremantle (3-6), East Perth (3-6), Swan Districts (2-7) and the West Coast Eagles (2-7) are the teams in the bottom five looking to stay in the finals race.

PLAYER OF THE ROUND – NICK SUBAN
With the players they lost over summer and then following the win in the WA Day Foundation Derby, South Fremantle needed a senior player to lead from the front on Saturday in Mandurah to keep their winning form going.

There's been a huge turnover in senior players at South Fremantle since last year's preliminary final loss to West Perth with Ashton Hams, Cory Dell'Olio, Ryan Cook, Ben Saunders, Jarrod Parry and Shane Hockey departing, and now Matthew Parker and Marlion Pickett are in the AFL system.

Then with Haiden Schloithe, Shaun Bewick and Brandon Donaldson sidelined following the WA Day Foundation Derby win over East Fremantle, it was a South Fremantle team crying out for a leader to stand up if they were to make it seven straight wins.

They then had to dig deep late in the game with Peel appearing to hold a match-winning advantage. But Zac Strom then kicked a goal to bring South Fremantle within a kick and then it was Nick Suban that delivered the knockout blow with a tremendous goal to give the Bulldogs the lead, and the win.

It capped off a best on ground display from the former Fremantle veteran of 156 AFL games who also played in two premierships at Peel Thunder in the WAFL in 2016 and 2017 having previously played in a flag while playing at Claremont as well.

But he stood up admirably on Saturday afternoon for the Bulldogs to finish the game with 26 possessions, 11 marks and then the winning goal to show just how valuable a player he remains at WAFL level in his second season at South Fremantle.

Players of the Round
Round 1 – Kyal Horsley (Subiaco)
Round 2 –  Anton Hamp (Claremont)
Round 3 – Haiden Schloithe (South Fremantle)
Round 4 – Brant Colledge (Perth)
Round 5 – Tony Notte (Swan Districts)
Round 6 – Rohan Kerr (East Perth)
Round 7 – Mitch Peirce (West Perth)
Round 8 – Clint Jones (Perth)
Round 9 – Lachlan Delahunty (Subiaco)
Round 10 – Nick Suban (South Fremantle)

TABtouch TEAM OF THE ROUND
BACK: Ryan Nyhuis (PT), Tony Notte (SD), Tobe Watson (PT)
HALF-BACK: Zac Dent (SF), Anton Hamp (C), Tom Ledger (C)
CENTRE: Kane Mitchell (C), Lachie Schultz (PT), Brendan Verrier (SF)
HALF-FORWARD: Bailey Banfield (PT), Zac Strom (SF), Steve Verrier (SF)
FORWARD: Travis Colyer (PT), Mason Shaw (SF), Tom Lee (C)
RUCK: Jeremy Goddard (C), Nick Suban (SF), George Hampson (SD) 
INTERCHANGE: Ryan Lim (C), Tristen Raynor (SD), Declan Mountford (C), Lloyd Meek (PT)

UNLUCKY BUNCH
There were plenty of players who delivered tremendous performances across Round 10 but couldn’t quite fit into the Team of the Round, including:

Peel Thunder's Haydn Matthews and Cam McCarthy.

South Fremantle's Blayne Wilson.

Swan Districts' Steven Payne, Jesse Turner and Mitch Howlett.

Claremont's Jye Bolton and Bailey Rogers.