Twomey sees similarities in Subiaco of 2014 to Swans of 2008Thursday, July 31, 2014 - 12:31 PM - by Chris Pike

WAYDE Twomey saw the potential in Subiaco for 2014 when he signed on to cross from Swan Districts to join the Lions and now he's looking forward to the challenge that awaits his new team this Saturday against East Perth in Medibank Stadium's top-of-the-table clash.

Twomey arrived at Swan Districts in 2008 from VFL club Werribee as part of a strong recruiting drive that led to a grand final appearance that year, preliminary final berth in 2009 and then the 2010 premiership.

He went on to play 98 games with Swan Districts in between a season in 2011 with Carlton in the AFL, but found himself needing a fresh start and challenge with his football at the end of 2013, and when Subiaco came calling he liked what he was hearing.

Much like that Swan Districts team of 2008, Subiaco had good building blocks in place and just needed to top up with recruits and that's what has happened with not only Twomey, but Lachlan Delahunty, Matt Boland, Frank Stockley, Shaun Hildebrandt, Kyal Horsley, Shane Yarran and Joel Latham coming on board.

All have made a big impact in a Subiaco team that sits in second position on the ladder and could be on top come Saturday night if the Lions are able to beat an East Perth team in the battle of the Medibank Stadium co-tenants who are currently on a 10-game winning streak.

"It's going to have a bit more to play for. I could say it's going to be just like any other game, but it's not," Twomey said.

"Top spot is up for grabs and given we could play them in finals, we want to give it a good show but I'm sure they will be coming out as hard as we will be."

East Perth might have won 10 straight matches by an average of almost 40 points, but Subiaco was the last team to beat the Royals back on Good Friday thanks to a dominant last quarter.

That was now three months ago, though, so Twomey can scarcely remember that win for Subiaco let alone take much out of it but he does feel the Lions are well equipped to handle East Perth's strong big men department.

Twomey is enjoying being part of that defensive unit alongside Darren Rumble, Daniel Leishman, Clancy Wheeler, Aaron Heal, Reece Blechynden and Charlie Le Fanu, with his job to be the general and to set up play with his sublime foot skills coming out of the back half.

"They have the big bodies and the bigger lads, and last time we played them they had McGovern, Sinclair and Lycett, but if you take McGovern and Lycett out, and it makes it a bit easier for us," he said.

"That was the hardest thing for us because they stretched us for talls, but we've got some talls back ourselves now and I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be a good contest and it's going to be nice to see where we are at compared to them."

"We have Leishy as well, and Heal and obviously Wheeler and Rumba so they are four big guys to play on their forwards. The beauty of Heal and Leishman is that they can go small as well so with those lads in our back-line it's good and we feel we can match up on any forward-line we come up against."

Twomey has been terrific for Subiaco before and after missing three matches through injury between Rounds 10 and 12, and is enjoying his first season with the Lions but has realised that it's going to take some time to form the chemistry that he had with his Swan Districts teammates.

"I'm enjoying it, but it's just a matter of getting everyone on the same page. With Swannies, I played with those boys for five years and it was easy to know what each other was doing, and that's what I want to develop here," he said.

"You want to get to a point where I know that if Wheeler takes a mark, he will roll left and I can spit out that way, and then Hildo knows what we will and that's the chemistry we need to build.

"It's slowly coming but sometimes we just need to get back to fundaments. Blechy and Charlie are still young and need to get their head around things, but as long we build that chemistry and know what each other will do, I can't see why it won't be a great back-line."

Twomey makes no secret that Subiaco's recruiting coming into 2014 was a big factor on him coming on board particularly given they were to be on top of the remaining George Hampson, Chris Phelan, Jason Bristow, Rumble, Wheeler, Rhys Waters, Chris Deluca, Andrew McDougall and Brett Mahoney.

"With all the recruits they got, it was a big drawing card for me when I had a look at it all. I remember when we played them last year I thought their young fellas weren’t too bad and they gave a good effort, but the recruits have added to that," Twomey said.

"With Boland, Delahunty, Yarran, myself, Stockley, Latham and Horsley coming back, they come towards the top end of the group and take over from the bottom end players from last year, and that's a big change to the group and a big reason for why we are going pretty well.

"It's similar to what we did in 2008 with Swans so you swap those top end players and bottom end players around and it can come good quite quickly. I saw that potential there when I signed on."

While Twomey's job has been down back, Subiaco's forward-line has been the most potent in the WAFL this season averaging 104 points a game with Boland, Waters, Yarran, Deluca, Hampson, Delahunty and recently McDougall all big reasons for that firepower in attack.

"We've got Rhysy Waters who is hard in and under, gets his free kicks and does everything asked of him while crumbing two or three every week. Then we've got Yaz and if he turns it on I feel sorry for any backman who has to go with him because he's a gun," he said.

"Bolo doesn’t get moved one-on-one and it's nice to have someone to lob the ball to who will always give a contest. Deluca then is one of the best defensive forwards in the comp and we have Delahunty still to come back and either Stockley or Dougs sitting forward.

"That's lethal when we get going and as long as the midfield has good chemistry with the forwards, it's a scary thought what we can actually do."

Having played 98 matches, playing in the 2010 premiership and winning a Simpson Medal in last year's State match win over Victoria while with Swan Districts, it was a big decision for Twomey to leave but one he feels comfortable with now.

"It was a big move and it has taken a little while to adjust, but I have now. It's more about sticking with that core group. We have to build that here now so that if we get 10 or more blokes staying in the team over the next two or three years, then we will have that chemistry you need," he said.

"It's been a good move for me and I've enjoyed it. It definitely was tough to leave Swans but it just came down to a few guys leaving who were my mates and a few others were weighing up whether to play on or not when I made my decision.

"I just thought to myself that it was time for a change. I was going a little bit sour myself and I didn’t want to start talking bad about the club or anything because I loved the place, but I just thought it was time for a fresh start."

While Twomey had previously played for Werribee when lining up for the Northern Bullants in the VFL in 2011, it was nothing like Round 7 of this season when he played for Subiaco against Swan Districts.

That was an experience Twomey didn’t enjoy and then he missed the return encounter through injury in Round 11, but he is confident he will handle it better next time around.

"I did play against Werribee when I was at the Northern Bullants but there weren't many people I knew from when I played there so it wasn’t that big of a thing," Twomey said.

"It was shocking playing against Swannies, it was tough. My head was in a weird space the first time. It's just hard. You have so many good mates out there still and you just don’t know how to react as such. It threw me back at first out there.

"Towards the end of the game I started to push it aside a bit and it just became football and I'm sure the next time we play them I'll be sweet. It was nice to get that first one out of the way as bad as it was."