Boland revelling in chance offered by finals-bound SubiacoFriday, August 8, 2014 - 4:20 AM - by Chris Pike

Matt Boland couldn’t find a regular VFL spot and hadn’t played finals for some time when he made the decision to come west to join Subiaco in 2014, and the full-forward has been a driving force behind the Lions now seemingly being guaranteed of a top two finish.

The 23-year-old full-forward had spent time with both Sandringham and Collingwood in the VFL, but due to those club's AFL alignments he could never quite earn a regular berth.

That meant that when Subiaco came calling for him to join the WAFL, he was only too happy to take up the challenge and he has delivered in spades so far kicking 47 goals in his 16 matches this season in a Lions team currently only 0.02 of a per cent behind the league-leading East Perth on the ladder.

Boland had heard nothing but good things about Subiaco from some former teammates, was ready for a fresh challenge and was happy to take up coach Jarrad Schofield's offer.

"I was at a point where I'd played a few years in the VFL and it's a bit of a tougher system over there as far as I was a top up player at Sandringham and Collingwood, and it's pretty hard for opportunities," Boland said on WAFL World on 91.3 SportFM.

"You are pretty much banking on AFL-listed guys getting injured so I was starved of opportunity, but got a call from Schoey and he said he wanted me to come over to be our full-forward, that I'd play each week and everyone would have the same goal without worrying about being on an AFL list.

"I actually had played with a couple of guys who had won premierships at Subiaco in the mid-2000s so I had heard good things, and I was pretty excited to come over and play for Subi."

Boland is far from the only recruit who has helped Subiaco rise up the ladder this year as well.

He basically came as a package deal along with Lachlan Delahunty while Frank Stockley came over from West Perth, Wayde Twomey joined from Swan Districts, Shane Yarran was plucked from virtually nowhere and then both Shaun Hildebrandt and Kyal Horsley returned.

All of that helped sell Boland that Subiaco could be successful again as early as 2014.

"Those guys like Twomey, Hilda and Hors hadn’t signed yet, but speaking to Schoey and Luke Sanders, they were really confident in getting those guys," he said.

"When me and Lachie Delahunty came over, they went through the list they had and what they were getting, and we were pretty excited by the combination of the recruits and list they already had. We thought they would be a good chance of being successful and we were pretty excited by it."

Boland is enjoying everything about playing with Subiaco and in the WAFL so far, particularly being part of a team that won its first five matches of the season and has now won its last five to now be close to having a top two finish locked away.

"I'm loving it. It's obviously good that the Lions have got off to a pretty good start to the year and now we are looking pretty good coming into the finals, and getting a few players back. That's made it a lot more enjoyable and I'm enjoying everything about it," Boland said.

"When you win the first five games of the season, sometimes it's probably hard not to get a little bit ahead of yourself, so we might have got a little bit complacent just after that. We've got rid of that now and we are on track to have a bit of a tilt at the finals."

Boland has been a star this season for Subiaco at full-forward kicking 47 goals but perhaps Subiaco's greatest strength has been its potency in attack with so many options.

With George Hampson (32 goals), Shane Yarran (31), Rhys Waters (29) and Chris Deluca (22) all proving themselves as goalkickers as well, there's no way an opposition defence can focus on one Subiaco forward.

"It's a great position to be in as full-forward in our forward line. A lot of the time the emphasis from all the backs goes on one person and usually the full-forward, but we've got Yarran who takes hangers and kicks goals from the boundary, and does all sorts of crazy stuff," he said.

"George Hampson is the same, Rhys Waters is popping up with a few bags of five, Chris Deluca doesn’t stop laying tackles and he's probably the best defensive forward in the comp.

"Then we have Delahunty to come back just before the finals so it's a pretty good forward-line and they are a good bunch of blokes to play with. We are having a bit of fun down there."

Another big reason for Subiaco's five-match winning streak at present has been the return of Andrew McDougall both as another marking option in attack and in the ruck.

Then with Delahunty and Stockley soon to return from injury, there are plenty of reasons for Boland and Subiaco to be feeling good abouts the Lions' chances come September.

"I actually hadn’t really seen him (McDougall) play until this year, but I had heard good things and he's come back without doing too much training or anything, he's pretty much dominated since coming back into the team," Boland said.

"When he's in the ruck, he's like having another midfielder in there because he gets his 20 or 25 possessions and hits his target.

"It's great to have him and Stockley because Stockley has been in good form as well so when Delahunty gets back it frees him up to play somewhere else when we have two dominant big men already."