The WAFC has received the report from the Public Accounts Committee which was established to review the use of State funds and whether the WAFC is meeting its obligations under the State Funding Agreement. The WAFC will now thoroughly review and consider the findings and recommendations included in the 110-page document. The WAFC has fully participated throughout the inquiry process and will now give priority to the content of the report tabled today. Read More ...

IT was no coincidence that Corey Gault went back to being a permanent ruckman in 2020 and he was back to outstanding form for Swan Districts culminating in him even claiming the Swan Medal ahead of the Sandover Medallist. Gault initially made his return to Swan Districts after his time in the AFL system at Collingwood with a dominant season in the ruck back in 2017.  He cemented himself as the best ruckman in the competition ending up being named to the WAFL Team of the Year and then claiming the Swan Medal as the fairest and best winner at Swan Districts. Read More ...

SHANE Nelson took another step towards legendary status at the West Perth Football Club with the remarkably consistent and outstanding midfielder rewarded with a fourth Breckler Medal award for his outstanding 2020 season. Nelson's impact and tremendously consistent and outstanding football for West Perth might be somewhat getting underestimated from the outside world now, but from inside the Falcons once again everything he produced in 2020 was fully appreciated. Despite the shortened quarters during the eight-game season in 2020, Nelson was his usual outstanding self going on to average 25.4 possessions a game made up of three games with 30 or more disposals, and eight with 23 or more touches along the way. Read More ...

On Friday 30th October, WA All Abilities Football and WA Football presented an AFL Inclusion clinic at Associated & Catholic Colleges of WA Inclusive Sports Day Carnival.  The Inclusive Sports Day Carnival is to provide sporting activities that cater to all levels of student ability. The carnival is specifically targeted at students whose disabilities may hinder their inclusion in school-based or inter-school sporting events. There were Read More ...

SOMETIMES who you beat for a fairest and best award highlights just what an achievement it is and for Alec Waterman to come out on top of a star-studded leaderboard at Claremont in 2020 shows just how outstanding a season he had. Waterman came into the 2020 season with some confidence that things were beginning to turn around for him after he got to play some encouraging football again in 2019 after his career was almost taken away from him. The son of dual West Coast Eagles premiership player Chris, Waterman was an exciting young talent and was picked up under the father-son rule by the Eagles but then he was struck down by a debilitating case of glandular fever. Read More ...

HE might have spent time at two AFL clubs and now played 39 WAFL matches with East Fremantle, but a fairest and best award has eluded Jarrad Jansen since 2008 until now – after being named the Lynn Medallist for 2020. Jansen's last fairest and best triumph came back in 2008 when he was playing in the under-13s at East Fremantle district powerhouse Bull Creek-Leeming, and while he would have preferred more than one win in 2020, claiming East Fremantle's fairest and best award is a source of pride. Since that last individual accolade 12 years ago, Jansen rose through the ranks at East Fremantle before getting drafted to Geelong in 2013. He spent two years at the Cats before getting traded to the Brisbane Lions where he did play eight AFL matches over the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Read More ...

The 2020 Sandover Medal was a night to remember and plenty of awards were given for outstanding performances and contributions to the game.  The Prendergast Medal was awarded to Manfred Kelly as the best player in the WAFL Reserves competition.  Lachlan Vanirsen claimed the Jack Clarke Medal as the Simply Energy WAFL Colts best player.  See both final leaderboards below: Prendergast Medal Voting Jack Clarke Read More ...

The West Australian Football Commission has finalised its annual review of Rules and Regulations for the West Australian Football League following the conclusion of the 2020 Optus WAFL Premiership Season.  The annual review is a vital part of the WAFC’s focus to deliver a high standard, competitive and sustainable WAFL competition, where all clubs have the opportunity to play finals and win premierships.  For the 2021 season, the strategy to gradually reduce the Player Recruitment Points allocated to each club will continue, further encouraging home-grown talent to be add to each WAFL club’s list.  Read More ...

Ngurra Kujungka’s annual Martu Youth Festival was held recently in Nullagine. This year’s event was the largest in the history of the carnival, bringing together more than 1,000 people from eight communities in the Western Desert.   The Martu Youth Festival used to be held three times a year and is the one of the few opportunities communities have to play in organised sport competitions. Read More ...

PERTH played finals football in 2020. That's right for the first time since 1997 the Demons were there for the business end of the season and as a result it was a thrilling race for the Butcher Medal with a returning favourite claiming the fairest and best award. It will be a memory etched into folklore for all involved and in attendance when Perth was able to finally find a go-ahead goal in the last round on Saturday night at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park to beat South Fremantle. That meant that for the first time since 1997, Perth took part in WAFL finals action and the Demons did make a good account of themselves the next week in the first semi-final at Joondalup before a narrow loss to West Perth. Read More ...

Three of our nine volunteers nominated for the 2020 AFL National Volunteer Awards have been successful in their category. Congratulations to Brett Nelson for winning the AFL Secondary School Ambassador, Heather Timms for winning the AFL Disability Inclusion Volunteer Award, and to Daniel Gibbons for winning the AFL National Community Umpiring Service Award.  Each State / Territory nominated their respective volunteers of the year across each of the categories and they were nominated for the AFL National Volunteer Awards. The national category winners each receive a $1,000 cash prize and additional $500 for their affiliated group (Club, Auskick Centre, Umpire Group or School) or a charity of their choice.  Below is a summary of Brett, Heather, and Daniel’s contribution to our game.  Read More ...

JACKSON Merrett was able to settle into his favourite position on the wing at Peel Thunder in 2020 and delivered a standout season to win the Tuckey Medal as the club's fairest and best player despite the challenges the year presented. Merrett was playing his second season with Peel Thunder in the WAFL on the back of his time in the AFL with Essendon where he played 56 matches at the top level, and he was outstanding settling into his customary position on the wing. He went on to average 22.5 disposals across the eight games for the Thunder and when you consider the shorter quarters this season and the fact that Peel didn’t manage to win a game then those numbers are all the more impressive. Read More ...

The WAFC advises that the Nomination Committee, with representatives of the WAFC, West Coast Eagles, Fremantle Football Club, WAFL Council of Presidents and the Community Football Advisory Council, has met to consider the Expressions of Interest for the upcoming Commissioner election process and made recommendations to the Commission regarding a shortlist of candidates.   An impressive number of nominations from high quality candidates was received by the WAFC and the Nominations Committee faced a challenging task to arrive at the shortlist of endorsed candidates.  The WAFC would like to acknowledge and thank all parties, whether successful in making the shortlist or not, for the interest they have shown in participating in this process. Read More ...

We know that volunteers play a critical role across all levels of Football in Western Australia. We are fortunate each year to be able to formally recognise a number of our outstanding volunteers through our Optus WA Football Volunteer of the Year Program, supported by the Sunday Times, which is held at the Sandover Medal. Further to this, the AFL also recognises state volunteers across some key categories including Community Club, Auskick, Diversity, Disability, Coaching, Umpiring and Schools through the AFL National Volunteer Awards. In 2020, WA has finalists across each of the nine categories.  It is important to note these volunteers were nominated at the conclusion of the 2019 season and were due to travel to Melbourne in May this year during Volunteer Week to be recognised by the AFL. As the finalists were unable to travel as a result of COVID-19, the event has been rescheduled with the national category winners to be announced on AFL Grand Final Day. The broadcast acknowledging our finalists, and the announcement of the category winners will be on Channel 7 at 7:20am AWST this Saturday, 24th October. The national category winners each receive a $1,000 cash prize, and an additional $500 prize for their affiliated group (Club, Auskick Centre, Umpire Group, School) or a charity of their choice.  The remaining nominees each receive a $200 cash prize. This is a fantastic achievement for each of the finalists and is a small recognition for the outstanding work that all volunteers in footy undertake week in and week out across the year. The WA Finalists across the nine volunteer categories are: Read More ...

THE beginning of a new era at Subiaco got underway in 2020 highlighted by Kyle Stainsby claiming the Outridge Medal as fairest and best winner while since one of the all-time WAFL greats, Kyal Horsley has retired. Subiaco had dominated the WAFL leading into the 2020 season having won the past two premierships and four in the past six seasons while being minor premiership for five consecutive years and having played in six successive Grand Finals. Every era has to come to an end and that was signalled in 2020 firstly with the Lions unable to reach the finals in the season that ended up being shortened thanks to COVID-19. Read More ...