Subiaco's three midfielders deliver premiership gloryThursday, September 25, 2014 - 5:20 PM - by Chris Pike

SUBIACO relied almost exclusively on three main midfielders throughout the 2014 season and that faith in Jason Bristow, Chris Phelan and Kyal Horsley was rewarded in Sunday's grand final win over East Perth with the trio far and away the three best players on the ground.

Second-year coach Jarrad Schofield relied on Bristow, Phelan and Horsley for the bulk of the work in the midfield right throughout the season while opposition teams regularly rotated between six and 10 players through their on-ball division.

While the Subiaco trio did get some chop outs, they were relied on to get the job done and were big reasons why the Lions ended up finishing in second position on the ladder, and then making the grand final.

Throughout the season, Bristow, Phelan and Horsley averaged 70.1 possessions a game between them so they had been delivering, but they had a big ask in the grand final up against East Perth's Brendan Lee, Craig Wulff, Patrick McGinnity, Brant Colledge, Sam Butler and Dom Sheed.

The rain fell on Sunday morning and without question that was going to suit the hard-at-it contested ball winning midfielders of Subiaco, but it didn’t exactly disadvantage the majority of the East Perth on-ballers either so the job was still there to be done.

However, in the finish Bristow, Phelan and Horsley put in simply stunning grand final performances to lead Subiaco to a 16-point victory, its first premiership since 2008, fifth since 2003, seventh since 1985 and 12th overall in the WAFL.

The midfield trio were far and away the best three players in the grand final and any one of them would have been a deserving Simpson Medal winner but that honour went to Bristow who polled the most votes just ahead of Horsley while Phelan received three from all three judges.

The Subiaco midfield threesome finished with remarkable numbers combining for 79 possessions, 15 tackles, 20 clearances, 15 inside-50 entries and four goals.

However, it wasn’t the sheer numbers that sum up their dominance with the trio providing outstanding leadership, kicking goals at crucial moments, winning contested ball after contested ball at ground level, and simply showing the way for their teammates to win the premiership.

Bristow had been a tremendous servant for Subiaco since arriving in 2008 from Melbourne but he was simply outstanding in the grand final victory as the best player on the ground and deservedly winning the Simpson Medal.

After missing the 2008 premiership and then playing in the losing grand finals of 2009 and 2011, the flag is a just reward for the service provided over 114 matches.

The 30-year-old had already proved himself able to deliver in a grand final as Subiaco's best player in the 2011 loss to Claremont, but this time he led his team to a flag with his physical approach perfectly suited to the wet conditions.

He finished with 27 possessions, seven clearances, five tackles, four inside-50 entries and a crucial goal just before three quarter-time.

"Words can't describe how it feels, it hasn’t sunk in yet and I'm just shell shocked that we've been able to win a premiership," Bristow said.

"That really hurt us when they touched us up in the first final but from the second the siren went in that game I just wanted another crack at them. We just got there last week, it was hard work, and the way the guys fought in the grand final was unbelievable.

"We haven’t had too many wet days this year so it was hard to get any gauge on which team would be suited to the conditions, but I reckon when it's wet it is just whoever wants it more and our endeavour was there, and can't be questioned and we got the choccies."

Phelan had to bide his time early in his career managing just 26 games in his first three seasons behind experienced, premiership campaigners but by 2011 he had cemented his place in the team as an attacking half-back.

He played that role well before an injury-interrupted 2012 season and then Schofield arrived as coach and saw something in him to suggest he could become a big-bodied midfielder.

That has since worked a treat and Phelan had an outstanding 2014 season averaging 21 disposals a game and then delivering a grand final that saw him very nearly win a Simpson Medal as best afield if it wasn’t for the efforts of fellow on-baller Bristow.

He kicked two crucial and classy goals either side of half-time to go with 25 possessions, eight clearances, five inside-50 entries and four tackles.

Horsley was already a premiership player back in 2008, but the 27-year-old became a premiership captain and led his team tremendously right through the season, and then in the grand final.

He missed the preliminary final win over East Fremantle with injury, but showed no signs of any concerns in the grand final and played so well that he was only narrowly behind Jason Bristow in best afield honours and in the mix with Chris Phelan as second best on ground.

Horsley played in the 2008 premiership and then in the losing grand finals of 2009 and 2011 before spending the last two years in the AFL with the Gold Coast Suns, but returned to Subiaco desperate to lead the Lions back to glory.

And he delivered in the grand final with 27 possessions, six tackles, six inside-50 entries, five clearances and a goal.

"I can't explain how I feel, the euphoria is unbelievable," Horsley said.

"We know they are a quality outfit with some quality people and quality players, and then Cadwallader's goal was unbelievable to do in the fourth quarter so we knew they would keep coming, but we thought if we didn’t go into our shell we'd be able to get the result.

"I left the club for two years and came back with 40 new blokes at the club but the culture set in place is still exactly the same. They are all good fellas and to share this moment with those boys is something special."