WAFL 2023 Season Preview – PerthWednesday, March 29, 2023 - 11:25 AM - by Chris Pike

THE challenge of rejuvenating the Perth Football Club has brought Peter German back to the WAFL as a coach and while he's in it for the long haul, he feels the quickest way of turning things around is for the Demons to play an attacking, exciting brand of football.

Subiaco has been the dominant WAFL club this century and it all began for the Lions when German took over as coach back in 2003. 

Over the next four years, German had Subiaco as the competition's benchmark with their professionalism and it delivered two premierships, another Grand Final appearance and they were minor premiers in all four of his seasons at the helm.

That four-year stint at Subiaco saw German back into the AFL system and he has since worked at Fremantle, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs, and coached in the VFL at the Casey Scorpions, Williamstown and Coburg.

More recently, German spent time both working at AFL Cairns and then coaching Corowa-Rutherglen in the Ovens and Murray Football League, but he always had a pull to return to the WAFL, and the Perth job proved too much of an eye-opening challenge to refuse.

German is now gearing up for his WAFL coaching return and it's only fitting his first game in charge of the Demons will be on Easter Saturday evening against Subiaco at Mineral Resources Park.

While German is fully aware of the task at hand and knows it's going to be a work in progress to ultimately have the Demons competing for a WAFL premiership again, he certainly isn’t going to be going the dour, defensive route from the outset.

"We'll take the game on. I think there's only one way that we can really quickly enhance and develop our players, and that's to play a game where we'll take it on," German told 91.3 SportFM.

"At times if we get it right, it will look good and will help us score but if we don’t get it right, then we could possibly be scored against. 

"Our game style will always continue to be a work in progress but from where we're at as a football club, we are better off trying to encourage our players to really take the game on rather than trying to play a dour, defensive numbers behind the ball type of game. 

"When we get it right, we'll play an exciting brand of football and that's probably pretty much how I've coached for the last 30 years to take the game on. I think that's going to help develop our players a lot quicker playing that style of football."

Naturally anytime a new coach arrives especially one with the credentials of German, there is going to be significant change and for the Demons, that has come both in terms of personnel and with a change in expectations and standards.

Perth has lost significant experience with the retirements of Fraser McInnes, Chris Mayne, Andrew Fisher, Haydn Busher and even last year's gun recruit Brayden Ainsworth. 

Throw in the loss of last year's WAFL Team of the Year defender Kasey Nicholas along with fellow defender Cody Giblett and it's going to be a decidedly new look Demons line-up.

While there are some recruits the Demons have signed including Trent Manzone from West Perth and Charlie Thompson from the VFL, for the most part German's focus is on building the culture first.

"Just with the newness of our whole group, we've tried to get them thinking about their football in a different way, probably committing to their football to maybe what they've done before and really working hard with their weights and strength work," German said.

"When I say the newness, it's probably how the players have looked at their football in past years and how they've approached it. Now we get to see it on the stage. 

"The players have really embraced those standards and the work ethic, and demands. Hopefully they will start to see some sort of rewards for that in the first half of the season."

As for what lured German to the Perth coaching job and back to Western Australia and the WAFL, at the end of the day it was the challenge of trying to get the Demons back to the level that he never quite understood why they weren’t at.

Perth has played one final since 1997 and not won a premiership since 1977, but continue to have a strong supporter base and with the history of the club, it just feels like such an untapped resource waiting to be unleashed.

That's exactly how German felt and why he's so excited about the challenge ahead.

"It was probably the challenge of the job that attracted me to it more than anything," he said.

"Just knowing the club has a great history that goes back to the 60s and 70s, but the fact that it's always intrigued me why Perth is always just languishing and never been able to play consistently in finals and things like that. 

"Talking to a lot of the Subi boys, they were of the same opinion that it was a club that probably just needed some guidance and someone to get in there, roll the sleeves up and do some hard work. 

"I think that's what we've done so far, but we know that it's not going to be a quick fix. It's going to be something that's going to take two or three years to get to ultimately where we want to get to. 

"I've always enjoyed WAFL football, I think it's a great standard and a really professional competition. There's a lot of respect for it in the state and around Australia so to me, it was about getting back involved in a really professional competition and getting my teeth into it."

It just wouldn’t make sense if German didn’t call on some old friends to help him at Perth either and he will have Subiaco premiership legends Darren Rumble, Matt Priddis, Brad Smith and Allistair Pickett as coaching support.

But it was important for German to keep some Perth flavour on his coaching staff too including the man who became caretaker to close out 2022, Steve Armstrong.

"The first thing I wanted to do was to still make sure that we had Perth people involved in the club and it wasn’t me bringing in a bunch of outsiders," German said.

"Stevie Armstrong has been really good for me and he's got a myriad sort of roles. He's helping with development and leadership as well so he's really important and I really enjoy working with him. 

"I've got Darren Rumble who has come with me as the defensive coach and it's only on a part-time basis, but Matt Priddis has come down to do a bit of work and so have Brad Smith and Alli Pickett. 

"Those guys have just been able to impart some of their knowledge and I think the players have really embraced that those guys have come down having been great players in their own right. All our development coaches as well are important and so is Trevor Williams so they've all done a power of work over summer."

German now can't wait for his first game coaching the Demons on Saturday April 8 at Mineral Resources Park, and it's just a bit of an added bonus it happens to be against Subiaco.

"It really wouldn't have mattered who we played but I did say to Luke Sanders that he must have manufactured that, but the reality was there was no other option with all the other games that had to fit into Round 1," German said.

"To me obviously I do have a great fondness and respect for Subiaco and have a lot of good friends there, but my focus is purely on our club getting our players right. 

"We'll still be a work in progress for the first half of the year with our game plan, structures and team rules, but to play Subi in Round 1 is great. Especially to play it at home, under lights and it will be a great spectacle for our supporters to come see us as a really re-energised football team."