WAFL 2023 Season Preview – East FremantleSunday, April 2, 2023 - 8:40 AM - by Chris Pike

IN many ways it was remarkable what East Fremantle achieved in the 2022 WAFL season with everything they had working against them, but now the Sharks will be out to build on that with ending a significant premiership drought the ultimate goal.

Not only did East Fremantle make a return to finals action in 2022, but the Sharks were only half a game off what would have been a first minor premiership since 1998, and then only just running out of gas, and manpower, in the preliminary final saw their season end against Claremont.

However, it was a season where the Sharks overcame an enormous amount and it should always be a season they are tremendously proud of for not only playing finals for the first time since 2014, but for getting all the way to a preliminary final.

In a lot of ways, given what East Fremantle went through in terms of personnel leaving for the AFL or getting injured, they had no right to do as well as they did in 2022 but it showed tremendous heart and a masterful coaching performance by the recently re-signed Bill Monaghan.

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 Medallist Blaine Boekhorst ruptured an ACL in Round 16.

The Sharks also only had Dillon O'Reilly for four games, 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.

Now coming into 2023 and at least on a personnel front, things are looking vastly improved for East Fremantle even if powerhouse forward Jonathon Marsh is suspended for the opening two rounds.

However, the Sharks welcome back Joyce and Dixon, have signed hard running Victorian midfielder Fraser Turner and have also lured back Harry Marsh from Subiaco to join his brother.

With the natural improvement to come from others back from injury and Monaghan likes the way their squad has come together for 2023.

"We've been able to add Harry Marsh and Tom Joyce to our midfield along with Fraser Turner albeit he is more of an outside mid. He's also a 187 or 188cm ex-Richmond player on top of what we already had," Monaghan told SEN WA.

"Whilst Jono Marsh is out for a little while and Cody Leggett is unlikely to play Round 1, they are two guys who can also go through the middle as well in a pinch hitting type way probably more like a Jake Stringer type. 

"We were soundly beaten in the two finals we lost last year through the middle and some of that was personnel, some of it might have been coaching and some of it might have been not rising to the occasion. It's something we've worked on hard throughout the summer."

The Sharks had been excited at the prospect of what Joyce could do in their midfield in 2022 upon returning home from the Brisbane Lions. However, that never eventuated with him picked up by the Eagles and then an ankle injury ended his season there before it ever started.

However, he is now ready to go for the start of this season which sees East Fremantle taking on Peel Thunder in Mandurah on Good Friday, and Monaghan is looking forward to having him as a key part of his on-ball brigade.

"Tom's an exceptionally talented player around the ball. His hands and his clearance work will be as good as anybody else in the WAFL, but he just hasn’t been able to play football for three or four years," he said. 

"It's been really disappointing for him and I wouldn’t say he's had an uninterrupted pre-season, but it's been a pretty good pre-season and he's covering the ground pretty well. 

"It's just about getting the balance between what his strengths are and can he used to release some runners like a Baskerville, Harry Marsh or Schoenfeld on the outside. He's not overly big but he's exceptionally good with his hands on the inside."

Jonathon Marsh showed what a pure match-winner he was throughout 2022 for the Sharks, but his temper continues to be a stumbling block and he'll miss the first two games of 2023 through suspension as a result.

While frustrating certainly for him and his coach, Monaghan is looking forward to him making up for lost time from Round 3 onwards.

"Jono got a suspension from last year which ruled him out of Round 1 and then he had the same sort of brain fade in a practice match so he misses Round 2 too," Monaghan said.

"He's available for selection Round 3 and obviously that will be dependent on how we're travelling and how he trains over the three or four weeks he has off. 

"He's as dynamic and explosive as any player in the competition but disappointingly for him, he needs to learn to pull his head in a little bit and not do what he's done on three or four occasions now. As soon as he's ready and up and firing, we look forward to having him back in the side."

Another reason why Monaghan is looking forward to welcoming back Marsh into the forward-line this year is because he won't need to be the sole target like he was in the back end of the 2022 season.

With the potential of having Dixon, O'Reilly and Leggett alongside him, Monaghan is confident kicking goals isn’t going to be an issue for the Sharks in 2023.

"Hopefully with Hugh Dixon back and we can get close to a full season out of Dillon O'Reilly then that will help Jono too," Monaghan said.

"I think late last season when our personnel up forward ran out, he was the man in the forward-line and basically the only man so hopefully now as a third or fourth tall he'll be a really difficult match up. 

"Clubs are going to have to decide between O'Reilly, Dixon, Marsh and Leggett, and which ones the priority and who gets the third or fourth defender. We can hope they could be the one to hurt the opposition when they're all up and running."