WAFL Team of the Week – Round 18Wednesday, August 16, 2023 - 3:20 PM - by Chris Pike

The third last round of the 2023 WAFL season saw East Fremantle consolidate top spot, Subiaco go second, Peel Thunder third and West Perth stay alive, but there were no shortage of standout performers making up the Team of the Week once more.

All five matches across the weekend in Round 18 of the WAFL season were fascinating in their own way and a lot of them had an impact on the top five race, and the spots were hotly contested for the Team of the Week once more.

The round got underway on Saturday afternoon at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium with Peel Thunder scoring a crucial 13.13 (91) to 8.11 (59) win and handing Claremont at fourth straight loss in the process.

From that win, Bailey Banfield was named to the Team of the Week from Peel and Oliver Eastland and Jye Bolton from Claremont.

Also on Saturday afternoon, East Fremantle made it seven straight victories to move a game and percentage clear on top of the ladder with two rounds remaining beating East Perth 15.6 (96) to 12.10 (82) at the WACA Ground.

From the win for the Sharks, Cam Eardley, Hugh Dixon and Harry Marsh made the Team of the Week for Round 18.

Swan Districts also kept its winning run going making it four consecutive victories beating Perth 14.14 (98) to 11.4 (70) at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park.

From that win, Tobe Watson, Jesse Turner and Jehb O'Donohue made the Team of the Week from Swan Districts as did Jack Avery, Michael Sinclair and Charlie Thompson from Perth.

The other two Round 18 matches took place on Sunday afternoon beginning with Subiaco improving to second position on the ladder beating the West Coast Eagles 22.19 (151) to 13.4 (82).

Subiaco's Liam Hickmott, Taj Schofield, Ben Sokol and Zac Clarke all made the Team of the Week from Subiaco as did Shannon Lucassen from West Coast.

The last game of the round took place at Fremantle Community Bank Oval and West Perth kept its finals hopes alive with the reigning premiers defeating South Fremantle 14.7 (91) to 8.7 (55).

West Perth's Zac Guadagnin, Luke Meadows and Joe Hinder were named to the Team of the Week as were South Fremantle's Toby McQuilkin and Roan O'Hehir.

PLAYER OF THE ROUND – TAJ SCHOFIELD (SUBIACO)

The form that Taj Schofield has now put together over the past seven matches has been brilliant and he has become a crucial reason as to why Subiaco is now sitting second on the WAFL ladder with two rounds remaining.

Schofield is following on the footsteps of his father Jarrad at Subiaco where he started his career back in 1993 and then returned following his AFL journey to play in the premiership hat-trick of 2006-07-08.

All in all, Jarrod played 114 matches with Subiaco on top of the 206 AFL games he played between West Coast, Port Adelaide and Fremantle including being a key member of the Power's 2004 premiership.

Schofield then went on to coach Subiaco to WAFL premierships in 2014, 2015 and 2018 before now being in the AFL system as an assistant at the West Coast Eagles, but his son is now carving out his own legacy.

The 20-year-old is playing his first season in the WAFL with Subiaco and he did have a solid start to the season earning selection in the WAFL State Squad before suffering an injury against East Fremantle at the WACA Ground in Round 6.

He then also got under in the Round 8 clash with Peel Thunder, but he was back firing by Round 9 against West Perth and his form ever since has been remarkable.

Over the past seven matches, Schofield has now been averaging 21.9 possessions and 2.1 goals a game to have been instrumental in Subiaco's run of impressive of form to now have strung three victories together to be sitting in second position on the WAFL ladder.

Schofield has been splitting his time between playing at half-forward and in the midfield for the Lions, and doing a brilliant job with both roles where he's proving himself dangerous around goals and inside-50, and a more than proficient midfielder around the ball.

That was all on show in Sunday's eventual 69-point win against the West Coast Eagles where Schofield had another day out and it could have been even more significant had he kicked more than the three goals from seven scoring shots.

It was a still a day out for him to remember finishing with 25 possessions, eight tackles, seven marks, six inside-50 entries and the three goals to be a big part in the win, and he'll be a crucial component now in how successful Subiaco's season turns out to be.

Players of the Round
Round 1 – Max Walters (Subiaco)
Round 2 – Tyler Keitel (West Perth)
Round 3 – Ryan Borchet (Subiaco)
Round 4 – Brady Grey (Peel Thunder)
Round 5 – Jaiden Hunter (Perth)
Round 6 – Cody Leggett (East Fremantle)
Round 7 – Zac Clarke (Subiaco)
Round 8 – Nick Robertson (East Perth)
Round 9 – Talon Delacey (Claremont)
Round 10 – Dillon O'Reilly (East Fremantle)
Round 11 – Nathan Blakely (Swan Districts)
Round 12 – Jack Maibaum (Claremont)
Round 13 – Hamish Brayshaw (East Perth)
Round 14 – Harry Marsh (East Fremantle)
Round 15 – Liam Tedesco (East Perth)
Round 16 – Cam Eardley (East Fremantle)
Round 17 – Jesse Turner (Swan Districts)
Round 18 – Taj Schofield (Subiaco)

WAFL TEAM OF THE WEEK – ROUND 18

BACK: Toby McQuilkin (SF), Jack Avery (P), Cam Eardley (EF)
HALF-BACK: Tobe Watson (SD), Zac Guadagnin (WP), Jye Bolton (C)
CENTRE: Jesse Turner (SD), Liam Hickmott (S), Joe Hinder (WP)
HALF-FORWARD: Taj Schofield (S), Michael Sinclair (P), Bailey Banfield (PT)
FORWARD: Ben Sokol (S), Hugh Dixon (EF), Shannon Lucassen (WC)
FOLLOWERS: Zac Clarke (S), Luke Meadows (WP), Harry Marsh (EF)
INTERCHANGE: Roan O'Hehir (SF), Charlie Thompson (P), Jehb O'Donohue (SD), Oliver Eastland (C)

UNLUCKY BUNCH

There were plenty of players who delivered tremendous performances across Round 18 but couldn’t quite fit into the Team of the Round, including:

Peel Thunder's Ben Middleton, Liam Reidy, Will Brodie, Ben Hancock, Nathan O'Driscoll, Clay Hall and Traye Bennell.

Claremont's Zac Mainwaring, Jack Lewsey and Ben Edwards.

East Fremantle's Lennon Marlin, Kyle Baskerville and Matthew Jupp.

East Perth's Christian Ameduri, Michael Randall, Hamish Brayshaw, Mitch Crowden, Stan Wright and Corey Watts.

Perth's Trent Manzone.

Swan Districts' Aidan Clarke, Ryan Kemp, Cian Ehlers, Josh Cipro and Jackson McLachlan.

Subiaco's Ryan Borchet, Stefan Giro, Noah Ash, Leigh Kitchin and Drew Rohde.

West Coast's Zane Trew, Isiah Winder, Josh Browne and Ethan Hansen.

South Fremantle's Aaron Drage, Ashton Ferreira, Caleb Stephens, Glenn Byron and Jimmy Miller.

West Perth's Tyler Keitel, Noah Pegoraro, Josh Rotham, Ben Johnson, Tyson Moulton, Shane Nelson, Aidan Lynch and Mitch Peirce.