WAFL Team of the Week – Round 7Wednesday, June 8, 2022 - 1:57 PM - by Chris Pike

IT turned out to be quite the fascinating WA Day long weekend of WAFL action capped off with two terrific traditional Monday derby battles with over 10,000 people watching on and spots were hotly sought after again in the Team of the Week.

The Round 7 action began on Saturday with all eyes on Nat Fyfe's return for his first game at any level of 2022, but it ended up a cracking contest at Leederville Oval with Peel Thunder defeating Subiaco 11.8 (74) to 10.8 (68).

Also on Saturday afternoon, Claremont defeated Perth 16.6 (102) to 11.2 (68) at Revo Fitness Stadium and Swan Districts overran the West Coast Eagles to win 11.11 (77) to 8.9 (57) at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval.

That all led into the WA Day Derby battles with West Perth beating East Perth 9.8 (62) to 7.6 (48) at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium while South Fremantle downed East Fremantle 11.15 (81) to 12.7 (79) at Fremantle Community Bank Oval. 

Among the standout performers across the five games of Round 6 included defenders Aaron Heal, Angus Dewar, Haydn Matthews, Lachlan Martinis, Michael Sinclair, Kasey Nicholas, Tony Notte, Tobe Watson, Noah Pegoraro, Mark Hamilton, Zac Guadagnin, Blake Wilhelm, Corey Watts, Noah Strom, Josh Cuneo, Toby McQuilkin, Matthew Jupp and Lachlan Bailey.

Meanwhile, up forward among those to standout were Caleb Datson, Jimmy Miller, Keegan Knott, Jesse Palmer, Kristian Cary, Sam Perkusich, Timm House, Max Spyvee, Josh Treacy, Guy Barnes, Ryan Borchet and Jordan Faraone.

There were several impressive ruck performances from Lachlan Delahunty, Oliver Eastland, Luke Strnadica, Scott Jones, Hamish Free and Jeremy Goddard.

There were once more plenty of on-ballers putting up their hands for the Team of the Week including Milan Murdock, Jackson McDonald, Jarrad Jansen, Tom Blechynden, Jake Florenca, Haiden Schloithe, Hamish Brayshaw, Stan Wright, Aaron Black, Shane Nelson, Aidan Lynch, Josh Browne, Sam Fisher, Josh Cipro, Jye Bolton and Blair Bell.

Then you had the hard running and damaging brigade including Blaine Boekhorst, Brendon Ah Chee, Angus Scott, Trent Manzone, Luke Meadows, Dom Sheed, Jesse Turner, Aidan Clarke, Bailey Rogers, Ben Edwards, Ryan Lim and Stefan Giro.

That all adds up to it being a tough job to pick the WAFL Team of the Week for Round 7.

PLAYER OF THE ROUND – OLIVER EASTLAND (CLAREMONT)
Claremont had done well to get through the early parts of the season without a genuine recognised ruckman, but Oliver Eastland's return on Saturday showed just how invaluable he could be now for the rest of 2022.

Even Eastland himself might be a little undersized as a genuine ruckman standing at 196cm and he did spend the early parts of his WAFL career as a key forward who pinch hit in the ruck, but over the last couple of years he has grabbed that No. 1 ruck spot with the Tigers.

Along the way with his combination of a good leap to compete in the ruck contests and then good agility to get around the ground and help out, Eastland has locked himself in as one of the best ruckmen going around in the WAFL.

Claremont did well to make do without him over the opening six games of the season with Kieran Gowdie, Max Minear, Steve Miller and Jack Buller all combining to hold down the fort, but he was a welcome return against Perth on Saturday.

In the 61st game of his WAFL career, the 24-year-old put together an impressive performance to help give his gun on-ballers led by Jye Bolton, Bailey Rogers and Ben Edwards a good look at it.

Eastland finished the afternoon with Claremont beating Perth by 34 points at Revo Fitness Stadium with 15 disposals, 40 hit outs, six tackles, three marks and three entries inside the forward 50.

Given it was only his first game of the season, he will look to build on that further and he will be a welcome boost to a Claremont team already having put together a good first half of the season having won five of seven matches.

Players of the Round
Round 1 – Jake Florenca (South Fremantle)
Round 2 – Ryan Lim (Claremont)
Round 3 – Luke Meadows (West Perth)
Round 4 – Jesse Turner (Swan Districts)
Round 5 – Leigh Kitchin (Subiaco)
Round 6 – Blair Bell (Peel Thunder)
Round 7 – Oliver Eastland (Claremont)

WAFL TEAM OF THE WEEK – ROUND 7
BACK: Noah Strom (SF), Matthew Jupp (EF), Mark Hamilton (WP)
HALF-BACK: Haydn Matthews (PT), Noah Pegoraro (WP), Toby McQuilkin (SF)
CENTRE: Jesse Turner (SD), Jye Bolton (C), Blaine Boekhorst (EF)
HALF-FORWARD: Bailey Rogers (C), Josh Treacy (PT), Sam Perkusich (P) 
FORWARD: Ryan Borchet (S), Timm House (C), Jesse Palmer (SD)
RUCK: Oliver Eastland (C), Aaron Black (WP), Hamish Brayshaw (EP)
INTERCHANGE: Milan Murdock (EF), Tom Blechynden (SF), Blair Bell (PT), Trent Manzone (WP)

BACK POCKET – NOAH STROM (South Fremantle)
One of the highlights of the WA Day Fremantle Derby was the battle with him at full-back on East Fremantle spearhead Jonathon Marsh. While Marsh still had his moments kicking a couple of goals, he did as well as anyone could expect on him coming out of the goal square for the Sharks. He also had eight touches and eight tackles himself.

FULL-BACK – MATTHEW JUPP (East Fremantle)
The East Fremantle captain was again terrific as he did all he could to try and will the Sharks to what would have been a drought breaking derby win. That didn’t quite happen but through no fault of his as he split the duties against Mason Shaw and Jimmy Miller with Lachlan Bailey. Also finished with 10 touches and six marks with him now two games away from earning East Fremantle life membership.

BACK POCKET – MARK HAMILTON (West Perth)
The West Perth back-line was mighty impressive to hold East Perth to seven goals from 48 inside-50 entries in the WA Day win and he was a key part in keeping the Royals quiet. Shut down key target Eddie Simpson while also having 18 disposals and nine marks himself for the Falcons in the 103rd game of his WAFL career.

HALF-BACK FLANK – HAYDN MATTHEWS (Peel Thunder)
He is an experienced player to return to Peel Thunder in 2022 after two years away and the 25-year-old has slotted back into his familiar role at half-back impressively. Having knocked on the door for a Team of the Week slot several times already, he broke through in Round 7 after 24 possessions, eight marks and five tackles in Saturday's win against Subiaco.

CENTRE HALF-BACK – NOAH PEGORARO (West Perth)
Could very well be turning into the premier centre half-back in the competition. Is fresh off an impressive performance in the WAFL State Team and continued his good form in the WA Day derby win against East Perth proving tough to pass for the Royals with his intercept marking ability. Finished the game with 18 touches and nine marks for the Falcons.

HALF-BACK FLANK – TOBY MCQUILKIN (South Fremantle)
Having established himself in the South Fremantle back-line late last season and then being the Bulldogs' Player of the Finals, he has continued on with his upward trajectory in 2022. Did well limiting Alex Montauban to two kicks in Monday's derby while having 20 touches and three tackles himself.

WING – JESSE TURNER (Swan Districts)
The leadership role he has continues to be agreeing with him so far in 2022 as he continues to be in the best patch of form of his career to start the season in the midfield for Swan Districts. In the 108th game of his career, he produced 33 touches, nine marks, three inside 50s and two tackles in the come from behind win against West Coast.

CENTRE – JYE BOLTON (Claremont)
Already a dual Sandover Medallist and four-time Simpson Medal winner, clearly the 115-game Claremont superstar is spurred on by that premiership push with Claremont and is continuing his outstanding form so far in 2022. Produced another 38 touches, 12 marks and eight inside 50s in Saturday's win against Perth.

WING – BLAINE BOEKHORST (East Fremantle)
What a tremendous vein of form the hard running and damaging star is in for the Sharks. Splitting his time between playing on the ball and then getting out to show his trademark dash and long kicking, he was superb again for East Fremantle in Monday's narrow derby loss. He delivered 33 disposals, nine inside 50s, five marks, four tackles and two goals.

HALF-FORWARD FLANK – BAILEY ROGERS (Claremont)
The reigning Sandover Medal winner continued his tremendous start to the 2022 season spending most of his time in the middle for Claremont but also showing his quality to get forward and finish in front of goal. Now a 103-game veteran, he delivered 27 touches, six marks, six inside 50s, five tackles and two goals against Perth.

CENTRE HALF-FORWARD – JOSH TREACY (Peel Thunder)
The Fremantle Dockers key forward assured that he will remain in contention for AFL selection as he continues his impressive development in the WAFL with Peel. It wasn’t just the fact that he kicked three goals from 18 kicks and 14 marks in the win against Subiaco, but he showed he was up for the big occasion in a match-winning performance.

HALF-FORWARD FLANK – SAM PERKUSICH (Perth)
Likely delivered the best performance of his 15-game career on Saturday despite Perth's eventual loss to Claremont. In just his second appearance of the season, he did all he could to keep the Demons in the contest both through the middle and getting forward to finish with two goals along with 19 possessions and five tackles.

FORWARD POCKET – RYAN BORCHET (Subiaco)
For the second time in the last three weeks he kicked four goals to be emerging as one of the more dangerous key forwards in the competition. Subiaco might have lost the game narrowly to Peel Thunder, but he did all he could with his four goals from 10 kicks and six marks for the Lions in his 41st career appearance.

FULL-FORWARD – TIMM HOUSE (Claremont)
He has settled nicely into being the main spearhead up front for Claremont since joining the Tigers midway through last season. There's plenty of smaller talent around him, but it's up to him to provide that tall target and he's doing it well. His three goals in quick succession in the last quarter on Saturday was instrumental in securing the win against Perth.

FORWARD POCKET – JESSE PALMER (Swan Districts)
The former Port Adelaide forward played his best game of the 2022 season on Saturday to be instrumental in Swan Districts' win against the West Coast Eagles. He ended the afternoon kicking four goals from 11 kicks and nine marks in an energetic display for the black-and-whites at Bassendean.

RUCK ROVER – AARON BLACK (West Perth)
The West Perth co-captain is showing no signs that he is anything but still right at the peak of his powers. In the 226th game of his remarkable career with the Falcons, he was instrumental in a fifth straight derby win on WA Day with his 33 possessions, 11 marks, five inside-50 entries and three tackles.

ROVER – HAMISH BRAYSHAW (East Perth)
He might have lost plenty of the teammates he'd ideally like to be sharing the East Perth midfield with and while the loss to West Perth on Monday wasn’t ideal, he did all he could to give the Royals a chance. He finished the afternoon at Joondalup with 37 touches, 10 marks, 10 inside 50s and four tackles in the 49th game of his WAFL career.

INTERCHANGE – MILAN MURDOCK (East Fremantle)
Is East Fremantle's leading ball winner now this season and stepped up impressively on Monday in the WA Day Derby in the absence of Kyle Baskerville and Luke English from the Sharks' midfield. Put together another tremendous performance to finish with 32 possessions, 10 tackles and a goal.

INTERCHANGE – TOM BLECHYNDEN (South Fremantle)
Has turned into himself into one of South Fremantle's key on-ballers and he produced one of the best performances of his 34-game career in the thrilling two-point derby win on WA Day. He put together a performance made up of 27 possessions, seven tackles and seven entries inside the forward 50.

INTERCHANGE – BLAIR BELL (Peel Thunder)
With Peel missing a host of key midfielders against Subiaco on Saturday, he moved into the middle for the majority of the afternoon and produced a strong showing to help significantly in the narrow win. He finished with 22 possessions, eight tackles and four inside-50 entries in the 98th game of his WAFL career.

INTERCHANGE – TRENT MANZONE (West Perth)
What a career he has put together since joining West Perth from Queensland a decade ago now. He is on the verge of earning life membership having now put together 146 games with the Falcons and he was outstanding with his hard running and ball use in Monday's derby win. He finished the afternoon with 29 touches, 10 marks and six entries inside the forward 50.
 

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:

Subiaco's Jordan Faraone, Stefan Giro, Lachlan Delahunty, Liam Hickmott, Aaron Heal and Angus Dewar.

Peel Thunder's Guy Barnes, Nat Fyfe, James Ewing and Bodie Kitchingman.

Claremont's Max Spyvee, Callan England, Ben Edwards, Ryan Lim and Lachlan Martinis.

Perth's Kristian Cary, Brayden Ainsworth, Michael Sinclair and Kasey Nicholas.

Swan Districts' Aidan Clarke, Sam Fisher, Josh Cipro, Tobe Watson, Jarvis Pina, Mitch Bain and Tony Notte.

West Coast's Dom Sheed, Josh Browne, Ambrose Ryan, Harry Creasey, Luke Strnadica and Jayden Johnstone.

West Perth's' Keegan Knott, Shane Nelson, Luke Meadows, Blake Wilhelm, Zac Guadagnin and Aidan Lynch.

East Perth's Stan Wright, Angus Scott, Corey Watts and Scott Jones.

South Fremantle's Caleb Datson, Jimmy Miller, Brendon Ah Chee, Jake Florenca, Haiden Schloithe, Hamish Free and Josh Cuneo.

East Fremantle's Lachlan Bailey, Cam Eardley, Jackson McDonald and Jarrad Jansen.