Season Review 2022 – PerthFriday, November 11, 2022 - 11:55 AM - by Chris Pike

THE 2022 season wasn’t what anyone at Perth hoped and a lot of that can be put down to a horror injury run, but it marks the beginning of a new era under one of this century's most successful and well-respected coaches.

Perth had high hopes of putting itself back in the finals hunt in 2022 on the back of some strong recruiting and with the hope of having a better run with injury after another terrible run in 2021.

However, right from the outset the signs weren’t good and at no stage during the season did the Demons come close to fielding what they would have considered their strongest 22.

That included Conor McPartland playing just four matches for the season, Josh Smith four, Michael Sinclair eight, Brayden Ainsworth seven, Haydn Busher 11 and Chris Mayne 10 while not a single player managed to play all 18 games.

Matt Taylor, Austin Davis, Regan Clarke, Andrew Fisher and Kasey Nicholas all came the closest by playing 17 of the 18 with Corey Byrne ending up winning the Butcher Medal as fairest and best after averaging 23.1 possessions in his 15 matches.

Nicholas also had a breakout season as a key defender and was named in the WAFL Team of the Year for the first time in his 57-game career.

While Perth did win in Round 1 by two points against West Coast, there would be only two more wins to come including another against the Eagles in Round 18 that saw them avoid the wooden spoon. The other win was against the finals bound Peel Thunder by a point.

While it was a disappointing season with Perth finishing with a 3-15 record and with Garry Moss relieved of his coaching duties with two rounds remaining, it is the beginning of a new era following the appointment of Peter German.

The former 185-game on-baller at North Melbourne created a legacy to start this century coaching Subiaco to premierships in 2004 and 2006. He has since gone on to various coaching roles in the AFL, VFL and in country Victoria, but now returns to the WAFL to try and turn Perth around.

He won't have retiring veterans Fraser McInnes, Fisher and Busher at his disposal, but if history tells us anything it's that German won't accept anything but full commitment and effort, and only players willing to give their all for the Demons cause will be along for the ride with him.

FINISHING POSITION: Ninth, 3-15, 63.0%

WHAT WENT WELL: Things stared off well enough with two wins and a tight loss to Swan Districts in the opening four rounds despite a Round 2 loss by 81 points to East Perth. However, it wouldn’t be until Round 18 when the Demons won again for the third and last time. Scoring was an issue, so was stopping their opponents but that doesn’t mean there were signs of encouragement from individuals, both new and experienced. Kasey Nicholas was a standout down back to be named to the WAFL Team of the Year while Matt Taylor was rock solid again. Corey Byrne was tremendous through the middle and Austin Davis, Regan Clarke, Kristian Cary, Jack Avery, Sam Stubbs, Jye Clark, Brodie Gray, Harry Quartermaine, Connor Sing and Christian Martin all showed enough to suggest they can be par of Perth's rise moving forward.

BEST PLAYER: Corey Byrne would be the obvious pick here having won his second straight Butcher Medal on the back of averaging 23.1 touches a game and Matt Taylor is another deserving of consideration, but Kasey Nicholas fought valiantly and consistently against the odds all season long as a key defender. The coaching staff might not necessarily agree with a surprisingly low finish in fairest and best voting, but he was terrific in 2022. It has been a bit of a journey for the 26-year-old to consolidate himself as a regular league player at Perth since making his debut back in 2017. He has played 44 reserves games along the way and only managed 18 league appearances in those first three seasons, but has consolidated himself the last three years and stepped up even further in 2022. It wasn’t an easy back-line to be part of given they were often under siege with opposition forays forward, but he stood strong impressively as a defender and intercept marker while doing his best to set up play out of the back-line. Was clearly the best season of his 57-game career.

DEBUTANTS
Chapman Jones – Round 1
Kane Johnston – Round 6
Harry Quartermaine – Round 8
Damian Sinclair – Round 14
Regan Hill – Round 14
Liam Dellamarta – Round 14
Daniel Hill – Round 14
Baxter Philip – Round 18

MOST IMPROVED: It's tough to be the most improved player if you hadn’t yet made your league debut and were fresh out of the colts, but Harry Quartermaine showed that he could be the answer to a problem Perth has had virtually all this century. Finding a regular goalkicker and spearhead in attack has proven impossible for the Demons, but the 20-year-old looks to have a bright future based on what he showed in his 11 games to close out the season. He kicked 17 goals in those appearances including four in Round and then he had eight attempts for three in Round 18. He should only be able to build on it moving forward after getting his first taste of league football.

OUTLOOK FOR 2023: It goes without saying that the outlook should be better than a three-win season for the Demons, but it won't be easy despite the pedigree of their coach, Peter German, coming in. There's no guarantee of Michael Sinclair's return while Fraser McInnes, Andrew Fisher and Haydn Busher have confirmed their retirements. However, getting other key players back healthy for a full season, bringing in some recruits and having someone with the record of success and demanding nothing but full commitment and professional in charge like German, then there should be significant improvement both in terms of performance and results in 2023.