The West Coast Eagles have bounced back to claim the WA Blind AFL Premiership with a resounding 29-point win over Fremantle last Saturday at Mineral Resources Park’s indoor facility.
It is the first blind premiership the Eagles have won after going down to their crosstown rivals in March during the competition’s inaugural season.
The injury-hit Eagles entered the match as underdogs but a six-goal blitz to Caitlin Hannen-Williams helped set up the 9.9 (63) to 4.10 (34) triumph.
The victory caps off a hugely successful year for the WA Blind AFL competition.
In the lead up to last week’s final, Blind Football was able to play every Saturday at Mineral Resources Park thanks to the support from Blind Sports WA, the WA Football Commission, WA Umpires and the West Coast Eagles.
“During season two we were able to gain a more valuable asset from a location point of view, moving to Mineral Resources Park,” WA All Abilities Football Executive Officer Hayden Marchetto said.
“We needed a facility that was indoors and had a grass surface and there is only one of those in WA, being Mineral Resources Park’s indoor training facility.
“West Coast, who is a foundation partner, were able to provide us with that space for five rounds each weekend to make up season two of the competition.”
Following the success of season one participants were extremely eager to get another season underway with All Abilities Football, Blind Sports WA and West Coast deeming that another season starting in October would be the best option moving forward.
“The energy from the participants was huge and we had another opportunity to play a season this year due to the venue availability,” Marchetto said.
“From a gameplay perspective it was great to see a vast amount of improvement from the participants and the players showed more confidence around the ball.
“Everybody loved playing inside, it gave us the opportunity to play on grass without the glare from the sun which can cause interruptions.”
WA Blind AFL will look to stage a third season in 2023 with an opportunity to expand the number of games played giving participants more opportunity to develop their skills, with West Coast keen to continue supporting the competition.
“Depending on participant availability we will look to have one longer season over the next calendar year,” Marchetto said.
“The players are our primary stakeholders in this so there’s a lot of factors that need to come together to get a season underway and our primary focus is to add value to our participants’ journeys rather than impact it.”
