WAFL Team of the Week – Round 12Tuesday, July 4, 2023 - 9:56 PM - by Chris Pike

THERE were plenty of shining performances across the three games in the WAFL on Saturday afternoon in Round 12 with Claremont and Subiaco playing out a tight one, Peel Thunder overrunning South Fremantle, and East Fremantle setting some records against the West Coast Eagles.

There might have only been three games in the last of the split rounds in the WAFL with East Perth, Perth, Swan Districts and the West Coast Eagles having the bye, but that didn’t mean competition wasn’t again hot for spots in the Round 12 Team of the Week.

All three matches took place on Saturday afternoon at 2.10pm and there was a top of the table clash between Claremont and Subiaco at Revo Fitness Stadium. The Tigers ended up holding out the Lions 10.14 (74) to 10.7 (67) to move a game and percentage clear in top position.

From that win, Claremont's Jack Maibaum, Jye Bolton, Anthony Davis, Oliver Eastland and Callan England have all made the Team of the Week. Jaxon McGowan, Stefan Giro and Taj Schofield also made it from Subiaco.

South Fremantle were in a strong position for three quarters at Lane Group Stadium but Peel Thunder kicked the last five goals of the game to go from 20 points behind to end up winning 10.14 (74) to 9.8 (62).

The Peel players who were named in the Team of the Week as a result are Karl Worner, Bailey Banfield, Blair Bell and Corey Wagner. The South Fremantle players nominated are Riley Colborne, Zac Strom and Tom Blechynden.

It wasn’t quite as close at the WACA Ground with East Fremantle kicking their second highest ever score and recording a second biggest ever win by annihilating the West Coast Eagles 33.17 (215) to 4.7 (31).

It's no surprise that plenty of East Fremantle players had big days out with Matthew Jupp, Kyle Baskerville, Brayden Lawler, Cody Leggett, Dillon O'Reilly, Cam Eardley and Jonathon Marsh all making the Team of the Week.

PLAYER OF THE ROUND – JACK MAIBAUM (CLAREMONT)

Often it's the forwards who kick a bag of goals or the midfielders who rack up big numbers, but you can't underestimate the importance of good defenders and Jack Maibaum is proving to be one of the recruits of the WAFL season for Claremont.

Maibaum might have had four kicks, one handpass, three marks and two tackles on Saturday afternoon for Claremont against Subiaco at Revo Fitness Stadium. 

He had less of the ball in his hands than any player on the ground, but he could very well have had more of an impact on the win for Claremont than anybody to help the Tigers overcome the Lions and move a game and percentage clear on top of the WAFL ladder.

It's been a fascinating ride for Maibaum to arrive at Claremont for the 2023 WAFL season.

He was drafted by the Sydney Swans back in 2016 from the Eastern Rangers and despite strong NEAFL performances in three of the four seasons he was there, he couldn’t quite cut it for an AFL debut. His 2019 was over before it started with a ruptured ACL.

He remained at the Swans as a rookie in 2020, but has been playing for Coburg in the past two seasons which saw him confirm himself as one of the best key defenders outside the AFL.

Maibaum was named to the VFL Team of the Year in both 2021 and 2022 while also finishing runner-up in Coburg's best and fairest voting before being recruited by Claremont to come west to boost their key defensive stocks in 2023.

The 25-year-old has lived up to the billing as well for Claremont taking on the best opposition key forwards so far this season and he has been instrumental in the Tigers sitting clear on top of the WAFL ladder.

That was never more evident than on Saturday against Subiaco where he took on the job of Subiaco's dual Bernie Naylor Medal winner Ben Sokol.

Sokol came into the game fresh off kicking 13 goals in Subiaco's last two wins against West Perth and West Coast while leading the Bernie Naylor Medal race once more with 34 goals in his 10 games while having kicked 311 in his 139-game, triple premiership winning career.

However, Maibaum completely blanketed him on Saturday and kept him scoreless for just the 10th time in his career with four of those occurrences happening back in 2014 and 2015 at South Fremantle.

It's the first time that Sokol has gone scoreless since Round 5, 2020 against Peel and the first time he hasn’t kicked at least one goal in a game since Round 9, 2020 against West Perth.

What Maibaum did in keeping him scoreless and to five kicks can't be underestimated and is the best possible illustration of how someone can be a match winner without racking up enormous amounts of the ball or kicking a bag of goals.

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)

WAFL TEAM OF THE WEEK – ROUND 12

BACK: Jack Maibaum (C), Matthew Jupp (EF), Riley Colborne (SF)
HALF-BACK: Jye Bolton (C), Anthony Davis (C), Jaxon McGowan (S)
CENTRE: Karl Worner (PT), Kyle Baskerville (EF), Stefan Giro (S)
HALF-FORWARD: Taj Schofield (S), Zac Strom (SF), Brayden Lawler (EF)
FORWARD: Cody Leggett (EF), Dillon O'Reilly (EF), Bailey Banfield (PT)
FOLLOWERS: Oliver Eastland (C), Blair Bell (PT), Tom Blechynden (SF)
INTERCHANGE: Cam Eardley (EF), Corey Wagner (PT), Jonathon Marsh (EF), Callan England (C)

FULL-BACK – MATTHEW JUPP (East Fremantle)
The East Fremantle captain had a day out in his team's remarkably big win but for him to standout defensively was actually a good effort considering West Coast only had 33 inside 50s and kicked four goals. He repelled plenty of those to end the afternoon with 25 possessions and 12 marks as the Sharks and WAFL State team captain earned a place in the Team of the Week for a fifth time already in 2023.

BACK POCKET – RILEY COLBORNE (South Fremantle)
South Fremantle coach Todd Curley pulled a bit of a rabbit out of his hat on Saturday by using his athletic 20-year-old in his 19th WAFL game to get the job on Peel Thunder livewire Sebit Kuek who had kicked six goals in his last game two weeks ago. However, the match up proved a masterstroke as he was able to match Kuek for size, for speed and for athleticism, and completely blanketed him. He kept him to just five kicks and one goal while having 11 touches and two marks himself.

HALF-BACK FLANK – JYE BOLTON (Claremont)
He is now 143 games into his WAFL career with Claremont to be on the verge of earning life membership and you can clearly see the drive he has to try to help the Tigers to that elusive premiership. He again spent most of the time off half-back in the eventual win against Subiaco but did spend some time on the ball to try to settle things in the second half. Ended up with 25 touches, four marks and two tackles to make the Team of the Week for a seventh time in 2023.

CENTRE HALF-BACK – ANTHONY DAVIS (Claremont)
Kicking the first goal of his 47-game career was almost enough on its own to see him earn a position in the Team of the Week, but he did plenty more than that as part of a strong Claremont defensive unit. Not only did he kick a goal, but he finished with 20 possessions, eight marks and four tackles but more importantly, he did a standout defensive job to limit Subiaco's Ryan Borchet to four kicks, one mark and one goal for the day.

HALF-BACK FLANK – JAXON MCGOWAN (Subiaco)
The Subiaco reserves premiership player from 2022 and colts premiership player from 2020 has made himself an important member of Lions back-line in 2023 both with the defensive jobs he is doing, and what he is doing with ball in hand going the other way. He spent a lot of Saturday's game against Claremont opposed to Talon Delacey along with Zac Mainwaring, and did a tremendous job to limit the influence of both while also finishing with 19 touches, four tackles and three marks.

WING – KARL WORNER (Peel Thunder)
His running power was again on show on Saturday and he got better the longer the game went, and that coincided with the performance of his Peel team who were able to kick the last five goals to overrun South Fremantle. He was instrumental in that eventual victory with 29 possessions and seven marks with his run and carry tremendous to make the Team of the Week for a fifth time.

CENTRE – KYLE BASKERVILLE (East Fremantle)
It was party time for East Fremantle in the 184-point win against West Coast and he had a field day in the midfield to continue his tremendous season for the Sharks. He racked up another 31 possessions, 10 marks, three tackles, three inside-50 entries and a goal to earn his place in the Team of the Week for a third occasion already in 2023.

WING – STEFAN GIRO (Subiaco)
The reigning Subiaco fairest and best winner who played 15 AFL matches with Fremantle is having another strong season, and had a significant impact on Saturday even if the Lions just fell short in a big finish against Claremont. Surprisingly he started the second half on the interchange, but once Beau Wardman put him back into the contest, he delivered a standout performance the rest of the day and ended up with 20 touches, six tackles, four inside-50 entries and a goal to make the Team of the Week for a fourth occasion in 2023.

HALF-FORWARD FLANK – TAJ SCHOFIELD (Subiaco)
The 20-year-old son of Subiaco premiership winning wingman and coach Jarrod is building into his first WAFL season nicely splitting his time between playing at half-forward and then pinch-hitting in the middle for the Lions. In just the 10th game of his league career, he did what he could to keep Subiaco in the contest in the first half and then to try help lead the second half fightback. He ended up kicking two goals to go with 19 disposals to make the Team of the Week for the first time.

CENTRE HALF-FORWARD – ZAC STROM (South Fremantle)
The 167-game versatile veteran who is not only a life member at South Fremantle but also a premiership player and fairest and best winner is almost playing a lone hand at the moment as a key forward option for the Bulldogs. He's doing it well and did what he could to try and lift the Bulldogs to the win on Saturday against Peel. He kicked two goals to go with 16 possessions, four tackles and three marks.

HALF-FORWARD FLANK – BRAYDEN LAWLER (East Fremantle)
He is in his first season at East Fremantle having previously played 121 games with Peel where he won two premierships, and has become an important member of the Sharks forward-line where his job is to apply strong defensive pressure, and make the most of his chances around goal. He did all of that well in the huge win over West Coast to finish with four goals to go with 23 disposals, nine marks, five tackles and two inside 50s.

FORWARD POCKET – CODY LEGGETT (East Fremantle)
Was playing the 100th game of his WAFL career which began with the first 67 of them at Perth before he eventually was allowed to join East Fremantle after a drawn out saga in 2020. Has settled into a role now over the past 12 months as an important goalkicking threat for East Fremantle as well and that continued against the Eagles at the WACA Ground. He celebrated his 100th game by kicking six goals from 11 kicks and nine marks to have now managed 24 goals in his seven appearances in 2023.

FULL-FORWARD – DILLON O'REILLY (East Fremantle)
His career-best run of form continued as the East Fremantle key forward had another day out against West Coast in the second biggest win in Sharks history. He ended up kicking another five goals from 13 kicks and 11 marks as he lays his claim to be the best tall forward in the WAFL right now. The 23-year-old has kicked 15 goals over the last three games to be in some ominous form and make the Team of the Week after each of those performances.

FORWARD POCKET – BAILEY BANFIELD (Peel Thunder)
Having played 12 AFL matches so far this season with the Dockers, he was dropped back to Peel on Saturday after having just nine possessions the last two games against Richmond and the GWS Giants. He needed to respond by finding some form with the Thunder and he did that while spending most of the game in the forward-line. He ended up 19 disposals, nine marks, nine inside-50 entries, seven tackles and a goal.

RUCK – OLIVER EASTLAND (Claremont)
The two leading ruckmen in the competition went head to head on Saturday in the Claremont clash with Subiaco, and for the second time in 2023 he got the better of Zac Clarke from the Lions. Clarke has dominated every game he's played this season now except the two against Claremont and he deserves enormous credit for that. The State ruckman was instrumental in the win against Subiaco for the Tigers ending up with 11 possessions, 34 hit outs and three tackles to make the Team of the Week for a fourth time.

RUCK ROVER – BLAIR BELL (Peel Thunder)
The dual premiership winning hard man is now 115 games into his career with Peel and he's somewhat a pinch-hit on-baller at this point, but when he's in the middle his impact is immediate and significant. That was evident again with what he was able to do to make the most of his time in the middle in the eventual win against South Fremantle where he finished with 23 touches, seven inside 50s, five marks and two tackles.

ROVER – TOM BLECHYNDEN (South Fremantle)
It might be an increasingly frustrating season for South Fremantle but he is one player who has taken his game to the next level on the back of the increased responsibility as a leader in the midfield. He had already stepped up tremendously as a regular on-baller last year, but now has taken another leap forward in 2023 and continued that on Saturday despite the loss to Peel. Finished with 33 possessions, five marks, five tackles and four inside 50s to make the Team of the Week a third time.

INTERCHANGE – CAM EARDLEY (East Fremantle)
The 158-game East Fremantle veteran continues to be one of the most effective defenders in the competition with the combination of what he can do setting up play with ball in hand, but also the inspirational ways he cuts off opposition forays forward, and puts his body on the line. Did that in spades in the massacre of West Coast on Saturday to end up with 35 touches, 10 marks, five inside 50s and a goal.

INTERCHANGE – COREY WAGNER (Peel Thunder)
Having only added two more AFL matches with Fremantle this year to the 21 he's played at a career where he's been with North Melbourne and Melbourne previously, he continues to show tremendous form with Peel to be ready for another call up from the Dockers should it eventuate. The 26-year-old showed his class in the Thunder back-line once more while spending time on the wing to use his running power. Ended up with 24 touches, seven marks, three tackles and two inside 50s to make the Team of the Week for a second occasion.

INTERCHANGE – JONATHON MARSH (East Fremantle)
The East Fremantle powerhouse enjoyed his afternoon against West Coast on Saturday in the 73rd game of his WAFL career. He needed the confidence boosting performance as well and he enjoyed himself out on the WACA Ground along with his teammates in the 184-point win by kicking a season-best five goals from 17 possessions, six marks and three inside-50 entries to make the Team of the Week for a second time in 2023.

INTERCHANGE – CALLAN ENGLAND (Claremont)
Continued what is likely the best and most consistent season of his 78-game WAFL career with another strong performance in the midfield as the Tigers beat the Lions. All but seven of his games have been at Claremont aside from the seven at East Perth thanks to the West Coast alignment, but this is the first season he's played as a regular on-baller and he continues to thrive. Finished with another 19 touches, six inside 50s and five marks to make Team of the Week for the fourth time.
 

UNLUCKY BUNCH

There were plenty of players who delivered tremendous performances across Round 12 but couldn’t quite fit into the Team of the Round, including:

Claremont's George Graham, Teia Miles, Ben Elliott and Declan Mountford.

Subiaco's Ben Golding, Isaac Clinch, Angus Dewar, Leigh Kitchin and Liam Hickmott.

East Fremantle's Alex Montauban, Fraser Turner, Milan Murdock and Harry Marsh.

West Coast's Josh Browne, Ethan Hansen and Jackson Nelson.

Peel Thunder's Travis Colyer, Joel Hamling and Will Brodie.

South Fremantle's Noah Strom, Chad Pearson, Toby McQuilkin, Glenn Byron and Jake Florenca.