WA Football

OVER 10,000 people attended the three WAFL fixtures across Perth on Anzac Day with Perth, Swan Districts and East Fremantle all recording impressive victories.

The action on Anzac Day started with Perth beating East Perth 19.16 (130) to 11.13 (79) at Lathlain's Brownes Stadium in front of over 2500 people.

Then at Arena Joondalup, 2695 fans watched Swan Districts kick the last six goals of the game to beat West Perth 15.8 (98) to 9.16 (70).

The final fixture was the first Fremantle derby of 2013 and 5120 people attended Fremantle Oval to watch East Fremantle kick the last five goals of the game to beat South Fremantle 12.11 (83) to 7.12 (54).

THE WAFL commemorates ANZAC Day with three big fixtures across Perth on Thursday afternoon.

The first clash bounces down at 2.10pm when Perth takes on East Perth at Lathlain's Brownes Stadium.

It's then onto Arena Joondalup where West Perth hosts Swan Districts with that game getting underway at 3.15pm.

And then at 4.15pm at Fremantle Oval it's the first Fremantle derby of the season when the winless South Fremantle takes on last year's grand finalist East Fremantle.

NEW West Perth Football Club CEO David Crute is enjoying the fact that he has stepped into the role with the league side performing well, but in the bigger picture he is excited by the future of the Falcons with the Arena Joondalup redevelopment and continued expansion into Joondalup and Wanneroo.

Crute arrives at West Perth replacing the ever-popular, productive and successful CEO Gerry O'Dea with a strong football pedigree after coaching roles with Claremont in the WAFL as well as business development, community and sponsorship roles with both the WA Football Commission and Fremantle Dockers.

He now has been in the chair for his first home game that saw West Perth remain unbeaten with a big win over Peel at Arena Joondalup before a narrow defeat in the top-of-the-table clash last Saturday with Claremont at Claremont Oval.

THE WAFL website will be publishing columns from players throughout the 2013 season taking a look at the lives of WAFL footballers, and what it takes on and off the field to be a successful player and also build a life outside the game. This week it's dual Claremont premiership forward, fairest and best winner and Simpson Medallist Ian Richardson.

Over the past 10 years I have dedicated a lot of time to playing WAFL football and I have loved it. I would be lying if I said I never get tired of the high level of commitment required but winning the last two premierships has made it all worthwhile.

I started off in the development squads at Claremont and have worked up through the colts, reserves and finally to league level. Playing at this level is difficult because as we are not playing at a professional level we all have work or study commitments that take up most of our time and leave us with very little time to focus on training and extra sessions. Once you add to this finding time for your family and friends you are left with basically no spare time.

CRUIZE Garlett, Jarrod Kayler-Thomson, Brendan Lee and Jake Murphy all led their WAFL clubs to victory in Round 6 action over the weekend that saw Peel, Subiaco, East Perth and Claremont record wins.

The round started at midday on Saturday with East Perth beating East Fremantle 14.12 (96) to 12.14 (86) at East Fremantle Oval.

Then later on Saturday afternoon, Subiaco beat South Fremantle 16.17 (113) to 10.12 (72) at Fremantle Oval and Claremont held off West Perth in the battle of the unbeaten teams winning 13.9 (87) to 10.8 (68) at Claremont Oval.

On Sunday, Peel Thunder recorded its first win of the season beating Swan Districts 15.8 (98) to 12.12 (84) at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium. The 3-1 Perth had the bye after an impressive opening four weeks to start the 2013 season.