2026 for EP

Been saying that for donkeys and donkeys years 1949. And some people still wonder why interest in the Wafl has fallen off the cliff.

But if the 8 Wafl clubs agreed to all this shitty crap, sadly not much can be done.

I’m led to believe EP not at full strength for todays match rl. If they were, it may be a different story?

Didn’t you read my post from an hour ago?

The players representing EP will all still be proud and committed to wearing the jumper. A defeat like this is one for the coaches to work on so that there are no lingering effects. I still have confidence that we can make the finals and even the GF, if we have to play Peel then sobeit that is the WAFL as we have it in the era. Don’t write us off as a team or club.

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OUCH!! I did tip Peel but didn’t see that sought of scoreline coming.

I don’t think anyone writing East Perth off Grump. Then again that’s not the question.

Before today they’d only lost i think 4 matches. And those matches were only 1 or 2 goals in the negative.

Well I didn’t,but you guys had a dirty morning and afternoon.

Lunchtime game would have helped your digestion to some degree.

:smirking_face:

no definitely did not see that one

I did have a sneaky thought the Roys might pinch it during the week

but yeah looking at the page I see the VFL children played kick to kick again

that will not see anyone get points

bit stiff however getting so many VFL’ers we got them as well earlier on

I don’t subscribe to this full time professional theory,because if that’s the case,why did a semi professional EP side smash an Eagles side that contained a 16 full time professionals by 10 goals a few weeks ago??The AFL system won’t give you ability you haven’t got,and it might make you a little fitter,but when your 50 points down during the back end of the 1st quarter,fitness is clearly not a factor.

The major problem confronting us today,was Peel had too many players a class above WAFL level,ie Darcy,Sharp,Omeara, Wagner,banfield etc and I’ve never seen anyone monster his WAFL midfield counterparts like Sharp, who seems to bring his own football,and add the fact that Peel are allowed to add to their Docker list probably the WAFL recruit of the year in Tardrew,you have a recipe for disaster.

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You kind of disputed your own theory

I don’t see how Froth,it’s a case of a quality over quantity which is the basic point that you seem to have clearly missed,and if you can’t see the difference between the Eagle and Peel Docker players,than I’m afraid I can’t help you.

How do the ā€œfull time professionalsā€ fare in the SANFL??? The Adelaide and Port Adelaide sides never seem to cause much consternation over there as they never dominate,and neither are currently in the Top 5.

Well, that was two hours of my life that I’ll never get back (five hours if you count travel time and the quarter, half and three-quarter-time breaks).
Notwithstanding that East Perth was playing a virtual AFL reserves side, who just couldn’t miss when they got within 50 metres of goal, I could find no redeeming features in the abysmal performance that the Royals served up today.
And to again lose the vastly underrated Ethan Regan to what looks like another long-term injury made things worse.
While on injuries (and 2026 has been a challenging year for EP in that regard), the Royals certainly missed the leadership of co-captains Hamish Brayshaw and Christian Ameduri and the ever-reliable Harry Macreadie today.
Given the reserves’ strong win, I think changes will have to be made for the upcoming game against West Coast, who’ll fancy themselves a genuine chance of winning on Friday night.

Eagles full time professionals 10 goals inferior,but it’s hard to gauge the dent in the players confidence after todays shellacking,but other than Raykos there’s really no one to come in.

On that basis, we might only lose to the Eagles by 6 goals and not 16, Lucky. :worried:

In all seriousness, the fringe Dockers are no doubt desperate to be a chance of selection come September, so that gives them extra motivation to excel for the Thunder.

You’re right about the potential dent that this could do to our lads’ confidence, and that’s where Ross McQueen can hopefully step in.

In addition to Zach Raykos, Tyler Lindberg must be a chance of coming back in to the league side, and I’d give him an on-ball role.

Our small forwards were very quiet (and they weren’t Robinson Crusoe), so perhaps Will Cassidy - who showed a lot of promise last season before being injured - warrants reselection.

He can also play in the midfield if need be.

With Ethan Regan’s potential season-ending injury (I haven’t heard about the severity, but fear that he may’ve done another ACL), we’re desperately light on for key defenders.

Should our recruiting points allow, hopefully the club can pick up a stop-gap defender, either from another WAFL club or the ammos, before the June 30 clearance deadline.

The other option is to swing a tall, big-bodied player like Ben Middleton into defence and bring Tom Medhat (whom I rate as our most accurate shot for goal) back into our forward line.

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We live in hope Archie regarding turnarounds,but the first one that springs to mind,was in ā€˜79 when we spanked an Old Easts side that contained Peake,Judge,Green Buhagiar and Kevin Taylor by a 100 points on their own dung heap,only to be beaten by 2 points in the 1st semi a month later,as well as beating Perth by 10 goals at Perth Oval in ā€˜97,only to lose to Perth by 10 goals in the first semi a week later where they gained Abraham and Big Spinks and we lost Jeff White which resulted with in 1 week a 120 point turnaround,and although we were on the wrong end of both of them,it shows it can be done!!!

Seen the Weather for this Friday?

You’ll be lucky to get a few hundred in that mess!

Will your Club stick with Friday Night though,given a certain mob may knock on your doors,requesting it get changed to a day game?

Maybe Sunday?

Subi and Swans are already there Saturday.

Could be a Sunday Request with No WAFLW at Leederville next Weekend.

Brad Smith did a number on EP that year RL….remember going to both games, only 12 at the time, but remember my older brother(20) saying EF, after that 100 + pt drubbing, couldn’t of played any worse and EP any better…..both sides should of been swabbed.. ….was just EF final series in 79…..overcame a load of odds to win the flag that year…..underdogs in every final I reckon.

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Yeah Freeze,although we did beat you by 6 goals at Perth oval before that drubbing.The remarkable point about that turnaround was that the lineups were virtually unchanged,although Ian Miller and Wayne Otway were missing in the first semi,but what stung the most was Brad Smith plucked Ian Thomson,who couldn’t get a game in our premiership winning year,out of the Sunday league and he kicked 7 and the rest was history.

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Lucky, Thommo also kicked 6 of EF’s 13 goals when EP kicked 31 just 4 weeks before that cursed 1979 first semi-final.

Freeze, I believe that Round 18 game at EF Oval was the then Old Easts’ worst defeat (beating 100 points v WP at Leederville in 1960) to that stage of their proud history.

So, Brad Smith - the last-minute hero of EP’s 1978 premiership win - certainly turned things around for your boys.

Lucky, another example of massive turnarounds came in 1971 when our beloved Royals stitched up WP by 98 points in Round 13 (one of 4 EP wins over the Cardinals that year), only for the Polly Farmer-coached team to easily win the one game that mattered.

So, contrary to what I thought last night, all is not completely lost for the Royals in 2026, although we’ll need to have better luck/management with our continual injury toll to key players.

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