WAFL Team of Round 6Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - 2:28 PM - by Chris Pike

IT was quite the thrilling and eventful Round 6 of the 2021 Optus WAFL Premiership Season and once again, selection a Team of the Week was no easy task with so many players finding such impressive form ahead of the State Game.

Saturday afternoon's full round of WAFL Round 6 fixtures provided the last chance for players to impress and push their case for selection in the WAFL State Team to take on South Australia in Adelaide this Saturday.

Not only that, but it was a chance for teams to make some statements as well and Subiaco did that by handing Claremont a first loss while West Perth came back for an important win, Peel Thunder and South Fremantle held on for wins, and East Fremantle had the big win of the afternoon.

The WAFL Round 6 results saw Subiaco defeat Claremont 13.16 (94) to 7.12 (54) at Leederville Oval, Peel Thunder beat Perth 14.8 (92) to 11.11 (77) at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park, and West Perth came from behind to defeat Swan Districts 9.8 (62) to 8.5 (53) at Joondalup's Provident Financial Oval.

South Fremantle held on to beat East Perth 10.4 (64) to 8.9 (57) at Fremantle Community Bank Oval while East Fremantle thrashed the West Coast Eagles 22.15 (147) to 3.4 (22).

Now it's onto the players who delivered standout performances:

PLAYER OF THE ROUND – TYRONE THORNE (PEEL THUNDER)
He came through the Peel Thunder colts an exciting future talent, and he's now fully realising that in a remarkable start to the 2021 season that continued on Saturday in the win on the road to Perth.

Having seen his older brother Calvin come through to play 27 league matches with the Thunder back in the premiership years of 2016 and 2017, Tyrone was a bright young talent coming through the colts at Peel.

He was seen as a potential draftee but when that didn’t eventuate he knuckled down to continue his development with the Thunder, and he got used to playing against men in the reserves and broke through for two league appearance back in 2019.

Thorne was then a regular fixture in the Thunder team in the shortened 2020 season and now to start 2021, he is playing like a man possessed and providing some outstanding football for a Peel outfit currently in the top five, and looking to return to finals action.

Whether he is playing on the ball and using his natural skills to rack up plenty of the football, or he's drifting forward to use his natural goal sense, he is equally effective and is in tremendous form for the Thunder over the opening five matches of the season.

So far this season, Thorne is averaging 25 possessions a game for the Thunder and has kicked nine goals, and he continued on his way in Saturday's win against Perth at Mineral Resources Park.

He finished the afternoon with 29 possessions, four marks and two goals in the 15-point victory that helped to book his place in the WAFL State Team to take on South Australia this Saturday in Adelaide.

Players of the Round
Round 1 – Josh Schoenfeld (East Fremantle)
Round 2 – Sam Fisher (Swan Districts)
Round 3 – Greg Clark (Subiaco)
Round 5 – Haiden Schloithe (South Fremantle)
Round 6 – Tyrone Thorne (Peel Thunder)

BACK POCKET – JACOB CONIGLIO (Perth)
It has been a bit of a slow build for his WAFL career to get up and running firstly at Swan Districts and now with Perth, but it's been worth the perseverance as he has started the 2021 season in career-best form with the Demons. Perth might have lost to Peel Thunder on Saturday but he was tremendous again in providing plenty of drive from defence with 26 disposals and eight marks.

FULL-BACK – NOAH STROM (South Fremantle)
He continues to be underrated but his coach Todd Curley continues to sing his praises as the best key defender in the competition, and it's hard to argue against him. He was again outstanding in Saturday's win against East Perth not only doing well keeping Eddie Simpson quiet, but his ability to win contests and then also leave his man to impact other contests was critical in the final result.

BACK POCKET – BRAD FULLGRABE (East Perth)
He has settled into a role as a key defender in the East Perth back-line and was given the big job on Saturday on South Fremantle captain for the day, and reigning Bernie Naylor Medallist and premiership player Mason Shaw. He did an outstanding job holding Shaw to just one goal and three kicks while having 16 possessions and eight marks himself.

HALF-BACK FLANK – MICHAEL BRAUT (Subiaco)
He has cemented himself now as an important and regular member of the Subiaco back-line, and continues to be a standout even if he had only 31 league games to his credit coming into the 2021 season. But he put together one of his very best performances in Saturday's big win against Claremont and ended up with 27 possessions and 12 marks.

CENTRE HALF-BACK – NOAH PEGORARO (West Perth)
He has quietly gone about cementing himself in the West Perth side and as a part of the back-line who is putting together some impressive performances both defensively, as an intercept marker and then someone who can set up play himself coming out of the defensive 50. He produced another 17 possessions, six marks and four tackles while pinch-hitting in the ruck as well in the win against Swan Districts.

HALF-BACK FLANK – NELSON WAITE (Swan Districts)
He came to Swan Districts from East Perth for opportunities, and now he's more than making the most of those as one of the best attacking defenders in the competition so far in the 2021 season. Despite Swans being overrun by the Falcons in the end on Saturday, he had another big performance made up of 26 possessions, five marks and four tackles.

WING – BEN HANCOCK (Peel Thunder)
He is a dual premiership player and 110-game player now with the Peel Thunder, but he might have never played better or more consistent football than the way he has started this season. Whether it's playing in defence, on the ball or out on the wing, he is racking up winning the ball and driving the Thunder forward. He did plenty of that in the victory against Perth with 32 possessions, eight marks, five tackles and three inside-50 entries.

CENTRE – FRANK ANDERSON (Swan Districts)
His fellow recruit from last year Sam Fisher might have attracted a lot of the headlines as a Sandover Medal winner, but what a pick up he continues to be for Swan Districts. He continues to be a prolific and consistent ball winner in the midfield for the black-and-whites and was tremendous again against West Perth with 29 possessions, nine tackles, five inside-50 entries and a goal.

WING – BLAINE BOEKHORST (East Fremantle)
The former Swan Districts and Carlton running machine had quite the day out in East Fremantle's monstrous win against the West Coast Eagles. Was virtually left to do as he pleased on the wide expanses of New Choice Homes Park, and ended the afternoon with 41 possessions, eight marks and six entries inside the forward 50.

HALF-FORWARD FLANK – MORGAN DAVIES (East Fremantle)
The former Claremont player has become an important and consistent member of the East Fremantle line-up whether coming off half-back, playing on the wing or spending time at half-forward. He was tremendous in the big win against the Eagles with 31 disposals, six marks, four inside 50s and two goals.

CENTRE HALF-FORWARD – LACHLAN DELAHUNTY (Subiaco)
He might have spent most of the game in the ruck, but there were plenty of ruckmen putting in big performances in Round 6 across the five matches so we wanted to fit in as many of them as we could, and the Sandover Medallist did still spend some time forward in Subiaco's impressive win against Claremont. He finished with 29 possessions, 12 hit outs, eight marks and a goal in a superb all-round performance as the best big man on the field.

HALF-FORWARD FLANK – HAIDEN SCHLOITHE (South Fremantle)
It seems a bold statement to say that he is in career-best form given he's a Sandover Medallist, triple fairest and best winner and premiership star during his 164-game WAFL career, but it could very well be the case the way he has started this season. He delivered another best on ground performance in the win against East Perth with 35 possessions, eight marks, six tackles and three goals.

FORWARD POCKET – NICK MARTIN (Subiaco)
The Subiaco forward-line has lost some superstars in recent years and was without Bernie Naylor Medallist Ben Sokol on Saturday, but he more than stepped up to help fill the void in what was likely the best performance of his young WAFL career to do date. He ended up kicking four goals from 20 possessions and eight marks to help Subiaco beat Claremont and move to top spot on the ladder.

FULL-FORWARD – JONATHON MARSH (East Fremantle)
He had a true day out in the East Fremantle forward-line where he was given plenty of space to use his power and ability to read to the ball to put himself in positions to be found. And then his powerful right boot meant he hit the scoreboard plenty and he ended up kicking seven goals from 24 possessions and 13 marks.

RUCK – COREY GAULT (Swan Districts)
This might well have been the most competitive week in terms of performances from ruckmen this season, but he gets the nod in the starting spot as he continues to show what an impressive big man he is both in the ruck contests themselves and then in what he provides Swan Districts around the ground. He finished up with 26 possessions, 36 hit outs, seven marks and six inside 50s.

RUCK ROVER – SHANE NELSON (West Perth)
The triple West Perth fairest and best winner and 173-game WAFL veteran remains one of the very best ball winners in the league, and he was instrumental in the Falcons' come from behind win against Swan Districts on Saturday. He produced 35 disposals, eight tackles, seven inside-50 entries and six marks.

ROVER – JOSH SCHOENFELD (East Fremantle)
What a dominant performance he delivered as part of a midfield that had a real day out for the Sharks against the West Coast Eagles. He showed what a star at this level he can be with 40 disposals, 13 tackles, six inside 50-entries, four marks and a goal.

INTERCHANGE – BLAKE SCHLENSOG (South Fremantle)
What a start to his WAFL career he's had with the reigning premiers settling in at centre half-back having crossed to South Fremantle from Geelong over summer. He was instrumental in the win against East Perth on Saturday once again with 28 disposals, 12 marks and three tackles.

INTERCHANGE – AIDAN LYNCH (East Perth)
He made the move a couple of years back from West Perth to arch-rivals East Perth to get a more regular spot in the midfield, and he continues to show how much he deserves the role he was craving. Had another huge performance against South Fremantle made up of 35 touches, eight marks, seven tackles and six inside 50s.

INTERCHANGE – WILL SCHOFIELD (Peel Thunder)
The West Coast Eagles AFL premiership player was a big signing for the Thunder this off-season and it continues to pay off. They needed some help in the ruck on Saturday against Perth and he put up his hand in fine style to provide Peel with plenty around the ground with his aerobic capacity. He finished the game with 19 possessions, 21 hit outs, six marks, four inside 50s and two tackles.

INTERCHANGE – LUKE STRNADICA (East Fremantle)
This was the most dominant ruck performance of his career and he was unlucky not to earn the No. 1 ruck spot, but he only got nudged out because of the lack of a real genuine ruck opponent he went up against. That's not his fault, though, and he had a huge game consisting of 24 possessions, 52 hit outs, 10 marks and a goal.
 

UNLUCKY BUNCH
There were plenty of players who delivered tremendous performances across Round 6 but couldn’t quite fit into the Team of the Round, including:

Subiaco's Jordan Faraone, Greg Clark, Harry Marsh, Leigh Kitchin and Koby Fullgrabe.

Claremont's Alex Manuel, Lachlan Martinis, Jye Bolton, Bailey Rogers, Declan Mountford, Rylie Morgan and Callan England.

Perth's Kristian Cary, Haydn Busher, Doulton Langlands, Brant College, Matthew Taylor.
Peel Thunder's Ryan Bennell, Jackson Merrett, Brett Bewley, Luke Valente, Michael Randall and Jarvis Pina.

West Perth's Rudy Riddoch, Connor West, Liam Tedesco, Aaron Black and Blake Wilhelm.

Swan Districts' Thomas Edwards, Jackson Beck, Josh Cipro and Chris Jones.

South Fremantle's Tom Blechynden, Chad Pearson, Jacob Dragovich, Jason Maskos, Brandon Donaldson and Kye Barker.

East Perth's Angus Scott, Nick Robertson, Stan Wright and Rohan Kerr.

East Fremantle's Tim Bockman, Hugh Dixon, Luke English, Jarrad Jansen and Tom Bennett.