WAFL Team of the Year 2021Wednesday, September 15, 2021 - 8:43 PM - by Chris Pike

EACH weekend during the WAFL season there was a Team of the Week named and now those players who stood out on a consistent basis have been rewarded with selection in the WAFL Team of the Year for 2021.

It was quite the star-studded team and between the final 25 players selected, they have won five Sandover Medals, four Simpson Medals and a total of 14 fairest and best awards at their respective clubs.

They have also played a total of 50 AFL games, won three Bernie Naylor Medals between them as the league's leading goalkickers, played in a total of 41 WAFL State Games and won 17 premierships in the WAFL between them.

In the end, the selection of the WAFL Team of the Year followed a simple criteria. The selection was based on the number of times players featured in the Team of the Rounds during the home and away season.

As it turned out, all 25 players selected in the team which was made up of the 18 starting on the field, four interchange players and three emergencies, each 25 of them were all named to a Team of the Round during the season no fewer than five occasions, with the most being 10.

The number of players featured throughout the Teams of the Round following the winning form throughout the season for the most part. 

After 19 teams were selected, 16 Subiaco players featured at least once and took up 59 of the 418 available places, and they were the minor premiers.

Precious little separated Claremont and South Fremantle on the WAFL ladder, and the Tigers had 17 players feature at least once for a total of 51 times, while the Bulldogs had 18 players picked once at least and for a 51 total times.

West Perth finished fourth on the ladder and the Falcons had 14 players picked at least once for a total of 51 times. Swan Districts rounded out the top five and had 14 players appear for a total of 48 times.

East Fremantle was sixth and had 17 players feature a total of 45 times with Peel Thunder next with 17 players for 39 appearances, East Perth with 16 players for 39, Perth with 13 players for 21 and the West Coast Eagles 10 for 14.

That ended up seeing West Perth feature four players plus an emergency in the Team of the Year while Subiaco and South Fremantle both had four players apiece in the final 22.

Claremont then featured three players in the last 22, East Fremantle two (and an emergency), Peel Thunder two and Swan Districts two (plus an emergency).

Out of the 19 Teams of the Round selected, Subiaco's Greg Clark and Claremont's Jye Bolton led the way with being chosen on 10 separate occasions. 

Claremont's Lachlan Martinis, Subiaco's Leigh Kitchin and West Perth's Aaron Black were next with nine selections while West Perth's Tyler Keitel and Claremont's Bailey Rogers received eight selections.

Then there comes the positions everyone was selected in. Starting with the back-line, East Fremantle's Matthew Jupp, South Fremantle's Noah Strom, Brandon Erceg and West Perth's Noah Pegoraro were the standout tall defenders. 

Jupp was named at full-back, Strom centre half-back, Erceg in a back pocket and Pegoraro as the emergency. Subiaco's Angus Dewar was named as a mid-size defender along with Zac Guadagnin with Claremont's Lachlan Martinis to provide the run and drive.

Those unlucky to miss out on being part of the defence included Swan Districts' Tony Notte, Subiaco's Hayden Kennedy, East Perth's Kye Willcocks and South Fremantle's Chad Pearson who all were named in Teams of the Round four times.

Swan Districts' Nelson Waite started the season well but spent most of the second half of the year in the reserves so wasn’t considered for selection.

The midfielders was where things really got interesting and we were forced to take some license. With not as many forwards receiving five or more nominations, there were midfielders who ended up being named to the forward-line out of necessity.

Subiaco's Greg Clark, Claremont's Jye Bolton and West Perth's Aaron Black took the three main on-ball positions in the Team of the Year while Claremont's Bailey Rogers and East Perth's were named on the wings.

Leigh Kitchin from Subiaco and Frank Anderson from Swan Districts are both midfielders, but were named at half-forward while South Fremantle's Haiden Schloithe also earned a spot in the forward pocket despite spending most of his time in the middle.

West Perth's Shane Nelson, Peel Thunder's Ben Hancock and East Fremantle's Blaine Boekhorst are also predominately midfielders and were named to the interchange, and Swan Districts' Jesse Turner as an emergency.

Midfielders who just missed out after four selections during the year were East Perth's Rohan Kerr, Swan Districts' Sam Fisher, East Perth's Aidan Lynch and East Fremantle's Kyle Baskerville.

The two standout key forwards of the season were South Fremantle's Mason Shaw and West Perth's Tyler Keitel, and they took out the centre half-forward and full-forward spots with Peel Thunder's Tyrone Thorne as the small forward.

Of the players who received four nominations to just miss out were East Fremantle's Jonathon Marsh, Perth's Kristian Cary, Subiaco's Ben Sokol and Claremont's Jack Buller.

The ruck position fluctuated throughout the season but in the end it went to Subiaco's Lachlan Delahunty with East Fremantle's Luke Strnadica named as an emergency. Swan Districts' Corey Gault lost his place by not playing after Round 15.

The final place in the team went to South Fremantle's Blake Schlensog. He split his season between being a key defender and key forward so it was fitting he was named to the interchange.

Players of the Round
Round 1 – Josh Schoenfeld (East Fremantle)
Round 2 – Sam Fisher (Swan Districts)
Round 3 – Greg Clark (Subiaco)
Round 5 – Haiden Schloithe (South Fremantle)
Round 6 – Tyrone Thorne (Peel Thunder)
Round 7 – Keegan Knott (West Perth)
Round 8 – Jye Bolton (Claremont)
Round 9 – Tyler Keitel (West Perth)
Round 10/11 – Jonathon Marsh (East Fremantle)
Round 12 – Jackson Ramsay (East Perth)
Round 14 – Warrick Wilson (Swan Districts)
Round 15 – Angus Schumacher (East Perth)
Round 16 – Oliver Eastland (Claremont)
Round 17 – Brandon Matera (Subiaco)
Round 18 – Aidan Lynch (East Perth)
Round 19 – Shane Nelson (West Perth)
Round 20 – Michael Randall (Peel Thunder)
Round 21 – Bailey Rogers (Claremont)
Round 22 – Jake Florenca (South Fremantle)