WAFL needs some stars

WAFL WAFL General Chat
1

Thinking back to how we all got into the WAFL. There were our favourite players. Genuine stars. Players you couldn’t wait to see in action each weekend. Our comp needs some now. I don’t reckon we have that many at the moment. Who are the excitement machines a new fan might want to pay money to see or the media might want to write and talk about.

Hopefully we have a few up and coming than can actually capture the imagination of the fans and even bring a few newcomers through the gates.

These are the players born 1-7-93 or younger on WAFL lists who have played league football. Which ones can actually become the genuine deal?

[color=#ff0000]PERTH[/color]
Jared Bell 32, Laine Wilkins 42, Mitchell Brown 7, Spencer White 4, Kristian Cary 12, Matt Thompson 4, Kurtis Chester 10, Matthew Taylor 13, Lachlan Dennis 17, Michael Sinclair 61, Brent Edmonds 30, Reid Polak 7, Kayle Phillips 1, Taran Etto 12, Zac Fisher 8, Stephen Mills 5, Kodie Fleay 3, Sam Garstone 18, Fraser Millar 2, Sam McGillivray 4, Lennon Marlin 10, Kieran Hug 25, Marshall Jones 9, Cody Leggett 26

[color=#000088]EAST PERTH[/color]
Lewis Wilson 3, Julian Ameduri 17, Thomas Omodei 5, Beau Chatley 3, Mitch Lague 7, Tom Hodgson 1, Mitchell Fraser 69, Shayne Hille 16, Clayton Giblett 8, Tom Gorter 4, Callum Hart 35

[color=#ff0000]SOUTH FREMANTLE[/color]
Josh Branchi 15, Brendan Verrier 46, Tom Vandeleur 39, Brandon Donaldson 3, Jacob Dragovich 22, Zach Strom 47, Tim Stewart 9, Steven Edwards 21, Jake Florenca 2, Mason Shaw 14, Tyson Pickett 1, Simon Panizza 7, Brad McPhail 2, Kaiden Matera 3, Bailey Matera 3, Matthew Gundry 19, Blaine Johnson 14, Tim Kelly 64, Dylan Main 24

SWAN DISTRICTS
Nelson Ansey 14, Troy Yukich 11, Jacob Coniglio 14, Warrick Wilson 14, Aidan Clarke 2, Ben Whitsed 11, Jack Watson 8, Jesse Turner 15, Jason Daniels 12, Alby Dean 16, Brody Sutton 3, Levi Ridley 4, Sean Fletcher 3, Laurence Grescos 27, Brayden Hackett 5, Griffin Logue 5, Lindsay Murray 8, Dylan Nelson 14, Jake Nuich 17

[color=#0000bb]WEST PERTH[/color]
Drew Rohde 42, Nic Rodda 71, Brayden Antonio 23, Corey Chalmers 16, Mitchell Peirce 2, Dean Munns 10, Matthew Johnson 41, Tyson Moulton 1, Tyler Keitel 29, Aidan Lynch 35, Luke Meadows 40

[color=#008888]PEEL[/color]
Mitch Wallace 1, Brad Walsh 19, Richard Wight 3, Harrison Tyler 1, Blair Bell 10, Keegan Power 3, Corey Morris 11, Traye Bennell 9, Alex Bray 2, Brett Milward 1, Karl Collard 5, Jake Dowding 3, Nicholas Merritt 2, Josh McMahon 7, Nathan Fahey 6, Mitch Gill 7, Brad McGowan 5, Kieran May 4, Brayden Lawler 29, Jack Gomboc 1, Michael Humble 2, Andrew Haydon 8, Ben Hancock 33, Calvin Thorne 11

[color=#000044]CLAREMONT[/color]
Jack Beeck 29, Max Bentley 9, Hugo Breakey 28, Darcy Cameron 34, Jared Hardisty 13, Ben Higgs 2, Francis Watson 14, Justin Speed 4, Zac Langdon 6, Ryan Lim 32, Alex Manuel 1, Shane McAdam 11, Harrison McCracken 10, Tom Shanahan 13, Chris Oakley 1, Matthew Palfrey 14, Bailey Rogers 17, Sam Petrevski-Seton 3, Cameron Palmer 4, Toby Plant 2, Rowen Powell 15

[color=#0044ff]EAST FREMANTLE[/color]
Dylan Winton 30, Andrew Stokes 8, Jake Solomon 2, Jesse Adamini 1, Jake Schleicher 10, Dion Anthony 16, Conor Regan 2, Fraser Perry 8, Tom Marshall 1, Barry Barone 4, Julian Locantro 9, Matthew Jupp 55, Josh Cuneo 16, Aaron Holmes 2, Josef Hebiton 2, James Harrold 11, Jacob Green 8, Carl Green 1, Miles Franklin 13, Jack Fletcher 6, Brandon Ellis 22, Jordan Dorotich 32

[color=#440000]SUBIACO[/color]
James Garcia 13, Chris Bryan 12, Rhys Waters 63, Jeremy Woodley 1, Jordan Bestry 6, Michael Wood 41, Greg Clark 13, Ben Sokol 23, Max Walters 2, Dylan Clarke 12, David Madut 18, Braden Fimmano 8, Bill Fetherstonhaugh 35, Liam Ryan 9, Kyle Halligan 32, Joe Scafidi 3, Hayden Kennedy 30, Shaquille McKenzie 21, Declan Jackson 24

2

Liam Ryan is one. Cant afford to blink when he’s around. I’m pretty confident he will stand on someones head ala Michael Mitchell/Greg Wilkinson before seasons end

3

Liam Ryan is one. Cant afford to blink when he’s around. I’m pretty confident he will stand on someones head ala Michael Mitchell/Greg Wilkinson before seasons end
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Didn’t get too excited about his mark on Thursday night because he does that every week, loved his over the head look away handpass.

4

Good work La Hincha. From the Swans boys I think Nelson Ansey has a bit of X factor about him as well as Griffin Logue who looked the part from his first game, although he is likely to be drafted at the end of this year. Jake Nuich also has the potential to become a good WAFL player as well. Dylan Nelson has loads of talent but has chosen to play ammo’s this year

5

Yes its a bit like that outer. That handball you don’t see too often at any level

6

Liam Ryan is one. Cant afford to blink when he’s around. I’m pretty confident he will stand on someones head ala Michael Mitchell/Greg Wilkinson before seasons end
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Didn’t get too excited about his mark on Thursday night because he does that every week, loved his over the head look away handpass.
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Are you sure that handball wasn’t a throw?
Most overhead handpasses are throws because the hand holding the ball is never stil.It’s an interesting call.

7

Very true LH the WAFL is in desperate need of Stars but in this day and age they show any sort of promise and or x factor they are shipped off to the AFL and if they happen to be drafted to the 2 WA domiciled mobs they end up playing against you! :unsure:

8

Very true LH the WAFL is in desperate need of Stars but in this day and age they show any sort of promise and or x factor they are shipped off
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Very well summed up there. There could be great footballers in the Wafl if they stuck around long enough. But mechanisms are in place nowadays preventing that happening.
What the Wafl really needs is for this alignment crap to disappear forever and start receiving support from this so called commission.

9

Earl is trying to blend our playing group into a better team,so sticking to game plans and the basics is his focus right now.Having said that, Cody Leggett could be the one for me.

But our excitement machines are mainly in the Colts,like Quiton Narkle,Cody Kickett and a few others.A pity a few more Demons supporters couldn’t get down to Lathlain Park yesterday,if they didn’t get to Cunderdin to see these future Champs.

Oh well,there was a good atmosphere at the Colts’ Luncheon,especially in relation to one funny situation relating to Quinton’s so called touched Goal.Brought the House down.Kept the Dayat LATHLAIN going until after 3. :cheer:

10

Unfortunately no-one in EFs lot have that X factor.

Watched a recording of Mike Sheehan’s Open Mike with Warren Capper and would love to see another goal kicking forward who took hangs week in week out like him, even with his tight shorts and all.
Mark “Jacko” Jackson is on this Tuesday night…another character of the game that you would pay to go and watch regardless of which club he played for.

These sort of players aren’t around anymore…or I should say aren’t allowed to be. :wink:

11

So what about Lewis Krakouer

12

He looks as though he could have something to offer in the future.

13

He was born in 91 so he doesnt quite meet LH’s criteria!

14

Very true LH the WAFL is in desperate need of Stars but in this day and age they show any sort of promise and or x factor they are shipped off to the AFL and if they happen to be drafted to the 2 WA domiciled mobs they end up playing against you! :unsure:
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We’ve been through all of this before but it would be so good if they lifted the draft age to 20. Blokes could finish under 18s and then play two seasons of wafl/sanfl/vfl and then be eligible for the draft. Afl clubs would be better off because it would give them a much, much better idea of who they are drafting, the state leagues would be better off because of obvious reasons - everybody wins, it’s got me buggered why there isn’t more talk of this.
Each afl club could be allowed to pick one 19 yo which would allow the Chris Judds and johnathon browns and those sort of brilliant youngsters to come straight into the top level after one season of state league.

15

Close but no cigar.

16

Very true LH the WAFL is in desperate need of Stars but in this day and age they show any sort of promise and or x factor they are shipped off to the AFL and if they happen to be drafted to the 2 WA domiciled mobs they end up playing against you! :unsure:
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We’ve been through all of this before but it would be so good if they lifted the draft age to 20. Blokes could finish under 18s and then play two seasons of wafl/sanfl/vfl and then be eligible for the draft. Afl clubs would be better off because it would give them a much, much better idea of who they are drafting, the state leagues would be better off because of obvious reasons - everybody wins, it’s got me buggered why there isn’t more talk of this.
Each afl club could be allowed to pick one 19 yo which would allow the Chris Judds and johnathon browns and those sort of brilliant youngsters to come straight into the top level after one season of state league.
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That just makes far too much sense for the Football Industry to understand and comprehend TOO ..not too mention it would do ol vfl mate Kevin Sheehan out of a job if the 18s Carnival was made virtually irrelevant!

17

Yeah it is hard when most of the really talented players get drafted but having said that some slip through the net for a variety of reasons. The trick is how do we stop them from quitting when they don’t get drafted. More than ever, footy doesn’t mean that much to a lot of kids which is a shame. There’s also those that don’t get drafted because of a perceived “attitude” problem despite having immense talent. It would be nice to think that we could turn some of them into WAFL stars. I mean at the moment, the WAFL contains a lot of highly dedicated, honest, workmanlike players who aren’t necessarily very skilled.

Another thing is modern day coaching/team rules.

I mean you can’t have a shot from the boundary anymore nor snap over your head to goal.

You can’t go for the hang usually in case you hit the deck and give the opposition an extra upright player in the contest on the ground. Not to mention that kicking long to a pack is frowned upon.

The torp has just about gone. And of course RIP the drop kick.

It’s as though all the risk, and thus excitement, are being eliminated from the game.

In fact I wonder if some of the great excitement machines of the past would have even made it to league football under today’s circumstances.

And of course then we can talk about the characters. Eccentric, flamboyant, sometimes undisciplined players that provided a lot of discussion. Those types are banished early on in colts footy nowadays.

Watching all that old footage of SANFL matches has brought it home to me.

18

I personally don’t like all the rule changes either but I’d very tempted to make the minimum distance for a mark 30 metres instead of 15. I’m sick of short sideways, backwards kicks to maintain possession. That’s soccer not footy as I know it.

19

Great topic La Hincha the WAFC if they have any brains would be putting a lot of thought and resources into the suggestions you raise by your post. Unfortunatley I think our WAFC including our Council of Presidents are like lights on and no one home…

From my club I love the way Marlion Pickett plays his footy carefree , attacking , silky majestic , skilful all qualities that I think people would love to come to the footy to watch.

20

From Subi I’d agree with the other posters that Liam Ryan is a standout and he’s probably already there and will most likely finish in the top 6-8 of the B&F. I’d put Kyle Halligan in the same bracket although he is injured right now.

David Madut - if only he could avoid injury. A powerful imposing player. Not many big blokes can leap like him and run with that kind of speed. And he’s just starting to take some big marks. In fact, his latest knee injury was caused by landing from an absolutely towering grab against Claremont in the reserves a few months back.

Chris Bryan - Is able to scoop the ball off the ground one handed at will and has the best evasive skills I’ve seen of any Subi player for quite a few years. He can zip-zap left or right around traffic with ease.

Max Walters - Does try some unorthodox moves. I actually have seen him do this “goose step” type Maneuver in colts a couple of times. Goes in hard, gets a lot of the footy and can fly for a grab. I’m hoping the fact that he plays a bit “different” doesn’t cost him a regular place in the side in future. Goodness knows the comp needs some different players.