WAFL Team of Round 7Wednesday, May 26, 2021 - 9:58 PM - by Chris Pike

THE 2021 Optus WAFL Premiership Season resumed on Saturday following the State Game break with a host of standout performances including six goals from Keegan Knott, another best afield effort from Greg Clark and Claremont's running brigade again on song.

The entire competition aside from the 23 players that took part in the WAFL State Team's game with the SANFL in Adelaide last Saturday was coming off the break, and the result was five fascinating match ups across Saturday afternoon.

The results saw Claremont regain top position on the ladder by bounding back from its first loss of the season beating East Fremantle at New Choice Homes Park.

West Perth made it consecutive wins for the first time this season with Keegan Knott and Tyler Keitel combining for nine of their goals in the 12.8 (80) to 7.10 (52) victory against Peel Thunder at Mandurah's David Grays Arena.

Perth shook off its injury woes to hold reigning premiers South Fremantle to one goal after quarter-time to win 11.8 (74) to 7.12 (54) at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park.

It was the battle of winless teams at Leederville Oval with East Perth too good for the West Coast Eagles winning 12.13 (85) to 3.10 (28).

Subiaco then held off Swan Districts in a tight and tense affair in the wet at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval, winning 8.10 (58) to 7.8 (50).

Following seven rounds of the WAFL season now, Claremont is back on top of the ladder just percentage ahead of Subiaco with both teams sitting on 5-1 records from the opening six matches.

South Fremantle (4-2) remains in third position despite their loss while Peel Thunder (3-3) is still in fourth and East Fremantle (3-3) stays fifth despite losing on Saturday as well.

Swan Districts (3-3) is just percentage outside of the top five with West Perth (3-3) and Perth (3-3) just behind as well while East Perth (1-5) and West Coast Eagles (0-6) are at the foot of the ladder.

PLAYER OF THE ROUND – KEEGAN KNOTT (West Perth)
Just a week after he took it on the chin that he missed the chance to play for the WAFL State Team, the West Perth small forward delivered the performance of his career to lead the Falcons to an impressive win in Mandurah over Peel Thunder.

Knott had kicked 12 goals in the opening five games for West Perth of the 2021 season which put him in the mix to play in last Saturday's State Game against South Australia in Adelaide. 

However, he was one of the last people told he want in the final squad with that conversation all the more awkward given the fact the state coach was also his West Perth coach Geoff Valentine.

He shook that off impressively and came out to deliver the best performance of his 68-game WAFL career on Saturday to lead West Perth to an important victory on the road in Mandurah to Peel Thunder.

Knott ended the game by kicking six goals from his 12 kicks, two tackles and two inside-50 entries which now sees him in front in the Bernie Naylor Medal with 18 goals from six games for the season ahead of spearheads Tyler Keitel and Mason Shaw who have kicked 17 apiece for West Perth and South Fremantle respectively.

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)
Round 7 – Keegan Knott (West Perth)

WAFL TEAM OF THE ROUND
BACK: Lachlan Martinis (C), Jordan Lockyer (S), Hayden Kennedy (S)
HALF-BACK: Andrew Fisher (P), Angus Litherland (S), Matthew Taylor (P)
CENTRE: Bailey Rogers (C), Greg Clark (S), Jackson Merrett (PT)
HALF-FORWARD: Dylan Main (SF), Jack Buller (C), Mitch Dobson (EP)
FORWARD: Keegan Knott (WP), Jesse Palmer (SD), Kristian Cary (P) 
RUCK: Lloyd Meek (PT), Shane Nelson (WP), Aidan Lynch (EP)
INTERCHANGE: Leith Kitchin (S), Rohan Kerr (EP), Jye Bolton (C), Luke English (EF) 

UNLUCKY BUNCH
There were plenty of players who delivered tremendous performances across Round 7 but couldn’t quite fit into the Team of the Round, including:

East Fremantle's Cameron Eardley, Blaine Boekhorst and Jonathon Marsh.

Claremont's Ryan Lim, Jack Lewsey, Declan Mountford, Callan England and Oliver Eastland.

Peel Thunder's Blair Bell.

West Perth's Tyler Keitel, Trent Manzone, Connor West, Aaron Black, Noah Pegoraro and Conal Lynch.

Perth's Corey Byrne and Brent Edmonds.

South Fremantle's Jacob Dragovich, Tom Blechynden and Blake Schlensog.

East Perth's Angus Scott, Shayne Hill and Nathan Blee.

Mark Hutchings from the West Coast Eagles Reserves team.

Sam Fisher, Jesse Turner, Frank Anderson and Corey Gault from Swan Districts.

Harry Marsh and Lachlan Delahunty from Subiaco.