McDonald's WAFL Premiership Season Wrap UpSaturday, September 5, 2015 - 4:03 PM - by Chris Pike

WITH the finals set to commence this Sunday, here is a look back at the 2015 home and away WAFL season with a focus on the standout teams, and players from the year to date heading into what looms as an exciting four-week finals series.

Subiaco (17-3) won the 2014 premiership in an upset grand final win over East Perth and now the Lions have gone on to dominate the 2015 season finishing four games clear on top of the ladder to earn the minor premiership, and earn the break in the first week of the finals awaiting their second semi-final opponents.

West Perth (13-7) ended up finishing in second position on the ladder to earn a home final and a finals doubles chance. The Falcons won only three of their first six games, but then consolidated themselves in the top five by winning six of the next seven, and then securing second position with a three-game winning run prior to losing their only game at HBF Arena to Claremont in Round 23.

Peel Thunder (13-7) had never seriously threatened to play finals in its history since joining the WAFL in 1997 but that has now all changed with the Mandurah-based club winning double-figure matches for the first time, and going on their only two ever four-game winning streaks along the way. Not only has Peel made finals for the first time, but has earned a double chance by finishing third.

East Perth (11-9) has played finals the last three years and made the last two grand finals, but it took until the last part of the season for the Royals to cement their spot in the finals again in 2015. East Perth won just six of its first 14 games, but then went on a five-game winning run and won six of its last seven games to lock in fourth position and a home elimination final against Claremont.

Claremont (10-10) roared home to narrowly miss finals in 2014 but the lessons weren’t learned in 2015 with another terribly slow start with the Tigers losing their first five games. However, they then won their next five, and it was a rollercoaster ride from there with it coming down to beating West Perth at HBF Arena last Saturday seeing the Tigers replace Swan Districts in fifth position.

Swan Districts (10-10) was well led by its experienced premiership stars blended with exciting youth coming through in 2015 and was on track to play finals until being forced to watch on with the bye in the final round as Claremont beat West Perth to knock them out of fifth position, and end their season prematurely.

South Fremantle (8-12) appeared a chance to play finals in 2015 for the first time since 2011 but a four-game losing run to end the season finished off those hopes in Todd Curley's first season in charge as coach. Now with Craig White, Kyle Hams and James Sellar confirmed to be departing and others weighing up their futures, 2016 could be make or break for Curley and the Bulldogs.

East Fremantle (6-14) came into the season expecting to again contend for a premiership having narrowly missed the grand final in 2014. The Sharks then won five of their first seven games in an impressive opening, but a disastrous 13-game losing streak including a change in coach ended their season and turned it from one with great promise, to a horror show.

Perth (2-18) showed some more competitiveness for the majority of 2015 under new coach Earl Spalding and you can see the building blocks being put in place for the future, but the end result was still just the two wins and reality suggests they are still a fair way off the pace of the other eight teams in the competition.

LEADING BALL WINNERS
Perth's Aidan Tropiano emerged as the leading possession winner in the WAFL this season as he dominated the on-ball division in a team that more often than not was behind on the scoreboard, so his efforts went against the tide with opposition teams having far more midfield depth.

Tropiano joined Perth midway through last year from East Fremantle and he had a superb 2015 with 650 possessions in 20 matches at an average of 32.5 disposals a game.

Sandover Medal fancy Ashton Hams had a terrific season with South Fremantle averaging 29.9 touches per game while reigning Sandover Medallist Aaron Black has had another superb year averaging 27.8 possessions.

Black's teammate and Sandover Medal runner-up Shane Nelson has averaged another 29.2 touches a game in 2015 as well while Subiaco's Sam Menegola played just 12 games but averaged 27 possessions.

Swan Districts' Aaron Elari averaged 28.6 disposals, Perth's Liam McKenna 27.5, Claremont's Corey Yeo 26.9, East Fremantle's Liam Anthony 26.5, Peel Thunder's Jacob Ballard 26.4, Claremont's Tom Ledger 26.2, East Fremantle's Rory O'Brien 26.0, Swan Districts' Adam Faulkner 25.4 and East Perth's Brendan Lee 25.3.

BERNIE NAYLOR MEDALLIST
Subiaco's Shane Yarran made a hot start to the 2015 season coming off being part of the premiership last year in his debut year in the WAFL and now he has kicked 46 goals to claim the Bernie Naylor Medal for 2015.

Yarran started 2015 on fire kicking 29 goals in his six matches including two hauls of six, and two of five. However, he managed just 17 more in his last 11 games, including just nine in his last seven but it was still enough for the Bernie Naylor Medal.

His total of 46 goals is the lowest since Dinney Coffey won the league's goal kicking with 36 goals back in 1923. Yarran's win with 46 goals is the only time since then that anyone has topped the goal kicking race with less than 50 goals for a season.

Yarran won the Bernie Naylor Medal with 46 goals ahead of Peel Thunder's Leroy Jetta (39 goals), Claremont's Jack Bradshaw (37), West Perth's Michael Lourey (36), Peel Thunder's Gerald Ugle (36), South Fremantle's Cory Dell'Olio (33), Claremont's Beau Maister (29), Subiaco's Kyle Halligan (28), Swan Districts' Matthew Jukes (28), South Fremantle's Josh Pullman (25) and Swan Districts' Matthew Rogers (25).

It says a lot about the dearth of key forwards at the moment that Lourey, Maister and Pullman are the only big men in the list of the top 11 goal kickers for the season, with the rest small to mid-size forwards.

TEAM OF THE YEAR
Each week a WAFL Team of the Week was picked at www.wafl.com.au and based on those 23 teams selected, here is the final 22 selected for the Team of the Year, with the number of times they were named in the Team of the Week in brackets.

BACK: Nathan Broad (SD, 7), Tallan Ames (SD, 8), Matthew Davies (C, 6)
HALF-BACK: Brock O'Brien (EF, 9), Nathan Blee (EP, 6), Andrew Strijk (WP, 7)
CENTRE: Aaron Black (WP, 9), Shane Nelson (WP, 9), Sam Menegola (S, 9)
HALF-FORWARD: Ryan Davis (SD, 9), Lachlan Delahunty (S, 5), Gerald Ugle (PT, 3)
FORWARD: Shane Yarran (S, 6), Michael Lourey (WP, 3), Leroy Jetta (PT, 4)
RUCK: Paul Johnson (9), Brendan Lee (EP, 10), Ashton Hams (SF, 8)
INTERCHANGE: Aidan Tropiano (P, 9), Chris Phelan (S, 9), Marcus Adams (WP, 5), Corey Yeo (C, 9)

Swan Districts captain Tallan Ames and East Perth's Nathan Blee were awarded the key defensive positions with West Perth's Marcus Adams not far behind and named to the bench. Peel Thunder's Tanner Smith, Swan Districts' Justin Simpson, South Fremantle's Blayne Wilson, Subiaco's Jordan Lockyer and Claremont's Brandon Franz were also not far away.

Swan Districts' Nathan Broad, Claremont's Matthew Davies, East Fremantle's Brock O'Brien and West Perth's Andrew Strijk's make up the rest of the back-line with South Fremantle's Kyle Hams, Perth's Jared Bell, South Fremantle's Adam Guglielmana, Subiaco's Charles Le Fanu and East Perth's Garry Moss in contention.

East Perth's Paul Johnson got the nod in the ruck ahead of West Perth's Chris Keunen while East Perth's Brendan Lee, South Fremantle's Ashton Hams and West Perth's Shane Nelson were named in the midfield, and West Perth's Aaron Black and Subiaco's Sam Menegola on the wings, and Perth's Aidan Tropiano, Subiaco's Chris Phelan and Claremont's Corey Yeo on the bench.

Claremont's Tom Ledger, East Perth's Steven Payne, Peel Thunder's Brendon Jones, Subiaco's Leigh Kitchin, Swan Districts' Matt Riggio, Claremont's Ryan Neates, Peel Thunder's Jacob Ballard, Perth's Liam McKenna and East Fremantle's Liam Anthony were also in the mix.

West Perth's Michael Lourey gets the nod at full-forward as the leading big man goal kicker while Subiaco's Lachlan Delahunty gets the gig at centre half-forward because of his versatility.

Swan Districts' Ryan Davis could have been in the midfield but is picked at half-forward with Subiaco's Shane Yarran, and Peel Thunder pair Gerald Ugle and Leroy Jetta the small forwards. 

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Round 1 – Blayne Wilson (South Fremantle)
Round 2 – Andrew Strijk (West Perth)
Round 3 – Brant Colledge (East Perth)
Round 4 – Jake Schleicher (East Fremantle)
Round 5 – Brett Robinson (Subiaco)
Round 6 – Kyle Anderson (East Perth)
Round 7 – Tallan Ames (Swan Districts)
Round 8 – Shane Yarran (Subiaco)
Round 9 – Nathan Broad (Swan Districts)
Round 10 – Bradd Dalziell (East Fremantle)
Round 11 – Sam Menegola (Subiaco)
Round 12 – Adam Guglielmana (South Fremantle)
Round 13 – Marcus Adams (West Perth)
Round 14 – Corey Yeo (Claremont)
Round 15 – Michael Wood (Subiaco)
Round 16 – Matthew Davies (Claremont)
Round 17 – Garry Moss (East Perth)
Round 18 – Brendon Jones (Peel Thunder)
Round 19 – Sam Menegola (Subiaco)
Round 20 – Paul Johnson (East Perth)
Round 21 – Brendan Lee (East Perth)
Round 22 – Matt Fowler (West Perth)
Round 23 – Leroy Jetta (Peel Thunder)