Subiaco's back-line ready for Thunder battleSaturday, September 16, 2023 - 2:31 PM - by Chris Pike

SUBIACO'S back-line quality, experience and connection has been a huge part in their premiership success with Drew Rohde at the forefront of that and he hopes they can pull together to help the Lions into another Grand Final.

Subiaco will take on Peel Thunder in Sunday's WAFL preliminary final at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium with a place in next Sunday's Grand Final at Optus Stadium on the line against East Fremantle.

While Subiaco is yet to play in a winning final against Peel Thunder from four attempts, Rohde did play in a winning qualifying final over the Thunder back in 2015 and he hopes for another victory on Sunday as he looks to add to his three premierships in what would be his 100th appearance for the Lions.

Finals series so far

The finals series couldn’t have started much better for Subiaco with a 28-point lead at half-time of the qualifying final against Peel at Leederville Oval two weeks ago.

However, the Thunder got rolling from there to end up beating Subiaco by 10 points leaving the Lions needing to beat Claremont last Sunday in the first semi-final to stay alive.

Subiaco produced a strong performance to end up winning by 39 points to now be ready to take on Peel in the preliminary final, and Rohde has no doubt they are ready to fire.

"I feel like we're in a strong spot," Rohde told 91.3 SportFM.

"Last week we got back to the brand of footy that we want to be known for and that we want to play, with the hardnosed contested ball and keeping the ball in our forward half to maintain field position. 

"I think we've taken a step forward last week and it's all about backing that up this week down in Mandurah against Peel."

Selection decisions for preliminary final

Like with any team at finals time, the Subiaco coaching staff has some big calls to make for Sunday's preliminary final coming off last week's impressive win against Claremont.

Subiaco's reserves will also play in the preliminary final on Sunday against West Perth so there will be some nervous players awaiting the final calls about which game they will be playing in especially with the likely return from injury of the dynamic Taj Schofield.

What Rohde knows is that he's glad he won't be the one asked to make the final decisions.

"It was a really strong performance against Claremont so anyone who does go out, if they do, will be very stiff. But I will leave that one up to match committee to make that decision," Rohde said.

"Obviously Taj is a quality player and he is a really good finisher, and kicks goals as well so he would be a great asset to have in the team. But that's a match committee decision to make leading into the game and I'll leave that to them."

Finals experience counting for plenty

Rohde will play his 99th game for Subiaco on Sunday in the preliminary final in what will be his ninth finals appearance for the Lions while over his career, he's now played 145 matches with 12 finals.

So he's no stranger to the finals stage and nor are long-time teammates like Leigh Kitchin, Zac Clarke, Angus Dewar, Ben Sokol, Michael Braut, Max Walters, Aaron Heal and Ryan Borchet.

Rohde has no doubt that experience is a big help come finals time, but at the same time, it's a Peel opponent in Sunday's preliminary final not lacking in that area either.

"Experience I think is invaluable especially in finals and a lot of us have been here before, and tasted the ultimate success before," he said. 

"That's probably what keeps us coming back is chasing that feeling again because there's nothing quite like it. Knowing how to react to certain situations within games especially in finals when the pressure goes up is so important. 

"The games are a bit more contested without as much as free-flowing play so I do think that experience is invaluable. But on the flipside Peel has got a lot of experience in their side as well so I'm sure they will be running the same narrative."

Initial move to join the Lions

Rohde played all his football at West Perth and never imagined wanting to play elsewhere and especially not at Subiaco after playing in the losing Grand Final of 2015 for the Falcons against the Lions.

However, when he had to take a year off playing in the WAFL to focus on his work and completing his studies to be a chartered accountant in 2017, then Subiaco coach Jarrod Schofield put an offer to him to join the Lions that was simply too hard to refuse.

So after playing his first 47 games at West Perth, Rohde joined Subiaco in 2018 and has been a crucial member of the defensive unit ever since. Now in 98 games for the Lions, he's played in three premierships and it's a decision he'll forever be glad he made.

"I had a year off just to finish my chartered accountancy. I started doing a half year in my last year at West Perth, but studying full-time, working full-time and playing footy was probably a bit too much," Rohde said. 

"So I decided to take the 12 months to knock off the remainder of my chartered accountancy, but when Jarrod called and sat me down in the board room and chucked the magnets on the board, he had a pretty compelling case. 

"It was mainly also about locality to be honest and it was only about 15 minutes from where I was working in the city but it would take me more than an hour to get to training at Joondalup. 

"It was a tough decision to leave a lot of good mates at West Perth and a club with great culture, but looking back on it now with hindsight and it was the best decision I ever made for my footy career."

Back-line he's been part of at Subiaco

Rohde has been an outstanding and crucial member now of the Subiaco defensive unit over every one of his 98 games. While he credits his teammates, if you ask any of them they will say they have been able to do so well because of his presence.

Whether it's multiple premiership teammates Jordan Lockyer, Aaron Heal and Angus Dewar or newer faces Galen Savigni, Jaxon McGowan, Henry Berenger or Kyle Stainsby, Rohde is proud of Subiaco's defensive unit throughout his six seasons.

"I think you draw a lot of confidence by playing with the same blokes week in, week out and knowing how each other plays, and what each other brings to the table. To be able to have a consistent back six or seven across my six years at the club has been awesome," he said.

"It just comes down the familiarity with each other's game and everyone being on the same page, and following the game plan and playing to the structure. You just know what you're going to get from those blokes and it makes your life so much easier as a defender."

Chance to beat Peel in a final for first time

What Sunday's preliminary final presents for Subiaco is the chance to not only win to book in a place in the Grand Final against East Fremantle, but to also beat Peel in a final for the first time.

The Thunder have so far won all four finals meetings between the two teams including the Grand Finals of 2016 and 2017, and then the qualifying final two weeks ago at Leederville Oval.

Rohde wasn’t quite there for the first three of those unlike his captain Leigh Kitchin, but he was two weeks ago and is looking forward to making amends this Sunday in Mandurah to book in a clash with the Sharks next Sunday at Optus Stadium.

"Kitch spoke about leading into our first final and probably jinxed us because he's played in 14 finals, won 10 and the four he's lost have all been against Peel. We're looking to break that hoodoo this week for sure," Rohde said.

"As a group, we talk about structure, role and defence more than anything, and that's our three pillars which drive the brand of footy that we want to play. 

"So no matter who it is and whether it's a Jaimon Alone on ball, a Gus down back, if it's their turn to play their role for the team there's no second guessing. It's all about going to play your role and that will set us in good stead to get the result at the end of the day."