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 ...

FOR the second straight season Jackson Ramsay was a dominant figure in the midfield for East Perth as he continues to show what he's capable of when fully healthy, and it was no surprise as a result to see him claim a second straight fairest and best award. There were high hopes for what Ramsay could provide to East Perth when he returned from his time in the AFL at Collingwood back in 2018, but his season was then cruelly ended before ever really starting as he ruptured his ACL and underwent a knee reconstruction. However, for the start of 2019 Ramsay was back, fit and raring to go and he went on to produce an outstanding season with the Royals that culminated with him winning the FD Book Medal as the club's fairest and best. Read More ...

2020 has been an extremely tough year on football across Australia. The WAFC Kickstart and All Nations prorams did not escape the COVID 19 impacts, with both programs having to be cancelled. As the AFL programs, the National Boomerange and All Nations, were also cancelled the current 2005/06 cohort of boys in the Next Generation Academies missed the opportunity to participate in the talent programs.  Although Read More ...

The West Australian Football Commission thanks Simply Energy State U18s coach Peter Sumich for his contribution to the State Talent Program and development of WA’s most talented young players.  Sumich will finish his role on October 31 after four years at the helm of the Under 18s program and has played a major part in re-shaping the development of talented players within the pathway. WAFC CEO Gavin Taylor said Sumich had made a profound impact on football in Western Australia, providing great leadership, credibility and commitment to developing the state’s next crop of stars.  Read More ...

As at 4pm Friday 25 September, at the close of the Expressions of Interest for Commissioners, the WAFC had received 23 EOIs. EOIs were received from the following candidates (listed in alphabetical order): Steve Allan, Ian Callahan, Andrew Chapman, Gordon Cole, Grant Dorrington, Catherine Ferrari, Neale Fong, Benjamin Haywood, Carolyn Hills, Phil Lamb, Gavin Maisey, Daryl Marron, Dixie Marshall, Nicole Moody, Bellamore Ndayikeze, Allan Oakes, Brian O’Donnell, Gareth Parker, David Parkinson, Dale Pinto, Clare Pope, Allan Stiles and Robert Sullivan The following table sets out the remaining steps to be completed to finalise the 2021 Commissioner election process: Read More ...

Each year, Wiluna Martu Eagles and Dalkeith Nedlands Junior Football Club take it in turns to host an annual football game - a trip coordinated by the Murlpirrmarra Connection.  Bringing together players from vastly different backgrounds, the game promotes and celebrates team spirit, cultural understanding and respect, and healthy living. Read More ...

WA Black secured the first victory of the WA’s two NAB AFL U18s All-Stars Exhibition games, after defeating WA Gold by 55-points at Leederville Oval on Saturday morning. The WA Black side led at every change to dominant the Exhibition fixture, led by starring roles from Claremont’s Joel Western and West Perth’s Heath Chapman.   It took until the thirteenth minute of the opening quarter for the first goal of the game, when WA Black’s Nick Martin was able to find Logan Guelfi inside attacking 50. Guelfi went back and converted his set shot from 25 metres out on a slight angle.  Read More ...

TRUE to his word before Sunday's WAFL Grand Final, what South Fremantle coach Todd Curley takes greatest satisfaction from becoming a premiership coach is giving his players the chance to now celebrate, but he deserves to be proud of what he's accomplished too. The group of people to have played more than 100 AFL matches, almost 150 games in the WAFL, play in two premierships and now be a senior coach for almost another 200 games and having spent several seasons as an AFL assistant coach is a remarkably short one. But the fact that Curley has packed so much into the last 30 years during his involvement in football is a remarkable thing and to now become a premiership coach to go with the two flags he won as a player at West Perth will go down as one of his crowning achievements. Read More ...