Season Review 2022 – East FremantleWednesday, November 23, 2022 - 9:25 AM - by Chris Pike

EAST Fremantle will be disappointed with their preliminary final performance, but there was so much for the Sharks to be proud of for what they accomplished in 2022.

East Fremantle came into the season not having played in a finals series since 2014 and while the Sharks did finish 2021 with some momentum and appeared to put a strong squad together, the blows started before a ball was even bounced.

Luke Strnadica, Tom Joyce and Hugh Dixon were all signed by the West Coast Eagles before the season and then once it all got underway, the Sharks lost Brynn Teakle to Port Adelaide and then Sandover Medal fancy Blaine Boekhorst ruptured an ACL in Round 16.

The Sharks also only had Dillon O'Reilly for four games this season, Cody Leggett for nine, Josh Schoenfeld for 11 and Kyle Baskerville for 15 of the 21 they played.

To top it off, despite it eventuating that their home ground was available for the whole season with the redevelopment delayed, they didn’t play at home except one rescheduled game against West Coast and then two finals.

What all of that means is that East Fremantle did an incredible job to overcome all those obstacles that were adequate excuses to struggle to still finish second on the ladder, and to reach the preliminary final.

They will be disappointed to fall 56 points down in a home preliminary final against Claremont, but it shouldn’t diminish what they did. The credit has to start with coach Bill Monaghan who only enhanced his legacy as a master WAFL coach.

It was a terrific mix of experienced leaders and the next generation getting the job done for the Sharks. Captain Matthew Jupp was terrific as the key defender while Cam Eardley was outstanding as an intercept and rebound defender.

Jonathon Marsh was a powerhouse match-winner in attack kicking 39 goals with Luke English adding 24 while the midfield led by Milan Murdock, Baskerville, Tom Bennett, Ryan Lester-Smith and before his injury, Boekhorst, was outstanding.

As a result, Jupp, Eardley, Boekhorst and Marsh all found themselves named to the WAFL Team of the Year with Murdock, English and Lester-Smith banging on the door.

Moving forward and East Fremantle should be in an improved situation in terms of personnel with a lot of those players returning, but they've now set the bar high and without a home ground officially in 2023, it will be fascinating how things pan out.

FINISHING POSITION: Second, 13-5, 137.5%, Lost preliminary final

WHAT WENT WELL: The heart and spirit shown by East Fremantle right throughout the season was remarkable. They continued to suffer body blow after body blow in terms of personnel from before the season even started right throughout, but were never deterred. As a result they won 13 of 18 matches to mark their first finals appearance since 2014 and will be feeling a little disappointed they didn’t reach the grand final on the back of losing the preliminary final to Claremont. There was so much to like about what the Sharks did starting with the emergence of Milan Murdock as a midfield leader alongside Sandover Medallist Blaine Boekhorst, Kyle Baskerville, Tom Bennett and Jackson McDonald. Veterans Ryan Lester-Smith, Matthew Jupp and Cam Eardley were all outstanding, Jonathon Marsh was a match-winner in attack and Luke English was another to have a tremendous season. They did so much right to reach a preliminary final and should be proud of what they achieved given everything thrown in their way along the journey.

BEST PLAYER: Showing just what a quality season Blaine Boekhorst had was celebrated when he won the Sandover Medal for 2022 and he did that despite only playing 14 of the 18 matches, including missing the last three after rupturing his ACL in Round 16 against West Perth. However, in those 13 games he did play before getting hurt, he was simply brilliant for the Sharks through the middle with his dynamic ability to break out of congestion, and drive the ball long was game changing. He went on to average 28.4 possessions a game and kicked 14 goals to be named to Teams of the Week in eight of the 14 matches he played.

DEBUTANTS
Chris Walker – Round 1
Jackson McDonald – Round 3
Matt Williamson – Round 3
Enrique Aiken-Featherstone – Round 3
Sam Medland – Round 4
Sam Emery – Round 4
Jed Hagan – Round 15
Jack Cleaver – Round 16

MOST IMPROVED: Milan Murdock announced himself as one of the gutsiest in-and-under warriors in the competition in 2022. He ended up being named five times to the WAFL Team of the Year throughout the season, won the Lynn Medal and became a real favourite of the Sharks faithful because of ferocious competitive nature. He ended up averaging 26.6 possessions a game throughout the season including racking up 32 disposals on three occasions to truly be one of the best inside midfielders in the competition, and without question a future leader of the Sharks.

OUTLOOK FOR 2023: East Fremantle achieved so much in 2022 despite having enough thrown at them where they had plenty of excuses to put the season in the too hard basket. They will hope for more luck in 2023 and that could start with the availability of Dillon O'Reilly, Cody Leggett, Josh Schoenfeld, Hugh Dixon, Luke Strnadica and Tom Joyce for more than they were at least in 2022. The Sharks have also recruited Harry Marsh from Subiaco to join his brother so the signs are all there for East Fremantle to make another real run at ending that premiership drought in 2023.