WAFL Team of the Week – Round 1Tuesday, April 11, 2023 - 7:46 PM - by Chris Pike

IT was quite the fascinating opening round of the 2023 WAFL season and as a result you could have easily selected two Teams of the Week for Round 1 given how many players delivered impressive performances.

The 2023 WAFL season got underway on Good Friday beginning with a grand final rematch in front of a crowd of 3975 at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium with Claremont defeating West Perth 7.14 (56) to 5.12 (42).

Also on Friday, it was a one-point thriller at Leederville Oval with East Perth snatching the home win against Swan Districts 12.8 (80) to 11.13 (79).

The final match of Good Friday was the now annual match up in Mandurah and it saw Peel Thunder kick the last five goals of the game to defeat East Fremantle 11.13 (79) to 11.9 (75) at Lane Group Stadium.

The lone Saturday afternoon game for Round 1 saw South Fremantle prove too strong for the West Coast Eagles, winning 15.12 (102) to 8.11 (59) at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The last game of the round was on Saturday night at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park with Subiaco getting better as the evening wore on to make it 13 consecutive wins against Perth, prevailing 11.15 (81) to 8.7 (55).

That all led into the selection of the Team of the Week for Round 1 from those who performed well in those five matches, so let's get to how it came together.

PLAYER OF THE ROUND – MAX WALTERS (SUBIACO)

Max Walters is already a decorated enough player with three premiership medals to his collection, but he's always been somewhat undervalued on the outside given the star teammates he's had.

That might even still be the case after Saturday night given how good Ben Sokol was up forward kicking five goals and how good Stefan Giro was alongside him in the midfield with 31 possessions, but he was a class above most on the field at Lathlain on Saturday night.

Walters has always had the ability to be one of the best and most damaging midfield-forwards in the competition, but it's only some injury troubles along the way since making his debut in 2016 that has kept him from so far playing more than his 91 career games.

However, he is still a premiership player from 2018, 2019 and 2021, and when fit and firing, one of the first selected by coach Beau Wardman and he started the season in brilliant fashion on Saturday night in Subiaco's eventual 26-point win against Perth.

Walters spent most of the game in the midfield and looks as fit and healthy as he has at any other point in his career. As a result, he was able to show his full array of talents both around the ball and drifting forward.

He showed he has so much time when he has the ball, makes the right decisions and then is such an effective user of it by foot meaning he had such a significant impact with his 25 possessions, eight marks, four inside-50 entries and two goals.

Players of the Round
Round 1 – Max Walters (Subiaco)

WAFL TEAM OF THE WEEK – ROUND 1

BACK: Teia Miles (C), Chad Pearson (SF), Toby McQuilkin (SF)
HALF-BACK: Jye Bolton (C), Brandon Erceg (SD), Karl Worner (PT)
CENTRE: Stefan Giro (S), Aidan Clarke (SD), Jesse Turner (SD) 
HALF-FORWARD: Neil Erasmus (PT), Jimmy Miller (SF), Hamish Brayshaw (EP)
FORWARD: Brandon Donaldson (SF), Ben Sokol (S), Luke English (EF)
RUCK: Scott Jones (EP), Max Walters (S), Will Brodie (PT)
INTERCHANGE: Corey Byrne (P), Milan Murdock (EF), Tom Blechynden (SF), Zac Clarke (S)

BACK POCKET – TEIA MILES (Claremont)
The son of former Claremont, Collingwood, West Coast and Geelong defender Geoff was a prized recruit in the off-season for the Tigers, and the former Hawthorn AFL player and VFL premiership player showed exactly why in the Good Friday win against West Perth. Settled in at Claremont brilliantly and ended the afternoon with 23 possessions, eight marks and three tackles.

FULL-BACK – CHAD PEARSON (South Fremantle)
Having now played 101 games at South Fremantle and being fresh off another season in 2022 with a top three fairest and best finish at the Bulldogs, he has started off 2023 in terrific fashion. He stepped up as the leader of the back-line too against West Coast in the absence of Noah Strom and not only was he instrumental in holding Alec Waterman to four kicks and one goal, but ended up with 21 possessions and nine marks himself.

BACK POCKET – TOBY MCQUILKIN (South Fremantle)
He broke onto the stage at South Fremantle late in the 2021 season and then had a brilliant 2022 campaign where he was named to the WAFL Team of the Year and finished runner-up in fairest and best voting to Haiden Schloithe at the Bulldogs. That's no mean feat and he started the 2023 season in just as impressive form on Saturday ending up with 25 possessions and five marks while being rock solid defensively.

HALF-BACK FLANK – JYE BOLTON (Claremont)
The dual Sandover Medallist, four-time Simpson Medal winner and three-time Claremont fairest and best winner is still chasing that elusive premiership 133 games into his time with the Tigers, and he started off 2023 in just as good form as ever. Settling back into the role off half-back he did so well in for a lot of 2022, he finished the win over West Perth with 29 disposals, seven marks, four inside-50 entries and a goal.

CENTRE HALF-BACK – BRANDON ERCEG (Swan Districts)
The Swan Districts co-captain is right at the peak of his powers as one of the best and most consistent key defenders in the competition who is especially effective above his head. With Swans missing Tony Notte and Will Collins down back at the moment, he stood tall in the narrow loss to East Perth on Good Friday finishing with 17 possessions and six marks.

HALF-BACK FLANK – KARL WORNER (Peel Thunder)
Timing couldn’t have been better to put his hand up for a call up into the Fremantle Dockers AFL team and started the WAFL season in impressive fashion for Peel in the win against East Fremantle with what he did off half-back. Finished off the Good Friday win for the Thunder with 27 possessions, four marks and three tackles.

WING – STEFAN GIRO (Subiaco)
While he didn’t get to be part of the team success Subiaco has been used to last year, he had a terrific first season at the Lions winning the club's fairest and best award, and he could well be leading the votes again after Round 1. Had a standout performance through the middle all evening in Subiaco's win over Perth ending up with 31 possessions, seven inside 50s, four marks and four tackles.

CENTRE – AIDAN CLARKE (Swan Districts)
He was the runner-up in fairest and best voting at Swan Districts last year and started the new season in even more brilliant form as the 24-year-old continues to emerge as one of the best, and most damaging midfielders in the competition. Was especially outstanding in the third quarter when Swans got going against East Perth but was terrific all afternoon finishing with 38 disposals, eight inside 50s, six marks and a goal.

WING – JESSE TURNER (Swan Districts)
The reigning Swan Medal winner and vice-captain at Swan Districts is showing no reason to expect anything but another standout season from him in 2023. His running power continues to make him such a hard opposition player to shut down and he worked tirelessly once more in one-point loss to East Perth ending up with 36 possessions, six inside 50s, four marks and two tackles.

HALF-FORWARD FLANK – NEIL ERASMUS (Peel Thunder)
Was another Fremantle-listed player whose timing was spot on to show that he's in good form and ready for a call up by Dockers. He was damaging off the wing and getting forward in Peel's eventual win against East Fremantle and finished up with two goals to go with 18 touches, seven tackles and five marks.

CENTRE HALF-FORWARD – JIMMY MILLER (South Fremantle)
With the key forward options that South Fremantle has lost coming into 2023 including Mason Shaw and Blake Schlensog on top of fellow forwards Haiden Schloithe and Matthew Parker, and he is going to be relied on to be the main forward target for the Bulldogs. He might very well relish in that role and based on his performance on Saturday that will be the case after equalling his career-best four goals to go with 15 touches, 12 hit outs, four marks, four tackles and three inside-50 entries.

HALF-FORWARD FLANK – HAMISH BRAYSHAW (East Perth)
The new East Perth co-captain and reigning fairest and best winner produced a terrific start to the new season on Good Friday to be instrumental in the eventual one-point win against Swan Districts. Was superb through the middle and also dangerous going forward to end the game with 26 possessions, five marks and two goals after being in the WAFL Team of the Year in 2022.

FORWARD POCKET – BRANDON DONALDSON (South Fremantle)
Ahead of his 100th game with South Fremantle this Saturday, the dynamic premiership winning left-footer showed he might be right on top of his game right now to start the 2023 season as a 25-year-old. He worked hard inside-50 but did a power of work up the field as well in Saturday's win over the Eagles to end up with 19 possessions, four marks, two inside-50 entries and three clever goals.

FULL-FORWARD – BEN SOKOL (Subiaco)
The dual Bernie Naylor Medallist and triple premiership player already had 128 games and 277 goals to his credit coming into 2023, and it looks like it's going to be another fruitful season for the Subiaco spearhead. After kicking a goal in each of the opening three quarters on Saturday night, he kicked another two in the last in the win over Perth. His powerful frame and ability to mark in one-on-one contests or on the lead along with being good at ground level, and a usually deadly kick make him a nightmare match up. Kicked five goals from 13 kicks and seven marks.

FORWARD POCKET – LUKE ENGLISH (East Fremantle)
The former Richmond-listed half-forward is coming off a strong season with the Sharks in 2022 and looks every chance to at least replicate what he did last season, if not improve on it based on his showing on Good Friday in the narrow loss in Mandurah to Peel. He kicked three goals from 17 possessions and three marks for East Fremantle.

RUCK – SCOTT JONES (East Perth)
The powerful presence of him in the ruck proved one of the major factors in East Perth scoring the narrow win against Swan Districts. While Jesse Glass-McCasker battled hard up against him, Swans were without Nathan Blakely and Matthew Germs, and he was just too big and too strong at the ruck contests. Finished the game with 47 hit outs along with 14 disposals, seven marks and a goal in a commanding performance.

ROVER – WILL BRODIE (Peel Thunder)
Even he might have been surprised to see himself not back into the Fremantle line-up, but he took it the best possible way by producing a best on ground performance in his first WAFL appearance for Peel in the come from behind win against East Fremantle on Good Friday. Finished up with 37 possessions, seven tackles, four marks and four inside 50s in a performance impossible to ignore by Dockers match committee.

INTERCHANGE – COREY BYRNE (Perth)
The dual fairest and best winning Perth on-baller started the 2023 season right where he left off in 2022 with a strong showing against the tide as the night wore on in a loss to Subiaco. He's now played 86 games for the Demons, but remains winless in 10 attempts against the Lions but he couldn’t have done much more to try and change that on Saturday night. Ended up with 33 possessions, five marks and five inside-50 entries.

INTERCHANGE – MILAN MURDOCK (East Fremantle)
The reigning Lynn Medallist at East Fremantle cemented his reputation in 2022 as one of the best and most tenacious in-and-under midfielders in the competition, and picked up right where he left off on Good Friday in Mandurah against Peel. Finished the game with an impressive 29 disposals and nine tackles to do all he could to will his team over the line.

INTERCHANGE – TOM BLECHYNDEN (South Fremantle)
Even though he was a South Fremantle premiership player in 2020, it wasn’t really until 2022 when a regular spot in the midfield opened up for him at the Bulldogs and he grabbed that chance and is now going to be relied upon even more 2023. He showed against West Coast on Saturday that he's more than up to that challenge putting in a strong showing consisting of 25 possessions, four inside-50 entries and three marks in the 50th game of his WAFL career.

INTERCHANGE – ZAC CLARKE (Subiaco)
Played his first WAFL game since the 2018 grand final win with Subiaco and showed that at 33 years of age, he still has plenty left in the tank and could very well take back his mantle as the league's premier ruckman. Now has 87 games in the WAFL to his credit including premierships at both Peel and Subiaco, and played 110 AFL matches at Fremantle and Essendon, but remains such an impressive tap ruckman and was impressive around the ground against Perth. Ended the game with 19 disposals, 44 hit outs, five marks and four tackles.
 

UNLUCKY BUNCH

There were plenty of players who delivered tremendous performances across Round 1 but couldn’t quite fit into the Team of the Round, including:

West Perth's Mitch Dobson, Luke Meadows and Ben Johnson.

Claremont's Lachlan Martinis, Jack Lewsey, Jack Buller, Callan England, Bailey Rogers and Ben Edwards.

East Perth's Tom Medhat, Angus Schumacher and Angus Scott.

Swan Districts' Tobe Watson, Sam Fisher and Jarvis Pina.

Peel Thunder's Traye Bennell, Brady Grey, Riley Smith and Michael Sellwood.

East Fremantle's Cam Eardley, Harry Marsh, Kyle Baskerville and Reuben McGuire.

South Fremantle's Dylan Main, Brendon Ah Chee, Jacob Dragovich and debutant Solomon James.

West Coast Eagles' Jackson Nelson and Zane Trew,

Perth's Matt Taylor, Michael Sinclair and Trent Manzone.

Subiaco's Drew Rohde and Galen Savigni.