WAFL: 2021 season review

It was an interrupted year for the WAFL Eagles, following quarantine restrictions and an injury cloud which loomed over the AFL squad.

But after a tough beginning, the WAFL Eagles found some form midway through the season as the AFL and WAFL-listed players furthered their craft and began to gel as a team.

Highlights from the year included Luke Shuey's return in the Eagles' first win of the year over first-placed Subiaco, Elliot Yeo's return from a long-term injury, and Kieran Hug being named as the WAFL Eagle of the Year.

Below is a review of the season with coach Daniel Pratt, as well as a comprehensive look at the best on ground for every match during the year.

Q&A with coach Daniel Pratt:

Run through the 2021 WAFL season from a coach’s point of view?

It was a difficult year, obviously the ups and downs you have with changes in the team, and personnel every week, it makes it difficult to get consistency, but what was pleasing for the most part is that the players every week turned up and competed consistently. It made it a real pleasure to be a part of and coach this year. There was probably three quarters throughout the year that I thought the players didn’t apply themselves correctly in regards to competing and competitive spirits, so to be able to do that regardless of the circumstances probably just shows the great leadership we had particularly from Hamish Brayshaw, our captain. Also our WAFL-listed leaders, and then the AFL players who came back and were able to connect, they were able to probably get the best of a really tough situation. Would’ve been good to finish off with some more balance with the personnel from the AFL list at the back end of the year, but the COVID and quarantining situation didn’t really help us unfortunately. So the last few games we finished with five or six players from the AFL list, but it’s given a really good opportunity for some of our WAFL-listed players to be exposed to that standard. Hopefully they take some positives and learnings from the season when they were given that opportunity.

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Obviously in the middle of the year, the team was able to build some consistency and notch up a few wins on the board. How was it seeing the AFL-listed players and WAFL-listed players gel and connect on field?

The first time the players really connected, just due to circumstances, was just before round one. And then we would connect each Saturday. So the WAFL-listed and the AFL-listed players wouldn’t be able to connect until game day. So it probably took six or seven rounds before we really started to see that connection build to something that was going to make us really competitive. From probably round eight onwards I feel like there was a much clearer understanding of their roles and expectations on game day and just the synergy and connections that build when you spend a lot of time with your teammates, that sort of came around that period. It didn’t stop them from showing up and competing in every game up until that point, then we just got some bang for buck after that and had a really good win against Subiaco when they were on top of the ladder, and then we had three more wins after that, with a mixture between nine AFL-listed players and 14 AFL-listed, so that’s a testament to the WAFL guys and the way they’ve developed throughout the year.

Would you say that first win was a highlight for the boys, to finally get some reward for effort?

I think so. I think the effort was probably getting to the point where we played two or three really good quarters in the weeks leading up, but we played good teams, Claremont, South Fremantle, leading into the Subiaco game, East Perth, and we played one or two poor quarters and it really exposed us. But, playing against a quality team like Subiaco I thought that day – and credit to Subiaco – they were down by 30 points at the start of the last quarter, and they fought back on. But that showed the resilience of our players, and it was really pleasing that the reward they got, particularly for our WAFL-listed players. It was probably getting quite difficult for them not winning games and they were probably watching their amateur teams winning each week, but they kept committing, and it was really good reward for effort.

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Who has impressed you throughout the season with their development, in terms of AFL-listed and WAFL-listed players?

The guys we’ve seen develop from the AFL list, Callum Jamieson, we’ve played him back, forward and in the ruck. Tall players can take a couple more years to develop, because their roles can be quite technical, but he’s really come on. Unfortunately he didn’t finish off the year due to injury. Isiah Winder, unfortunately missed a bit of footy also due to injury, but his growth over the last four or five weeks has been really good. We’ve also seen some real leadership growth from players like Xavier O’Neill and Brayden Ainsworth, I feel like they’ve probably played a bit more than other guys in the back end of the year, but it’s been great to grow with Hamish Brayshaw as the captain. Will Collins and Ben Johnson had to learn the hard way a little bit with defending against sometimes massive onslaughts, so great resilience building for them. Bailey Williams, I feel like is starting to understand expectations and how he needs to compete, when he gets that right, he’s a real threat at that level. And then we had a lot of guys who were in and out throughout the year, but what was pleasing for us as a footy club was their attitude, turned up to play each week which was good. From a WAFL-listed point of view, saw some real consistency and continual growth from guys like Kieran Hug and Seb Bentley, who’ve been with us the whole time. It was good to get Mitch Curnow a couple of games here, he hadn’t played a game for well over two years with a foot injury. We also saw real growth from Joey Deegan, who was the amateur best and fairest of the league last year, the medal winner, so he was often the fourth or fifth midfielder, but he still comes and plays his role and provides plenty of spark around the contest. Zane Sumich and Lennon Marlin in particular who have come off of WAFL lists, and then come back and joined us, I feel like the way they’ve developed and been able to compete every week, they’ve probably shown that they’re definitely at the WAFL standard. Then you’ve got guys like Jordan Busher and Liam Robilliard and Hamish Brayshaw, who have been great leaders within our group and driven standards, particularly when things got hard, after probably round four or five when we hadn’t won a game. So there’s been a lot of growth, that’s the way we’ve seen the year. With the personal and individual development probably the highlight for us as a football club.