At home Sokol looks for Lions to find consistencyThursday, May 2, 2024 - 8:57 AM - by Chris Pike

SUBIACO spearhead Ben Sokol is so settled with the home he's made at the Lions that it's where he will finish his WAFL career, but in terms of the 2024 season, their win over Peel Thunder showed the way they aim to be playing.

The Lions suffered two finals losses to Peel last year after finishing the home and away season in second spot which saw them just fall short of a Grand Final appearance losing in the preliminary final.

Now as one of the senior players at Subiaco having played 152 WAFL games and kicked 337 goals, Sokol and his teammates learned some hard lessons from those two losses to the Thunder that saw their 2023 campaign end earlier than they hoped.

They turned that into their best performance of the season so far as they handed Peel its only loss to date of 2024 back in Round 2, which set the blue print for how Subiaco hopes to play throughout this season.

Using the most motivation from last year

That motivation after losing last year's preliminary final was enough to drive on Sokol and the rest of his Subiaco teammates through the pre-season not only to do the physical work in preparation, but to also make sure they learned from those lessons.

Being more daring and attacking moving the ball was a big focus as was doing a better job of shutting down Peel's, and any other teams, running game.

That worked in that win against Peel in Round 2 but Sokol would now like to see Subiaco replicate that performance more often after an up and down first four also narrowly beating West Perth, but losing to Perth and Claremont.

"We were really disappointed with how we finished off last year. Obviously making a prelim was great, but you want the ultimate goal of the premiership and we fell short of that," Sokol said.

"But I think the way we played that prelim, we played into their hands by continually going down the line and they just ended up beating us all over the ground.

"It was disappointing and we took a lot of things out of that and I think we did the things we wanted to do better a few weeks ago when we beat Peel.

"We reviewed that game last year pretty heavily and we changed how we played them, and it paid dividends and that's how we want to try and play every week.

"It was a hard pill to swallow last year to lose like that, but we took great confidence of making the prelim and took a lot out of it at how we wanted to play better.

"Then we've got some new recruits this year, some young boys who are ready to take the next step and I think the club is in a really good place to take that next step."

Calling Subiaco home now

In the bigger picture, it was a big call that Sokol made all the way back at the end of 2015 to leave South Fremantle where he'd played all through the juniors, won colts and reserves premierships, and that was just around the corner from home for him.

However, at that time it was a tough Bulldogs forward-line to break into and when Jarrad Schofield called and wanted him on board at the Lions, it was impossible to say no to.

It's fair to say it's worked out well. Sokol has now kicked 330 goals in 141 games with Subiaco, he's won two Bernie Naylor Medals as the league's leading goalkicker, was a key member of premiership teams in 2018, 2019 and 2021, and represented the WAFL in four State games.

That's why Subiaco will always be his football home until the day he finishes playing, which the 29-year-old hopes is still quite some time away.

"I definitely didn’t leave South on bad terms and have a lot of good friendships there, but it's amazing how quickly time goes," he said.

"It's my ninth year now at Subi and it feels like it has only been a couple of years. Subi is definitely my football home even though I still only leave around the corner from South Fremantle.

"I'll finish my career at Subi for sure and I've built a lot of great relationships there, and we've had plenty of success.

"I think it's definitely made me who I am today with the success and friendships, and everything you learn. They've been fantastic for me starting Jarrad Schofield who gave me an opportunity when I was 20, 21 when he didn’t have to.

"I was pretty raw still then and I always wanted to play, and thought I could play consistent league footy, but getting that opportunity at Subiaco when I was quite young definitely did help me. Subiaco is definitely my home now."

Summing up the season so far

Subiaco is now four games into its 2024 season leading into the Round 5 bye and now ahead of taking on East Fremantle this coming Saturday at Sullivan Logistics Stadium. Sokol feels they know they want to play, it's just a matter of doing it more regularly.

The win against Peel showed the blueprint of the way the Lions want to be playing in 2024 and now coming off the bye and with some key players filtering back into the line-up, Sokol is looking forward to Subiaco building some consistency leading into the next break for the State Game.

"I think the Perth game was one where we knew they were going to come out pretty aggressive with the good recruits they had over the pre-season and then obviously with it being the Dakota (Baldwin-Wright) tribute game," Sokol said.

"So we knew they would come out firing but it was disappointing from our point of view that they came out a bit more desperate than us. But then in the Peel it was more our brand of footy where we were really desperate and played the type of footy we wanted to.

"Round 1 was a bit disappointing, but then Round 2 was a lot more pleasing and then even though we got the win against West Perth, I think we were quite lucky with them not kicking straight and we felt a bit flat.

"It's still been a decent start even though our best footy hasn’t been evident yet, but we are building towards it."

How the forward-line is coming together

While the Subiaco forward-line might still be a work in progress early in 2024, Sokol is enjoying having fellow targets Jack Mayo and Ryan Borchet there alongside him, and a good blend of emerging, younger and smaller players around them.

"I think just by adding some different faces down there is helping with guys like Richie Bartlett, we've got Wil Hickmott spending more time there and (Ky) Franceschini," he said.

"So it's just great adding some youth as part of our forward group to get the energy up. And with Jack, he's always had a lot of potential and he's just been unlucky with injuries but he's one of my closest mates at the club and it's great to see him playing great footy.

"He's got all the attributes, he's quick and strong, he's smart and has had a great start to the year. It's no surprise, though, because of how much work he puts in outside the club and at the club so I'm stoked to see him playing as well as he is. I'm sure he'll end up having a really good season.

"It's similar with Borch who has had some tough injuries to deal with as well, but he's got that much potential so between those two, if they can stay healthy I think we'll be pretty good in that forward-line and I might be that third forward option now behind those guys."

Welcoming Greg Clark back as skipper

While Subiaco did lose some key players coming into 2024 most notable reigning fairest and best winner, and dominant ruckman, Zac Clarke, and then Stefan Giro to rupturing his ACL in pre-season, Sokol is especially happy to welcome back premiership teammate, and new captain Greg Clark.

"Even just starting off-field, he's been amazing for the group. Then to be named captain it's obviously well-deserved and his leadership has always been amazing even without being captain," Sokol said.

"He's another one who is one of my best mates at the club and he does such a great job getting everyone involved, and the younger guys all feel like they can come talk to him.

"He's been welcomed back to the club like he never left and he's a fantastic person on top of that. Then on the field you know what you get with Clarky, he's a ball magnet and hard at it, and he has been fantastic especially after we lost Stef to an ACL.

"To have Clarky and Foley step straight into the midfield has been massive for us to have their bigger bodies in there."

Setting up life away from football

Sokol is also well settled off the field now working as a teacher and hoping to continue to progress his career with a master's degree next year while enjoying living near the water in Fremantle, and combining it all with being one of the stars of the WAFL.

"I've been at Emmanuel Catholic College in Success for three years now and I'm currently the head of Year 8 there, which has been really good," Sokol said.

"It keeps me busy and the school has a football academy too so I'm involved with that, and it's a passion of mine to help students and young athletes achieve their goals.

"I'm hoping to also do Masters last year and progress down the line a bit more, but it's been great and I love the school lifestyle.

"I also love the chance to get out on the boat whenever I can and I'm an outdoor type of person, so the school lifestyle seems to suit me and works well alongside football too."