FootyGoss :: Club News - Swan Districts [New Talent Time]

New Talent Time

One aspect of the WAFL competition that fans have been forced to accept over the past decade or two has been a high turn-over of players at most clubs from season to season.

With many footballers keen to explore all avenues to the AFL, and more financially lucrative leagues over east or in the country, most clubs have little choice but to promote a batch of youngsters and a few recruits to top up their lists each year.

Rewind 12 months and out of the 176 players that took part in Round 15 action in the 2007 WAFL season (Round 14 for West Perth who had the bye in Round 15 last year) only 75 of those players played WAFL league football last weekend.

The team that took the field for the Falcons last weekend featured 14 players that took on East Fremantle in Round 14 last season, the most of any team.

Remarkably, there are only three Swans that played in 2007’s Round 15 belting from East Fremantle and 2008’s thrilling Round 15 victory over Perth.

All other clubs fall somewhere in between - Subiaco 13, Peel 12 (from their Round 14 2008 team), East Fremantle 11, South Fremantle and Claremont 9, Perth and East Perth 8.

One benefit of this revolving door of players for WAFL fans is the introduction of new and exciting talent into the league as has been the case in 2008 with a number of rookies and recruits making a huge impact on the league.

The club that has seen the largest influx of new players into their league team this season has been Swan Districts and these lively youngsters and hard-nosed new faces have been a major reason behind the team’s rise to second on the premiership ladder.

There has been plenty written about dynamic rookies Nicholas Naitanui and Chris Yarran but other young pups such as Ryan Davis, Tony Notte and Brett Wolfenden have also made an impression.

Likewise the inclusion of the likes of Werribee’s Brett Robinson and Wayde Twomey as well as Tim Geappen from Tasmania has given the Black and Whites a whole new look from past seasons.

Claremont has been another team to make a huge amount of changes to their playing stocks this season, with a vastly different result to Swan Districts, as the Tigers have tumbled from top to bottom.

The positive for last year’s Minor Premiers is the development of some of their first-year players with Ian Richardson winning the Simpson Medal for his performance in the state game against Queensland and Matt De Boer, Henry Roberts and Patrick McGinnity all showing that they have a bright future.

Elsewhere in the WAFL there have been a number of recruits who have made their mark and have had an impact on the fortunes of their club.

Nowhere is this more noticable than at EfTel Oval where Ian Cruttenden, Will Sullivan and the highly-rated Young brothers, Ross and Seamus, have helped turned Perth from a basket case into a genuine finals contender.

At Peel, midfielders Simon Rosa and Luke Hammond have been instrumental in keeping the Thunder in the finals race and in feeding goalsneak Hayden Ballantyne.

While at South Fremantle Simon O’Keefe, Sam Hunt and Nick Paine have all played their part and the Bulldogs have O’Keefe and Paine in particular to thank for a couple of their victories this season.

Here’s a team that Footygoss has put together featuring the best First Year players in 2008. To be eligible for selection in our team a player must have made his WAFL debut this season.

FB: Luke Sampey (EP) - Ian Cruttenden (P) - Henry Roberts (C)
HB: Wayde Twomey (SD) - Sam Hunt (SF) - Ryan Davis (SD)
C: Simon Rosa (PT) - Brett Robinson (SD) - Simon O’Keefe (SF)
HF: Tim Geappen (SD) - Seamus Young (P) - Ian Richardson (C)
FF: Nick Paine (SF) - Tony Notte (SD) - Chris Yarran (SD)
R: Nicholas Naitanui (SD) - Ross Young - Adam Cockie (S)
Int (from): Brett Wolfenden (SD), Luke Hammond (PT), Will Sullivan (P), Matt De Boer (C),
Ben Noakes (EP), Wes Lammie (SD), Tom Howlett (EP).

DAVID LINDSAY