M & J Chickens Player of Round 12Wednesday, June 27, 2018 - 12:18 PM - by Chris Pike

A HOST of players put their hands up to be the M & J Chickens Player of Round 12 despite there only being three WAFL matches, but Subiaco captain Kyal Horsley just had to be recognised for the way he is dominating the 2018 season.

There were only the three matches in the WAFL in Round 12 and each of them produced players who put their hands up to be named Player of the Round.

Claremont beat East Perth at Leederville Oval to keep its finals chances alive with Bailey Rogers and Jye Bolton vying for best on ground honours with 35 possessions apiece.

West Perth then made it 15 straight against Perth with a win at Joondalup Arena with captain Aaron Black racking up 39 possessions while Luke Meadows was superb with 34 disposals, nine tackles, eight inside-50 entries and seven marks.

Then there was Subiaco's 82-point victory against Swan Districts that gave the Lions a 10-0 start to the season to be three games and a huge percentage clear in top spot.

As a result of that performance, a host of players could have been named Player of the Round including ruckman Zac Clarke who had 24 possessions, 33 hit outs, nine marks and two goals.

Leigh Kitchin also had 37 disposals and a goal, Chris Phelan 31 touches and two goals, Josh Deluca 31 possessions, 11 tackles and a goal, and defender Aaron Heal 28 disposals and eight marks.

Any of them would have been worthy winners but it was captain Kyal Horsley who has been banging down the door all season and in Round 12 it was impossible to overlook him any further for the M & J Chickens Player of the Round honour.

The 30-year-old Subiaco captain could very well be having the best season of his career and that's really saying something considering everything he has accomplished for the Lions and in the WAFL across 171 matches either side of his two years with the Gold Coast Suns.

He continued his remarkable form on the ball for the Lions in Saturday's thumping win against Swans finishing the afternoon with 37 possessions, 11 inside-50 entries, seven marks and two goals.

The most incredible thing about all of that is that it's become about average for Horsley to produce all those numbers this season.

Across his 2018 season so far, Horsley is averaging 33.3 possessions in his 10 matches with a high of 41 disposals against Peel Thunder in Round 7 and a low of only 27 in two of the opening three games of the campaign.

Horsley has also kicked seven goals now for 2018 while averaging 4.6 marks and 4.0 tackles a game.

It would be a season to savour for anybody with the consistently dominant performances he is producing, but to be doing it at this stage of his career when he could be excused for going through the motions has to be respected all the more.

Horsley began his career at Subiaco in 2007 having come down from Kalgoorlie and after being overlooked for the premiership team of that year, he cemented his place with a standout 2008 campaign and went on to play in the winning Grand Final team against Swan Districts.

He played his first State game in that 2008 season as well in the WAFL State Team's win over Queensland in Townsville and continued on his standout form over the next three years.

That included two more Grand Finals for Subiaco, losses to South Fremantle in 2009 and Claremont in 2011, with hm winning the fairest and best award in 2011 and then earning a chance in the AFL at the Gold Coast Suns.

While he endured a knee reconstruction while there, he did play 14 AFL games before returning to Subiaco for the 2014 season where he had a remarkable season, winning another fairest and best award and captaining the Lions to the premiership.

It was another premiership season for the skipper in 2015 and the last two years he has remained captain of the Subiaco team that has won both minor premierships but lost each Grand Final to Peel Thunder.

He earned life membership at Subiaco along the way by reaching 150 games and as a triple premiership player, dual premiership skipper, two-time fairest and best winner, four-time State representative and he's also captained Western Australia.

Horsley remarkably has played in Grand Finals in seven of his previous eight WAFL seasons with the only two he missed when he wasn’t selected in 2007 and when the Lions missed out in 2010.

So he has nothing left to prove, but don't tell him that. He remains in outstanding form and Saturday's effort in Subiaco's big win over Swan Districts was just another example.

M & J Chickens Players of the Round
Round 1 – Rhys Palmer (Swan Districts)
Round 2 – Fraser McInnes (East Perth)
Round 3 – Cody Leggett (Perth)
Round 4 – Shane Nelson (West Perth)
Round 5 – Patrick McGinnity (East Perth)
Round 6 – Marlion Pickett (South Fremantle)
Round 7 – Andrew Strijk (West Perth)
Round 8 – George Hampson (East Fremantle)
Round 9 – Nick Suban (South Fremantle)
Round 10 – Ben Howlett (Peel Thunder)
Round 11 – Michael Bennell (Perth)
Round 12 – Kyal Horsley (Subiaco)