WE are now just days away from the opening of the 2018 WAFL season with the final pre-season results seeing wins for Subiaco, Peel Thunder, Swan Districts and South Fremantle – the top four teams from 2017 – across the weekend. Round 1 of the 2018 WAFL season now begins on Good Friday with Peel Thunder playing East Fremantle at Bendigo Bank Stadium while Subiaco also plays East Perth at Leederville Oval. Then on Saturday the other two matches in Round 1 sees West Perth take on Claremont at HBF Arena and Perth play Swan Districts at Lathlain Park. Read More ...

ADDING some AFL Grand Final and WAFL premiership experience in Nick Suban is a boost for South Fremantle but really coach Todd Curley is looking for the Bulldogs to be better against the league's best teams when it matters after reaching the past two preliminary finals. Having not played finals between 2012 and 2015, South Fremantle became a top team again by 2016 in Curley's second season at the helm as coach. They finished both the 2016 and 2017 seasons in second position at the end of the home and away campaigns. In 2016, they went on to thrash West Perth in the qualifying final before losing to Subiaco in the second semi-final and then Peel Thunder in the preliminary final. Read More ...

TWO premierships the past two WAFL seasons have Peel Thunder well and truly the hunted coming into 2018, but for coach Cam Shepherd it also has them a club people want to be part of and he has no reason to think they can't give a hat-trick a real crack. It's remarkable to think that four years ago Peel Thunder had never played in a WAFL final since entering the competition in 1997. They first qualified for finals in 2015 and ended up playing in two finals, but lost to West Perth at HBF Arena and then to East Perth at Bendigo Bank Stadium to bow out in straight sets. Read More ...

The 2018 McDonald's WAFL Premiership Season kicks off this Easter long-weekend, and what better way to celebrate the season launch than with the McDonald's WAFL Easter Egg Hunt! We will hide an easter egg a day (total of five eggs) on our website starting Monday 26 March. Clues on where these eggs are located will be posted daily on our social media accounts including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to help you out. Read More ...

BEING too successful during the home and away season is something that Subiaco coach Jarrod Schofield felt might have ultimately hurt the Lions in the past two WAFL Grand Finals so some added flexibility with player positions and game style will be a focus coming into 2018. Subiaco has played in the last four WAFL Grand Finals including finishing on top of the ladder the past three years accumulating a 52-8 win-loss record throughout the home and away seasons. It started off by winning a second straight premiership in 2015 but despite their home and away season dominance over the past two seasons, they have lost both Grand Finals to Peel Thunder. That has been increasingly difficult for Schofield and his playing group to stomach. Read More ...

THEY might have lost some quality and experience from their tall brigade, but West Perth coach Bill Monaghan is confident some youth and returning to a stronger defensive mindset will continue to have the Falcons around the mark in 2018. West Perth again reached finals in 2017 but that was only on the back of a stirring last round victory over Claremont before an unceremonious exit the next week at the hands of Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval. In some ways, it was the end of an era for a West Perth team that had won a premiership in 2013, made a grand final in 2015 and then also reached finals the previous two seasons – but really that is only on the surface. Read More ...

THE second round of WAFL pre-season fixtures took place on Saturday with South Fremantle, Peel Thunder, Perth and West Perth coming away with victories just two weeks out from Round 1 of the 2018 season. The opening round of the official pre-season fixtures took place the previous Saturday with wins for Subiaco against West Perth, East Perth over East Fremantle, Peel Thunder against Claremont and South Fremantle over Swan Districts. Then on Saturday, there were four more matches with South Fremantle beating East Perth 15.7 (97) to 6.3 (39), Peel Thunder defeating Subiaco 14.8 (92) to 6.7 (43), Perth downing Claremont 10.2 (62) to 7.11 (53) and West Perth prevailing over East Fremantle 14.12 (96) to 6.8 (44). Read More ...

Optus has committed to supporting football in Western Australia as a new premier partner of the West Australian Football Commission and an official broadcast partner of the West Australian Football League. The partnership will see Optus launch the ‘Optus Club Hero of the Week’ initiative aimed at rewarding volunteers from grassroots football clubs with unique experiences at Optus Stadium. The partnership will also include naming rights to the official WAFL App and the 7 Network’s WAFL half time segment. Read More ...

Kia Motors has formed a new partnership with the West Australian Football Commission to support community football at all levels throughout the State. The partnership will feature benefits that extend from junior football through to the West Australian Football League, including branding across community football, vehicles for WAFC development staff, and supporting the 7 Network’s television coverage of the WAFL. Kia Chief Operating Officer Damien Meredith said the partnership was a great opportunity to drive growth for both football and Kia in Western Australia. Read More ...

EAST Perth missed finals for the first time in six years in 2017 but a couple of players back from the AFL along with emerging colts and players from within the Royals' zone is giving coach Luke Webster plenty of confidence of bouncing back in 2018. Following five straight years of playing finals, which included Grand Final appearances in 2013 and 2014, East Perth was in the mix again in 2017 until losing the last two games of the season to Perth and Subiaco to end up finishing sixth with a 9-11 record. As an East Perth premiership player and former captain himself, Webster is passionate about ensuring the Royals are back to being a force in the WAFL in 2018 while also acknowledging they need to keep doing the right thing in terms of helping develop the West Coast AFL-listed players. Read More ...

IT'S fair to say 2017 went anything but to plan for East Fremantle but coach Rob Wiley is buoyant over the debutants they blooded and after identifying that they need some experience while improving their skill and fitness levels, he's confident of a vastly improved 2018. The Sharks did at least avoid the wooden spoon last season with a 61-point victory in the final round against the finals bound Swan Districts. That was a rare glimmer of joy in a year that only included the three victories though. Things were especially tough in the first half of the season culminating in the WA Day Foundation Derby loss to South Fremantle by the tune of 145 points. That meant East Fremantle's first nine losses came at an average of 57.1 points a game which saw them only average a score of 64.7 points while conceding 123.8. Read More ...

More than 400 girls from across metro and regional WA got the chance to kick the footy with AFL and AFLW players, as part of a female football ‘Come and Try’ initiative delivered by the WA Football Commission, in partnership with the State’s two AFL Clubs, this month. Hundreds of girls, some which had travelled all the way from Australind, got the chance to learn the basic skills of our great game in a fun and safe environment alongside their idols from both the Fremantle Dockers and West Coast Eagles. Read More ...

Eleven WA female footballers from Indigenous and multicultural backgrounds have flown across the country to take part in the 2018 AFL Medleys and Rio Tinto AFL Woomeras Leadership Program. The program which kicked off today, March 13, is a six-day camp which focusses on personal and cultural development and high performance training for 50 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Multicultural players from across the country. Read More ...

FINALLY a pre-season in their new Claremont Oval facility, the signings of Kane Mitchell and Tom Curren and some tough lessons learned from 2017 all have Claremont coach Darren Harris confident the Tigers can overcome the loss of some key players and thrive in 2018. It was a rollercoaster ride for Harris in his first season coaching Claremont in 2017 and his first year back at the helm of a WAFL club since his final season with West Perth back in 2005, where he was a premiership coach in 2003 on the back of his outstanding playing career with the Falcons. Things started well for the Tigers last year with three wins but then injuries began to mount and they lost the next six games. Throughout the second half of the season they did build some momentum and find some impressive form winning despite only winning five of the last 11 games. Read More ...

NIC Naitanui's return with East Perth might have garnered all the attention in the opening round of the WAFL pre-season fixtures but for eight clubs it was the first chance against real opposition as Round 1 of the 2018 season approaches. Naitanui returned for his first game since his knee reconstruction late in 2016 when he lined up for East Perth against East Fremantle at East Fremantle Oval on Saturday.  It has been hard not to have noticed that with the attention it garnered but there was plenty more happening across the WAFL competition throughout the day as the official pre-season contests got underway. Read More ...