WAFL Team of the Week – Round 4Tuesday, May 17, 2022 - 12:11 PM - by Chris Pike

ROUND 4 of the 2022 WAFL season was split over two weekends and there were plenty of standout performances in the wins for West Perth, Subiaco, Swan Districts, Perth and East Fremantle to make up the Team of the Week.

Going back to last Saturday, Swan Districts made it consecutive wins by defeating Claremont 11.14 (80) to 10.11 (71). Among the standout performers were Chris Jones kicking five goals for Swans while Jye Bolton had 51 possessions for the Tigers, Ben Edwards 44, Ryan Lim 38 and Lachlan Martin 34.

Subiaco won its first game of the season in spectacular fashion with a point just before the siren from Max Walters. 

The Lions beat East Perth 12.12 (84) to 12.11 (83) at Leederville Oval with Ben Sokol kicking five goals for Subiaco and Brandon Matera four while Sebit Kuek kicked four for the Royals and Hamish Brayshaw had 31 possessions.

It was another one-point thriller at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium with Perth defeating Peel Thunder 13.10 (88) to 13.9 (87). Sam Stubbs kicked four goals for the Demons and Austin Davis 27 possessions while Mitch Crowden had 27 touches for Peel.

West Perth kept its winning form going as well by beating South Fremantle 9.9 (63) to 8.7 (55) at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium. 

Luke Meadows and Shane Nelson had 27 possessions each for the Falcons with Haiden Schloithe, Tom Blechynden and Brendon Ah Chee all having 28 touches apiece for the Bulldogs.

The round then wrapped up on Saturday afternoon at New Choice Homes Park with East Fremantle hammering the West Coast Eagles 22.14 (146) to 3.5 (23). Dillon O'Reilly kicked five goals for the Sharks, Luke English four and Alex Montauban four while Kyle Baskerville amassed 38 possessions.

PLAYER OF THE ROUND – JESSE TURNER (SWAN DISTRICTS)
The leadership role appears to sit nicely with the new Swan Districts vice-captain and he geared up to make his State debut with a standout performance in his team's Round 4 win against Claremont.

Turner was appointed vice-captain at Swan Districts for the 2022 season with 101 WAFL games under his belt on the back of being named to the WAFL Team of the Year end of the season squad in three of the past four seasons.

He then started the season in fine form even though Swans lost their first two matches to East Perth and East Fremantle, He still had 28 possessions and 12 marks against the Royals and 33 disposals and two goals against the Sharks to earn a spot in the WAFL State squad.

He had a quiet game against Perth in Round 3 despite Swans breaking through for their first win of the 2022 season and then he was right back to his best against Claremont in Round 4 at Steel Blue Oval.

It was an impressive all-round performance by the black-and-whites to win by nine points and their vice-captain was superb finishing the afternoon with 35 possessions, 12 marks, seven inside-50 entries and five tackles.

That saw him earn a spot in the WAFL State Team as well and in his first appearance playing for the Black Swans, he was impressive again in the narrow loss to the SANFL on Sunday at Optus Stadium with 21 disposals, four marks and four inside 50s.

Players of the Round
Round 1 – Jake Florenca (South Fremantle)
Round 2 – Ryan Lim (Claremont)
Round 3 – Luke Meadows (West Perth)
Round 4 – Jesse Turner (Swan Districts)

WAFL TEAM OF THE WEEK – ROUND 4
BACK: Zac Guadagnin (WP), Noah Strom (SF), Kye Willcocks (EP)
HALF-BACK: Chad Pearson (SF), Tony Notte (SD), Lachlan Martinis (C)
CENTRE: Stefan Giro (S), Jye Bolton (C), Ryan Lim (C)
HALF-FORWARD: Ben Edwards (C), Chris Jones (SD), Mitch Dobson (WP)
FORWARD: Dillon O'Reilly, Ben Sokol (S), Sam Stubbs (P)
RUCK: Hamish Free (SF), Jesse Turner (SD), Hamish Brayshaw (EP)
INTERCHANGE: Luke Meadows (WP), Austin Davis (P), Kyle Baskerville (EF), Sam Fisher (SD)

BACK POCKET – ZAC GUADAGNIN (West Perth)
He got himself ready for an appearance in the WAFL State Team with a tremendous defensive performance in West Perth's win against South Fremantle. On the back of being named in the 2021 Team of the Year, he has backed up with a strong start again to 2022 and along with defensive efforts against the Bulldogs, he had 11 touches and five marks.

FULL-BACK – NOAH STROM (South Fremantle)
Renewed his rivalry with West Perth spearhead Tyler Keitel in Round 4 at Joondalup and it's one of the more fascinating one-on-one matches across the competition that continues to build. He put in another strong showing to restrict Keitel to seven kicks and one goal while having 13 disposals, six marks and three tackles himself.

BACK POCKET – KYE WILLCOCKS (East Perth)
He continues to cement himself as one of the best rebound defenders in the competition and had another strong showing in East Perth's eventual one-point loss to Leederville Oval co-tenants Subiaco. He finished the game with 20 touches, three marks and three tackles.

HALF-BACK FLANK – CHAD PEARSON (South Fremantle)
Produced another standout performance to open the 2022 season even if South Fremantle narrowly lost to West Perth. He was terrific defensively again for the Bulldogs while also finishing 25 possessions, 14 marks and five tackles.

CENTRE HALF-BACK – TONY NOTTE (Swan Districts)
The way he has started the 2022 season sure suggests he has made the right decision to play on this year. He has been in as good a form as he's ever been in a career that has now lasted 268 games and seen him win two Swan Medals. He was superb at centre half-back again in Swans' win over Claremont with 26 possessions and 11 marks.

HALF-BACK FLANK – LACHLAN MARTINIS (Claremont)
The attacking half-back produced yet another standout performance to give Claremont plenty of run and drive out of defence despite the narrow loss to Swan Districts. He finished the afternoon at Bassendean with 34 touches, six marks and two entries inside the forward 50.

WING – STEFAN GIRO (Subiaco)
Subiaco broke through for its first win of the season in the most nail-biting of fashions and he geared up represent the WAFL State Team a week later with an impressive midfield display for the Lions. He finished with 32 disposals, five inside 50s, four tackles and three marks as he played in his first victory with Subiaco.

CENTRE – JYE BOLTON (Claremont)
The most decorated current WAFL football with two Sandover Medals and four Simpson Medals to his credit as part of a 114-game career with Claremont so far saw him reach a career-best with 51 possessions despite the Tigers' tight loss to Swan Districts. His huge afternoon was made up of 30 kicks, 21 handpasses, eight marks, nine inside-50 entries and three tackles.

WING – RYAN LIM (Claremont)
He continued his career best run of form with Claremont as well despite the eventual loss to Swan Districts. Was named to the Team of the Week for the third successive occasion on the back of another standout performance for the Tigers made up of 38 touches, eight marks, six inside 50s and three tackles.

HALF-FORWARD FLANK – BEN EDWARDS (Claremont)
Another Claremont midfielder who has started the 2022 season in tremendous form and he's doing well getting forward to be dangerous and kick goals as well. He finished the clash with Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval with a career-high 44 disposals, 11 marks, four tackles, three inside 50s and a goal.

CENTRE HALF-FORWARD – CHRIS JONES (Swan Districts)
After a tremendous first season in the WAFL with Swan Districts as a key defender, he was thrown forward with great effect in the second of Round 3, and then spent the day as a target in attack against Claremont. He ended up being quite influential in the eventual win for the Swans by kicking five goals from eight kicks and six marks.

HALF-FORWARD FLANK – MITCH DOBSON (West Perth)
Showed his class with two tremendous and crucial goals in West Perth's win against South Fremantle as he continues to thrive after moving to the Falcons after starting his WAFL career with arch-rivals East Perth. His powerful right boot delivered those two goals for the Falcons along with 20 disposals, six marks, six inside 50s and three tackles.

FORWARD POCKET – DILLON O'REILLY (East Fremantle)
He has long been seen as a potential gun forward and it's really only injury that has slowed his progress a little, but he's getting a good run at it at the moment and showing what he's capable of for East Fremantle. Kicked another five goals from 14 kicks and 11 marks in Saturday's thumping win for the Sharks over the West Coast Eagles.

FULL-FORWARD – BEN SOKOL (Subiaco)
The 2019 Bernie Naylor Medallist, Simpson Medallist and triple premiership winning forward turned match-winner as Subiaco won its first match of the season against East Perth at Leederville Oval. He kicked five goals in the one-point win from 21 possessions and 14 marks.

FORWARD POCKET – SAM STUBBS (Perth)
Perth needed someone to step up in attack to give Fraser McInnes some support if they were to kick a winning score and he did exactly that in the eventual one-point win over Peel Thunder in Mandurah. He ended up kicking four goals from 22 possessions and six marks.

RUCK – HAMISH FREE (South Fremantle)
He is really making the most of his opportunity as the No. 1 ruckman at the Bulldogs this year and put in another dominant performance in the ruck contests against West Perth. Finished the afternoon at Joondalup with 46 hit outs to go with 15 touches, seven inside-50 entries, four tackles and three marks.

ROVER – HAMISH BRAYSHAW (East Perth)
Is proving himself one of the prime on-ballers in the competition early this season on his return full-time to East Perth. The Royals might have lost to Subiaco by a point but he couldn’t have done more finishing the game with 31 touches, seven inside 50s, six tackles and four marks. He might rue his three behinds in a one-point defeat though.

INTERCHANGE – KYLE BASKERVILLE (East Fremantle)
The reigning Lynn Medallist continued his emergence as one of the best and most consistent big ball winning midfielders in the competition with another tremendous display in Saturday's big win for East Fremantle against West Coast. He racked up another 38 possessions to go with eight tackles, seven inside 50s, three marks and a goal.

INTERCHANGE – LUKE MEADOWS (West Perth)
There was talk of him being a call up as a top up player for the West Coast Eagles but it wasn’t to be and that was to West Perth's benefit as he was instrumental in the eventual eight-point win at home against South Fremantle. He finished with 27 possessions, five inside 50s, three tackles and two marks.

INTERCHANGE – AUSTIN DAVIS (Perth)
He produced the best performance of his 34-game WAFL career to help Perth to its second win of the 2022 season with the one-point win on the road to Peel Thunder. He finished the afternoon with 27 possessions, three marks, two tackles and two entries inside the forward 50.

INTERCHANGE – SAM FISHER (Swan Districts)
The 2020 Sandover Medal winner stepped up impressively to be a key cog in Swan Districts' win at home against Claremont. He finished the afternoon with 24 possessions, two goals and eight marks, five tackles and five inside-50 entries.
 

UNLUCKY BUNCH
There were plenty of players who delivered tremendous performances across Round 4 but couldn’t quite fit into the Team of the Round, including:

Swan Districts' Aidan Clarke.

Claremont's Jack Buller and Kieran Gowdie.

East Perth's Sebit Kuek, Nick Robertson, Stan Wright, Christian Ameduri, Angus Scott, Nathan Eaton, Damon Greaves and Scott Jones.

Subiaco's Brandon Matera, Leigh Kitchin, Lachlan Delahunty and Aaron Heal.

Peel Thunder's Blair Bell, Mitch Crowden, Bodie Kitchingman, Connor Blakely, Karl Worner and Ethan Hughes.

Perth's Kristian Cary, Brayden Ainsworth, Fraser McInnes and Corey Byrne.

West Perth's Shane Nelson, Trent Manzone and Blake Wilhelm.

South Fremantle's Haiden Schloithe, Mason Shaw, Tom Blechynden and Toby McQuilkin.

East Fremantle's Luke English, Alex Montauban, Jarrad Jansen, Blaine Boekhorst, Milan Murdock, Cody Leggett and Michael Tassone.