Twomey moves forward and grabs Simpson Medal

WAYDE Twomey wasn’t even overly confident there would be a spot for him in Western Australia’s side to take on Victoria in the State Game when told he was being looked at as a forward, but he kicked five goals in a match-winning performance to come away with a Simpson Medal.

Twomey has spent the majority of his 84-game WAFL career with Swan Districts either across half-back or in the midfield and only kicked 26 goals in that time.

Only once has he kicked three goals in a game as well so when WA coach Marc Webb told him he was considering playing him forward the 27-year-old Swan Districts premiership player wasn’t sure where that left him in the pecking order.

However, he needn’t have worried as not only was he picked in WA’s 23 he stepped up in the absence of East Perth’s Josh Smith to be the main option in attack and kicked five goals from 16 possession to lead the Black Swans to a drought breaking 17-point win over Victoria in Northam.

“It is a great day in the end. I just kept popping up at the right time and I was very lucky. I had a couple of games where I kicked four and five goals in the VFL when I was over there, but when you get four or five you definitely take it,” Twomey said.

“Those days don’t come around too often. I actually wasn’t confident coming in because when Webby said I was playing forward I thought to myself that there might not be a spot for me so that was my initial thought.

“When we actually got out here, the memories of playing forward back home and also when I was 19, 20 and 21 in the VFL came back to me. It’s not as if I didn’t know what to do there and I was just happy to play anywhere really.