East Perth Football Club Latest News

The Bakari Royals

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +1100

The East Perth Football Club has entered a new and exciting era. Check out the link to the article in The West featuring our boys with Nic Naitanui

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/-/eagles/12249412/nic-nat-relishes-new-role/

2012 Corporate Classic

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +1100

2012 Corporate Classic

Our annual Corporate Classic promotion is on again and is bigger and better than ever. This is the perfect opportunity to get you're business involved with our great Club. For $1000 +GST your business is in the running to win the major prize worth over $50,000!!!.

This includes

your company logo on the front of our League and Reserves jumpers for 2012
1 sign to be placed under the electronic scoreboard at Medibank Stadium
1 perimeter sign facing the television cameras at Medibank Stadium
A VIP corporate box including hospitality at all East Perth home games
A return trip for 2 including 6 nights accomodation to your choice of either Phuket or Singapore

+ Much Much More

For further details please click here

Letter From The President

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +1000

To Our Fellow Loyal Royals

When we think of East Perth Football Club one word springs to mind. Passion. We have a passion for the game and more importantly a passion for our great Club. Passion is something deep within every Royal and makes us what we are as players and supporters alike. We also pride ourselves on being a family club. As a Club we are one family. As a Club we make every effort to ensure all aspects of the Club are family friendly so we do not exclude anyone.

Expressing passion for the game and our Club is one of the great elements of being part of the Royals, and being at the game gives us all the opportunity to show our support. It also brings the responsibility of upholding a tradition of respect for others and ourselves. We ask all members and supporters to celebrate our success on and off the field in the true spirit of the game, as reflected in our Code of Conduct. Please Click Here for the East Perth Members Code of Conduct

We thank you for your ever growing support and hope you enjoy what should be a very exciting year for the boys in black and blue.

Yours sincerely

Bronte Howson and Tony Micale

President & Head Coach

Lee proud of chance to represent WA

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +1000

PROLIFIC East Perth ball winner Brendan Lee did as he does every week for the Royals in racking up 35 possessions in Western Australia's State game win over Queensland on Saturday and for the 23-year-old it gave him the chance to tick off one of the goals he had set himself.

Lee was one of two East Perth players selected for WA at Bendigo Bank Stadium along with Josh Smith and both represented the Royals with pride.

While Smith walked away with the Simpson Medal after kicking five goals, Lee worked hard all day long even though he started on the bench and finished with 35 disposals and four entries inside-50.

He had a big impact in setting up runners like Ryan Cook, Ryan Brabazon, Kane Mitchell and Tom Roach to run and carry the ball forward as well in what was a terrific debut appearance for WA.

After now being a regular in the East Perth team since 2009, Lee wanted to continue and even build on his form with the Royals in 2011 and try to play for WA. As a result, he was delighted to get the call from coach Brian Dawson.

"I did have it as a goal for myself this year to get into the squad to play State footy and it was everything that I thought it would be," Lee said.

"I was rapt to get the call up. It's obviously a huge honour and it was good to get the win, and experience playing with guys who you obviously don’t play with every week. It was a good day overall in the end."

Lee had no trouble whatsoever working his way into the game after starting on the bench and he also liked the fact that he had such quality running players outside of him to dish the ball off to.

"Coming off the bench isn’t something that new to me and I'm used to coming on and having an immediate impact. It was especially easy to work my way into the game with the boys we did have in there flicking the ball around," he said.

"Guys like Brabazon, Roachy, Cooky and those guys were great to have running through the midfield for me to get the ball out to. That really compliments my game so I can get inside and handball out, so it made my life pretty easy having him there."

Lee certainly learned plenty from training with and playing alongside a host of rival players from opposition teams. While the midfielders he worked alongside with stood out too, Subiaco ruckman Michael Rix who had 42 hit outs was outstanding.

"It's good to see all of these guys up close. When you play against them you don’t really appreciate what they are really good at and appreciate how hard they work," he said.

"Rixy really stood out for me in the ruck and he was dominant with his hit outs, and he certainly made the job of all us midfielders a lot easier."

The game itself saw WA opening up a seven-plus goal advantage in the last quarter but then only ended up winning by six points. While it was a little disappointing to allow Queensland to get so close, any win for your state is memorable.

"Obviously it was pretty ordinary to finish off the way that we did and they ended up kicking 8.4 in that last quarter so they played some good footy after we were up early in that last quarter by so much," he said.

"We'll take the win in the end obviously though. Daws spoke before the game and during the week about how much they have developed, and come along to the point where this was close to the best side that they would have put out.

"We knew that they would come back at us all day, but we would have liked to think that we'd win by a bit more than a goal after how much we were up by though. They have developed a lot more obviously and the comp is going well over there."

Lee also enjoyed being alongside Smith as the only two East Perth representatives and he was proud to see the big man do so well up forward to take home the Simpson Medal.

"Given we are the only two East Perth players we looked at it as being an ambassador for the footy club, and in turn for the State so we definitely had that in the backs of our mind running out there," he said.

"He has been on fire Smithy and when we see him get his big dukes out and kick a few goals it's always good. He did play up the ground a bit early and then pushed back down deep, so it was good for him to kick a few."

Having played in the State game on Saturday means that both Lee and Smith have yet to have a break this season after 14 weeks due to East Perth still being alive in the Foxtel Cup.

However, that's not a concern to Lee whatsoever and his body is holding up fine despite the workload.

"My body's actually not too bad. Mike (Vega), our conditioning trainer, looks after us well during the week and we always get our Sunday rehab done and things like that," Lee said.

"We knew that our schedule was going to be solid over the last three months so you get in the pool every Sunday and get a rub every Thursday just to make sure that you can get up to play the next week."

Royals pair do East Perth proud for WA

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +1000

EAST Perth duo Josh Smith and Brendan Lee were a major part of Western Australia's State game victory over Queensland on Saturday with Smith taking out the Simpson Medal and Lee being one of the best on ground also.

Western Australia won the thrilling State game 16.17 (113) to 16.11 (107) and it's likely that Queensland could have scored its first ever victory over WA if it hadn't been for the East Perth pair.

Smith and Lee were the only East Perth players selected in the WA squad and both put in outstanding performances in what was a State debut for both proud West Australians.

Smith started the game up forward alongside Swan Districts' Ashley Hansen, Claremont's Ian Richardson and West Perth and WA captain Jason Salecic, but his best impact of the first half came pinch hitting in the ruck.

However, the big man got hold of the game in the third quarter as he began to dominate the Queensland defenders who had no answer for him. Smith took five strong contested marks inside the forward 50 for the third term alone and kicked four goals.

Then when he added his fifth at the eight-minute of the last quarter he gave WA a 50-point advantage. Even though Queensland came back from there, Smith's efforts were outstanding and he finished with not only five goals, but 19 disposals and 10 marks to win the Simpson Medal.

Lee might have started the game on the five man interchange bench, but he hasn’t become one of the best and hardest ball winners in the competition for nothing over the past two WAFL seasons.

He immediately got into the game in the midfield and immediately developed a good relationship with ruckman Michael Rix and was outstanding in winning the hard ball and getting the ball out to running players like Ryan Cook, Ryan Brabazon, Tom Roach and Kane Mitchell.

In the end, the 23-year-old finished with 35 possessions, 25 of which were handpasses, and that went with four entries inside-50. It was an outstanding State debut for Lee and a tremendous reward for his constant tireless work in the midfield for East Perth.

The day doubled as the official opening of the $9 million redeveloped Bendigo Bank Stadium and a terrific crowd of over 3000 people turned out despite the wintery conditions to end up seeing a contest.

The victory kept WA's undefeated run over Queensland alive but it wasn’t without a scare. The Black Swans led by 50 points eight minutes into the last quarter, but Queensland then kicked seven of the last eight goals from that point to lose by just a goal.

There was a strong breeze blowing towards the end WA was kicking to in first quarter, but the home side could only manage 1.8 to Queensland's 2.1.

However, the Black Swans turned it on in the second quarter with Hansen and Tim Geappen combining for three quick goals, and then Brabazon, Cory Dell'Olio, Kristin Thornton and Rory O'Brien all getting in on the act.

WA then maintained its advantage through the third quarter with Smith booting four goals in that term alone, and then when he booted his fifth just before eight minutes had elapsed in the final quarter it appeared a case of how much the West Australians would win by.

However, Queensland wasn’t ready to lie down and turned on an inspired finish to kick seven goals from the 14-minute mark until the final siren to lose by just a goal.

The defence of Tallan Ames, Brent LeCras, Beau Wilkes, Dion Fleay, Graham Jetta and Josh Head, in particular, were terrific and then up forward Hansen kicked three goals to help out Smith and Geappen two. Thornton also got forward to boot two.

Rix was strong in the middle with 42 hit outs and at his feet Luke Blackwell had 41 possessions and Rory O'Brien 33. They helped get the ball to Roach (31 possessions), Mitchell (29), Cook (26) and Brabazon (21, two goals).

Queensland might not be a heralded football state, but put in a strong showing with the help of Brisbane Lions' Irish rookie ruckman Niall McKeever, NT Thunder captain Cameron Ilett and former Lion Albert Proud, but it was locals that were the true stars.

Dayne Zorko won the Zane Taylor Medal for his four goals and ball he won up the ground, Ryan Davey was terrific also as were Adam Spackman and captain Danny Wise.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA 1.8 8.10 14.14 16.17 (113)

QUEENSLAND 2.1 5.5 8.7 16.11 (107)

WA – Goals: Smith 5; Hansen 3; Geappen, Brabazon, Thornton 2; Dell'Olio, O'Brien.

Best: Blackwell, Smith, Lee, Cook, LeCras, Mitchell, Roach, Rix.

QUEENSLAND – Goals: Zorko 4; Illet, Davey, Payne, Clouston 2; Smith, Abey, Vearing, Shelton.

Best: Zorko, Davey, Proud, McKeever, Wise, Illet.

Simpson Medal (WA): Josh Smith.

Zane Taylor Medal (QLD): Dayne Zorko.

Match Day Sponsorship

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +1100

Match Day Sponsorships.

Support the Royals and promote your business to a captive audience by becoming a match day sponsor in 2012. Valued at over $11,000 it represents excellent value for an investment of only $2,500. For more information please Click Here or contact the Club on 9443 2259.

Lee & Smith in State Team

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +1000

East Perth will be represented by Brendan Lee and Josh Smith in tomorrows state game against Queensland. Congratulations to both boys on making the final squad.

Story below from the WAFL website:

WESTERN Australia takes on Queensland in a highly anticipated State match at the brand new and state of the art Bendigo Bank Stadium on Saturday in a big day for WAFL and interstate football.

The day will coincide with the official opening of the redeveloped Bendigo Bank Stadium in Mandurah with the facilities now for players, officials and spectators at the venue to be the envy of the rest of the competition.

Not only will the WAFL State team take on Queensland in the main event at 2.15pm on Saturday afternoon, but the day will begin with the State 16s playing the Peel Thunder colts and then a Peel Football League team will face a Lower South West Football League side.

Following the State clash, the State 20s will play a State Indigenous team that will include Fremantle's Roger Hayden and Michael Walters, and some of the most decorated WAFL players including Allistair Pickett and Toby McGrath.

The State game itself looms as a competitive contest and while Queensland has never been able to beat WA in interstate competition, the Maroons have shown an ability to be in the contests.

That included WA's 73-point win in Townsville back in 2008 when Queensland stunned the Black Swans with a six-goal opening quarter to lead by 17 points at the first change before the visitors romped to victory.

The Western Australia team has played well in State matches in recent years apart from against Victoria though.

There have been big wins over Queensland away from home in 2005 and 08, a terrific win over South Australia at Medibank Stadium in 2009 and a tight loss to the Croweaters in Adelaide in 2006.

While the loss to the Big V in 2004 was narrow, the Victorians have inflicted heavy losses on the Black Swans both in Melbourne in 2007 and last year at Medibank Stadium.

However, WA was able to bounce back strongly from the 2007 hammering in Melbourne to beat Queensland and South Australia the next two years, so will be looking to rebound similarly strongly this time around.

There is first for the coach of the State side as well with last year's Swan Districts premiership maestro Brian Dawson taking over the helm and there is sure to be a host of debutants running out onto the field in the WA jumper as well.

While the squad of 25 is still to be trimmed to 23 by bounce down, Tim Geappen, Josh Smith, Cory Dell'Olio, Kristin Thornton, Rory O'Brien, Ryan Cook, Kane Mitchell, Andrew McDougall, Steven Browne, Josh Head, Beau Wilkes, Brendan Lee, Ray Bartholomew, Ashley Hansen and Graham Jetta will play for WA for the first time if selected.

At the other end of the scale, captain Jason Salecic will play his seventh game for the Black Swans and first as skipper.

Tallan Ames, Michael Rix, Blake Broadhurst, Dion Fleay, Ian Richardson (2008 Simpson Medallist), Brent LeCras (2009 Simpson Medallist), Ryan Brabazon, Tom Roach and Luke Blackwell (2010 Simpson Medallist) have all played at least once for WA before.

The defence is set to be made up by someone that Dawson knows well and counted on in the premiership year last season –Ames.

He will receive support from Claremont's Wilkes and South Fremantle veteran Head with dual West Perth fairest and best winner Fleay to help out as a mid-size backman and Swan Districts speedster Jetta to be the small.

Through the middle Subiaco's Rix will lead the ruck potentially with support from Perth's McDougall.

At their feet will be the likes of Blackwell, Lee, O'Brien, Bartholomew and Thornton with Roach, Mitchell, Cook and Brabazon to provide plenty of run and drive through the middle towards a potent forward-line.

There are plenty of options up forward as well and it's an enviable job to select who will get to line up and be focal points.

Smith and Hansen look set to be the big targets having booted 32 and 28 goals respectively this season. Subiaco's Broadhurst, Swan Districts' Geappen and Claremont's Richardson would all provide strong leading options as well and have kicked 36, 33 and 21 goals each this season to date.

South Fremantle's Dell'Olio is likely to play as the crumber and has kicked 28 goals this season while the likes of Salecic, Thornton and O'Brien are especially effective midfielders who can play off half-forward.

That all adds up to a strong looking WA side, but the Queensland line-up is hardly lacking in talent or some experience either.

The Maroons squad that has made the trip to Perth includes Gold Coast Suns rookie-listed players Joel Tippett and Jake Crawford, Brisbane Lions rookie Niall McKeever, Darren Ewing, Cameron Ilett, Shaun Tapp and Iggy Vallejo from the NT Thunder and former Brisbane player Albert Proud.

From the Queensland side from 2008 that played WA,Shaun Tapp,

Former Fremantle and Swan Districts midfielder Chris Smith and Swan Districts centre half-forward Josh Pullman also remain a chance to play.

With a host of other quality players in the line-up as well the Queenslanders will turn up at Bendigo Bank Stadium ready to give WA a big run for its money. It will be well worth heading to the Mandurah venue to check out that action, but also the other matches on a big day for WA football.

JUNE 18 – BENDIGO BANK STADIUM
9am – State 16s v Peel Thunder Colts
11.10am – Peel Football League v Lower South West FL
2.15pm – WAFL State team v QLD
5.20pm – State 20s v State Indigenous

Dayne Zorko, Kent Abey, Adam Spackman, Scott Clouston, Matt Payne and Danny Wise (captain) are among those backing up again.

East Perth Golf Day

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +1100

East Perth Golf Day

The annual April East Perth Golf Day is on the 17th April at the magnificent Burswood Golf Course. The day includes 18 holes of golf complete with golf cart and refreshments, a reception barbecue on arrival, gourmet barbecue for dinner and a balcony auction run by the one and only Tiny Holly. Please Click Here for registration and further details

Smith pumped for first appearance for WA

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +1000

JOSH Smith has been a shining light this season for East Perth in his first season as a Royal and now the 25-year-old big man looks set to lead Western Australia's forward-line against Queensland at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium on Saturday.

Smith returned to WA after beginning his WAFL career with West Perth and then spending the last three seasons in the AFL with North Melbourne where he managed 11 games, but in the VFL he became a star in North Ballarat's premiership run.

Now this year he has joined East Perth and after three early games where he impressively played in the ruck, he has settled as the key forward option for the Royals with tremendous results.

Smith has kicked three, four, three, five, six, six, four and one in the last eight WAFL games giving him 32 goals in that period to be well and truly in the race for the Bernie Naylor Medal behind Subiaco's Blake Broadhurst.

More than anything, though, Smith's strong contested marking has become a trademark of his as he has shown a vice-like grip to hold onto any high ball that he gets his hands to.

Smith now appears likely to be WA's spearhead in Saturday's State game against Queensland and he's especially excited by the potential opportunity to make his debut for WA.

"I've never played any state footy before so hopefully I get the nod and get a game," Smith said.

"It's something I have been looking for and striving for ever since I was announced in the squad, so hopefully Brian (Dawson) will pick me. It will mean a lot. To represent your state in any form of anything is an honour so if I'm lucky enough to get picked I will give it 110 per cent that's for sure."

Smith has enjoyed being part of the State squad so far with one training session a week over the past month, but this week preparations have kicked up a notch.

It will also give him the chance to play alongside former West Perth teammates like WA captain Jason Salecic, Ray Bartholomew and Dion Fleay again.

"We've done a bit of training in terms of setting up a forward structure and the ball movement. It has been hard training just one night a week with short sessions, but this week is about focusing in on a game plan and that sort of thing," he said.

"It will be good to narrow Brian's game plan down and get a good grasp on that. All the boys have been pretty good down there, they are a lively bunch and everyone is pretty excited to try and get a game to represent their state, which is a pretty big honour.

"There'll be a few. Nearly half the team just about is West Perth but I've caught up with those boys and they've been good. I'm sure most of them will get the nod to play."

East Perth hasn’t had a break yet this season due to 11 WAFL games and two Foxtel Cup wins over North Ballarat and the Northern Territory. Smith is one of a host of Royals to play every game, but he has enjoyed that experience.

Nobody at East Perth would use that as an excuse for being at a 3-8 record with nine games of the season to go though.

"We have played a lot without a break, but that's no excuse. We are all fit and healthy, and most of the boys actually felt pretty good this week so there are no excuses," Smith said.

"We are all enjoying the Foxtel Cup. We are all keen to play for that and now a lot of the boys will have a break on the weekend after getting a good old smashing at training this week. The weekend off should help to clear up any knocks the boys might have.

"All the boys have been excited by that all year but we definitely aren’t giving up on the season either. The team was in the same position last year so it's not all doom and gloom yet, but we are going to have to turn things around quickly."

East Perth's form prior to Saturday's disappointing 42-point loss to Subiaco seemed to have been on the improve though.

There were thumping wins over Peel and Perth, a good Foxtel Cup win over the NT Thunder and then a strong showing for two and-a-half quarters against West Perth on Foundation Day.

Smith isn’t sure quite why the performance against Subiaco wasn’t up to scratch, but he certainly noticed it out on the field.

"In the first quarter when they had the breeze we actually played pretty well for most of the quarter, but they managed to pile on a few goals pretty quickly and after that it just seemed as though we dropped our heads a little bit," he said.

"We weren’t competing as well as we did for three quarters last week that's for sure. We didn't seem to play with much spirit or seem to have much enthusiasm or intensity, so it was one of our most disappointing performances of the season to be honest.

"They (Subiaco) seemed to be hungrier for the ball. We would have numbers at contests, but they seemed to win it more than us so they were a bit hungrier. Our skills let us down as well and they were able to punish our turnovers that's for sure."

With Graham Polak settling at centre half-back and Hamish Shepheard spending more time in the ruck after the departure of Zach Beeck and Fremantle selecting Zac Clarke, Smith has become the key forward target at East Perth as well.

The delivery to him last Saturday left a lot to be desired though.

"We've been trying to focus in on using those hit ups and if their defenders are going to sag off for the longer kick deep forward to use those guys up," he said.

"We did that OK in the first quarter, but after that we just bombed it in and it was probably the worst we've kicked it inside-50 all year. We were just kicking it in without a purpose or direction so it was definitely disappointing from that perspective."

Smith also found himself close the vicinity of Polak when he hit the ground hard in a marking contest in the last quarter leaving him unconscious. He hopes the big man pulls up OK.

"Obviously he has a pretty big history of head injuries and he wasn’t in a good way that's for sure. I was pretty keen to get them to hurry up and get out there to look at him. Hopefully he pulls up well and we'll just wait and see on that."

EAST PERTH DISTRICT PRELIMINARY FINAL RESULTS

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +1000

PLAYED AT HAMER PARK, SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 11

A day of excellent, competitive football played by all teams who made the Preliminary Final stage of their competitions. Congratulations to all teams and their coaching staff. Results:-

13’S:

Preliminary Final: Mt.Hawthorn 8-7-55 defeated Ellenbrook Green 5-3-33

14’S:

Preliminary Final: Mt.Hawthorn 12-9-81 defeated Coolbinia 6-11-47

15’S:

Preliminary Final: Noranda 16-9-105 defeated Ballajura Blue 7-3-45

16’S Cross-Districts:

Preliminary Final: Mt.Lawley-Inglewood 10-8-68 defeated Victoria Park 9-8-62

17’S Cross-Districts:

Preliminary Final: South Perth 13-8-86 defeated Victoria Park 6-8-44

East Perth 2012 Fixtures

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +1100

Please see below fixtures for the Mighty Royals fixtures for 2012. As you will notice we have

We have 10 home games (including EPFC vs Swan Districts Lower South West Game)
We have an additional 2 home games at Medibank Stadium vs Subiaco
10 away games

Please make sure you mark all these down in your calendar. This season is shaping up to be an exciting one for the Royal

2012 FIXTURE

	DAY	DATE	LEAGUE	HOME TEAM	AWAY TEAM	GROUND
1	BYE
2	Saturday	24 March	2.10	Claremont	East Perth	Claremont Oval
3	Saturday	31 March	2.10	East Perth	West Perth	Medibank Stadium
4	Friday	6 April	4.15	East Perth	Perth	Medibank Stadium
5	BYE
6	Saturday	21 April	2.10	East Fremantle	East Perth	East Fremantle Oval
7	Saturday	28 April	4.30	Subiaco	East Perth	Medibank Stadium
8	Saturday	5 May	2.10	East Perth	Swan Districts	CSES Game
9	Saturday	12 May	2.10	East Perth	South Fremantle	Medibank Stadium
10	Saturday	19 May	2.10	Peel Thunder	East Perth	Bendigo Bank Stadium
State Game	Saturday	26 May	TBC	South Australia	Western Australia	South Australia
11	Monday	4 June	2.10	West Perth	East Perth	Arena Joondalup
12	Sunday	10 June	2.10	East Perth	Claremont	Medibank Stadium
13	Saturday	16 June	2.10	South Fremantle	East Perth	Fremantle Oval
14	Saturday	23 June	2.10	Swan Districts	East Perth	Steel Blue Oval
15	Saturday	30 June	2.10	East Perth	Subiaco	Medibank Stadium
16	Saturday	7 July	2.10	East Perth	Peel Thunder	Medibank Stadium
17	Saturday	14 July	2.10	East Fremantle	East Perth	East Fremantle Oval
18	BYE	21 July
19	Saturday	28 July	2.10	Perth	East Perth	Brownes Stadium
20	BYE	4 August
21	Saturday	11 August	2.10	East Perth	Perth	Medibank Stadium
22	Saturday	18 August	2.10	Subiaco	East Perth	Medibank Stadium
23	Saturday	25 August	2.10	East Perth	East Fremantle	Medibank Stadium
24	Saturday	1 September	2.10	East Perth	West Perth	Medibank Stadium

Round 13 Wrap v Subiaco

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +1000

EAST Perth couldn’t quite keep its form up going down to Subiaco in the battle of the Medibank Stadium co-tenants on Saturday and now the Royals will enjoy having a bye for first time in 2011 this week.

East Perth has now played 13 straight weeks to start this season thanks to two Foxtel Cup games that have taken place when the Royals would have usually taken the bye.

While nobody at the club would use that as an excuse for Saturday's 42-point loss, there's no question the week off for those not playing for Western Australia against Queensland this weekend will be greatly appreciated.

Subiaco got off to a fast start on Saturday in front of a healthy Medibank Stadium crowd and East Perth didn’t ever quite recover with the Lions running out 14.10 (94) to 7.10 (52) winners.

The East Perth midfielders worked tirelessly all afternoon with Pat Travers picking up 35 possessions, Garry Moss 28, Brendan Lee 24 and Daniel Macaulay 21.

Freddie Clutterbuck continued his outstanding season to date with 34 disposals on the wing with captain Craig Wulff also having 18 touches. Aaron Sweet picked up 29 possessions as well.

In defence, Fremantle's Dylan Roberton worked hard and finished with 23 disposals while Nathan Blee had a good battle with the league's leading goalkicker Blake Broadhurst. Luke Sampey also had 17 touches from the back-line.

Hamish Shepheard tried hard in the ruck despite giving up plenty of size and experience to Michael Rix. He had 10 touches and 21 hit outs in the end.

Up forward, Josh Smith had limited opportunities but still worked hard for 14 touches, eight marks and a goal. Last year's leading goalkicker Adam Prior booted three goals in his first league game back after a few games in the reserves on return from a shoulder injury.

Just in case East Perth's day wasn’t bad enough, Graham Polak was knocked unconscious midway through the last quarter by landing hard on the ground after a marking contest.

He was carried from the ground and will now benefit from the Royals' first break of the season next week given they have played 13 games straight including the Foxtel Cup matches.

Subiaco had the advantage of the strong breeze in the opening quarter but that told only part of the story as East Perth helped the Lions' cause with some horrible turnovers all over the field.

Subiaco had no trouble making the Royals pay for every mistake. Broadhurst kicked two of the Lions six goals for the quarter as they led by 35 points.

East Perth gained the breeze in the second quarter and was buoyed within 45 seconds when Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls kicked a good goal on the run, but even with the breeze the Royals could not gain any momentum.

The turnovers continued and Subiaco still kicked four goals to three and led by a commanding 39 points at the long break.

East Perth came out a far more hungry and determined unit in the third quarter and dominated much of the term despite going into the wind.

When Prior kicked his second goal and Jamie Del Borrello his first the Royals were back within 25 points and in striking distance, but Rowen McDonnell kicked his third goal for Subiaco late in the term to steady the ship.

The Royals couldn’t get anything going in the last term and when Reece Blechynden kicked a goal when rewarded a 50m penalty after Lee was unluckily penalised for a free-kick in the first. The Lions then ran out 42-point winners.

The reserves had a strong 38-point win over Subiaco with Steven Payne outstanding with 30 possessions, eight tackles and two goals. Ryan Maldenis had 23 disposals, Nick Kommer 22 and Cameron Grover 20 (and two goals).

Ruckman Brock Higgins worked hard for 19 touches, 13 hit outs and two goals. Arthur Bennell also booted two goals.

The reserves narrowly went down to Subiaco despite 22 possessions from Matthew Kelly, 19 from Blake Borrett and 19 and two goals from Mitch Howlett. Marcus Ruggiero kicked three goals.

EAST PERTH 1.1 4.5 6.8 7.10 (52)

SUBIACO 6.6 10.8 11.9 14.10 (94)

EAST PERTH – Goals: Prior 3; Oakley-Nicholls, Smith, Del Borrello, Seal.

Best: Moss, Travers, Clutterbuck, Lee, Roberton, Sweet, Macaulay.

SUBIACO – Goals: McDonnell, Broadhurst 3; Forrest, Joyce, Bloxsidge, Bristow, Hassett, Worthington, Blechynden, Stevenson.

Best: Horsley, Bloxsidge, Forrest, Joyce, McDonnell, Rix, Rumble.

Royals On The National Scene

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +1100

Royals On The National Scene

A huge congratulations to our First Year Player of the Year Nathan Blee for being selected by Port Adelaide in last weeks national draft. Blee who had a fantastic year with us last year will be a loss around the Club both on and off field but wish him all the best and will follow his career with much interest. All the best Nathan.

Another great sign for the Club is that Club favourite Freddie Clutterbuck has been invited to train with the Melbourne Football Club ahead of the upcoming Rookie Draft

Round 14 Wrap v South Fremantle

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +1000

EAST Perth went down to South Fremantle at Fremantle Oval on Saturday but there were some good signs with Garry Moss outstanding with five goals and Arthur Bennell, Brock Higgins and Ryan Smith all making their WAFL league debuts.

South Fremantle started strongly with seven goals in the first quarter and then eight in the last to run out 20.10 (130) to 12.12 (84) over East Perth.

Despite the loss, there were some encouraging signs for the Royals especially in the absence of Kayne Pettifer, Graham Polak, Michael Swan, Craig Glancy and then with ball magnet Pat Travers injuring his forearm before half-time in a marking contest with Josh Smith.

The three debutants all showed enough to suggest that they have a future at league level as well.

Bennell kicked two clever goals from 10 possessions, five marks, four tackles and three entries inside-50. Higgins did well in the ruck alongside Hamish Shepheard and he had 10 disposals and 22 hit outs. Smith also came on and worked hard in defence after starting on the bench.

Moss had an outstanding day for East Perth not only kicking five goals but also picking up 28 possessions and driving the ball inside-50 on seven occasions.

Brendan Lee continued his outstanding season with another 28 disposals and then Craig Wulff picked up 29 touches as he played in the middle on 250-game milestone man Kris Miller for the day.

Freddie Clutterbuck also worked hard on the wing and compiled 25 possessions and Steven Payne picked up 25.

Nathan Blee was once again outstanding in defence and picked up 18 disposals himself and laid nine tackles while keeping Paul Hasleby to just 12 touches and no goals.

Adam Prior found some form up forward with 17 touches, eight marks and two goals.

Even though East Perth did get an early goal through Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls, South Fremantle dominated the first quarter. Five of their seven goals for the term came between the nine and 19-minute marks and by quarter-time the Bulldogs were comfortably up by over five goals.

East Perth came out hungrier in the second term and started winning more contests around the ground and putting more pressure on the Bulldogs.

It was working in terms of stopping South Fremantle scoring, but they only managed the one-goal in the first 18 minutes with the Bulldogs doing the same when Craig White goaled from a 50-metre penalty given away by Jamie Del Borrello.

Then it was fifth-game Bulldog Morgan Cooper's turn to make his mark as he kicked three goals in under four minutes, all virtually a carbon copy of one another as set shots from around 40 metres out. That helped South Fremantle remain in control by 34 points at the long break.

East Perth continued to hang in there during the third quarter and then Moss booted his third and fourth goals in no time midway through the term the Royals were right back in the contest and trailed by just 18 points at the last change.

The Bulldogs managed to pile on nine goals to East Perth's four in the last quarter to run out comprehensive 46-point winners.

East Perth's reserves, though, recorded an impressive 38-point win over the Bulldogs.

David Marinovich kicked five goals and David Bawden, Kane Moulton and Chris Warrell two each. Danny Chartres found some form with 24 possessions and seven marks as well, with Jake Lalich also racking up 24 disposals.

Jye Keath had 22 touches as well, Matthew Green 21 and Ryan Maldenis 20.

The colts did go down to the Bulldogs, though, despite 24 possessions and 10 marks from Mitchell Fraser. Jackson Slater had 23 touches and Mitchell Howlett 19 and he kicked a goal.

EAST PERTH 2.3 5.6 8.9 12.12 (84)
SOUTH FREMANTLE 7.4 11.4 12.7 20.10 (130)

EAST PERTH – Goals: Moss 5; Prior, Bennell 2; Brookes, Del Borrello, Oakley-Nicholls.
Best: Moss, Blee, Lee, Wulff, Clutterbuck, Payne, Prior.
SOUTH FREMANTLE – Goals: Cooper 4; Wilson, Dell'Olio 3; Phillips, Gaff, White 2; Bairstow, Woods, Kelly, Mugambwa.
Best: North, Cook, White, Cooper, McCarrey, Palumbo, Phillips.

Glancy calls end to glittering East Perth career

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +1000

LUCK has never been something on the side of Craig Glancy and that has continued into his retirement announcement but the premiership midfielder will go down as one of East Perth's best and most courageous in-and-under midfielders.

Glancy has battled a variety of injuries right throughout his career ranging from a lacerated kidney to a broken jaw, and just about everything in between, but recurring hamstring injuries have seen him sidelined for all of 2011 to date and eventually that's what led to him deciding to retire.

The 28-year-old managed 103 games after making his league debut in 2001 and there is no doubt that there was no player in the competition over the last decade who was any better or more committed to winning contested ball through the midfield.

That dedication to the East Perth Football Club came ever since he made the move up to Perth from Bridgetown to join his hometown heroes Andrew Waller and Rod Wheatley at the Royals, and he was able to put together a career to remember.

He played in the colts premiership of 2000 and the league triumph of 2002, was co-captain, runner-up in the FD Book Medal and last year celebrated his 100th game to book his name on the No. 2 locker with a win over Perth.

More than that, though, it was the way he led by example by always putting his body on the line on the field and he was always a professional in terms of training and preparation off it.

All of that made the decision to retire from the club that means so much to him such a heart-wrenching one, but one that he let his body tell him had to be made.

"It was something I didn’t take too lightly and it was a very hard decision, and probably the hardest one of my life I think. The body is putting up the white flag. Some blokes get injured and some don’t, I'm just unlucky that I'm one of those blokes who got injured," Glancy said.

"You just know in your body. Every other time I've known that I can come back and play decent footy, but this time I just know that my body has got to a stage where it's not really responding to the way I want it to.

"I did a specialised pre-season and was actually really fit, probably the fittest I have been for a few years, but then I got the setback (hamstring) again. I was doing full on rehab training six or seven times a week, and ended up doing it again."

Telling the playing group of his decision last week at training was one of the hardest things he has had to do as well, and it didn’t quite go to plan despite him having a host of pre-prepared notes he wanted to get through.

"I was a bit of a mess and couldn’t get too many words, but hopefully I can do a bit better speech this weekend at the footy club."

Glancy's run of bad luck hasn’t quite ended in retirement, though, with him not being able to run out for a farewell appearance and he also misses out on automatic life membership as he needed to play one game this season to lock in his 10 years of service.

"I'm a bit devastated about that (not getting to play one last game), but it wasn’t to be either. I couldn’t have that fairytale, but I can't do too much about it," he said.

"That's (missing out on life membership) pretty disappointing because I've pretty much spent my whole life at this footy club and that could have been one thing for me to hang my hat on, and look back on in 10 or 20 years time to be proud of, but it was just wasn’t to be."

After playing in the colts premiership of 2000, Glancy played eight games in the league side of 2001 and then 20 the next year including the grand final. He certainly feels his grounding back home in Bridgetown held him in good stead for the WAFL.

"I was fortunate to be around for the tail-end of a very successful period at the club. Especially now when it's all over you can be pretty proud to look back on being part of that," he said.

"By playing a lot of footy down in the country it probably helped and it was something that came naturally (going in hard for the ball) to me. I've probably sometimes been a bit stupid in the way I went about it and that contributed to a few injuries, but it did come naturally."

While the 2002 premiership came in Glancy's second season of league football and just his 28th league game when the Royals beat West Perth on grand final day, the rest of his career certainly shows just how tough it is to make it back to that sort of success.

There were the near misses of making the finals in 2004, 06 and 09, a first semi-final appearance in 2007 and preliminary final last year, but all in all he could never quite get back to grand final day with the Royals.

"It was a very fun period to be down at the club for those few years. Back then you are a bit naive to it and think that it comes around all the time, but once you get to the end of your career you can look back and be proud of it," Glancy said.

"The year before (2009) as well we only just missed making it on percentage. If we made the finals we could have given it a good shake and even in 2004 we did the same thing. We had a slow start but beat South Fremantle by 10 goals in the last round but we just missed out and Subi ended up winning it. I'm not saying we would have beat them, but would have given it a good shake."

There are a few players of the premiership hat-trick team that stand out to Glancy when he reflects back, but all in all coming into league ranks to join a side like that gave him a dream introduction to WAFL football.

"Back then walking into that side I was 18 or 19 and there were a lot of older blokes in that side, and that's probably why we were so successful. Just to be part of that which included five or six legends of this footy club was great. We caught up a couple of weeks ago for the premiership reunion and having a beer with them again was good fun," he said.

"Andrew Waller was a fellow Bridgey boy and when we first came up to league ranks he took all the younger boys under his wing, and you wouldn’t come across a harder man than old Wal. He was a very hard man.

"Then there was another Bridgey boy, Rod Wheatley, and Brent Cowell is a really good mate of mine. On his day there wouldn’t be a better footballer going around that I've seen. There's a few of them."

Glancy's wife Erin has been through plenty alongside her husband, but did want to make sure he was making the right call before announcing his retirement.

"She will be happy, but she was actually the one person who was most vocal about trying to keep going when I told her I was thinking about giving it up," Glancy said.

"She knows what the footy club means to me and she has been through thick and thin with it, including a few hospital visits, but she's a rock for me."

Foxtel Cup Semi Final

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +1000

This weekend The Mighty Royals take on Williamstown in the Foxtel Cup Semi Final. Get on down to the Oxford Hotel and watch the game with other Loyal Royals at the Fire Place Bar.

368 Oxford Street, Leederville starts at 1pm

Round 15 Wrap v Peel Thunder

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +1000

EAST Perth put in a good performance on Saturday to beat an improved Peel Thunder by 13 points at Medibank Stadium with a host of young and experienced players alike stepping up.

It was East Perth's seventh straight victory over Peel as well and took the Royals a game clear off the bottom spot on the ladder ahead of the Thunder.

The Royals' first win in four games was an impressive performance as much for the leadership shown by key players as for the youngsters blooded as East Perth ran out 12.10 (82) to 10.9 (69) winners over a Peel team that had won three of its last four WAFL games.

With debutants from the previous week's game with South Fremantle Arthur Bennell, Ryan Smith and Brock Higgins still in the team, Indigenous youngsters Rob Macaulay and Shaquille McKenzie came in to play their first league matches in the NAIDOC celebration round.

All five players showed signs that they belonged at league level as well with Bennell particularly impressive up forward with three goals, Smith doing well keeping Brad Holmes to two late goals and Higgins competing well in the ruck.

Then there were the three main on-ballers that East Perth used for the day who were simply brilliant.

State representative Brendan Lee was at his prolific best picking up a career-high 41 possessions, captain Craig Wulff continued to thrive by playing in the middle with 35 disposals and Garry Moss had 30 touches to go with his three classy goals.

Freddie Clutterbuck dominated his wing keeping Fremantle's Jesse Crichton quiet and picking up 26 possessions. Daniel Macaulay and Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls both celebrated NAIDOC Week by picking up 25 touches each as well.

Nathan Blee continued his breakout season by dominating his battle with Ryan Herring and picking up 23 possessions in defence. Nick Kommer also had 23 touches, Steven Payne 21, Cameron Grover 17 and Hamish Shepheard 17, 11 hit outs and a goal.

Josh Smith worked hard up forward to finish with 20 possessions, 11 marks and two goals.

It was a tough start to the game with neither side finding it easy to score, but it was Peel that got a major on the board first through young Eagles-listed big man Scott Lycett.

The Royals then found some good passages of play, though, in the second part of the first quarter with Rowan Brookes, Kommer and Bennell all managing to kick goals.

Bennell then got loose again to start the second quarter to boot his second to put the Royals up by 18 points. However, East Perth was only able to hold an eight-point advantage at half-time after Peel little man Matt Brown kicked two late goals, including one after the siren.

It only took 45 seconds for the Royals to get on the board in the third quarter, though, with Moss snapping truly. The margin was then out to 20 points when Prior kicked his first of the afternoon. However, again Peel hit back with consecutive goals to Kristin Thornton and Brad Holmes, but Josh Smith's first and then a rare right footer to Moss saw East Perth in control by 25 points at the last change.

The Royals extended that lead to 30 points early in the last when Bennell booted his third and then East Perth withstood three late goals to Peel in the dying stages to win by 13 points.

The reserves went down in a nail-biter by a point with Aaron Sweet picking up 31 possessions, Ryan Maldenis 29, David Bawden 21, Brett Dobson 20, Matthew Green 20 and Jake Lalich 20. Jamie Del Borrello and Matthew Kelly kicked three goals.

Meanwhile, the colts recorded a hard fought six-point win led by 21 possessions and two goals from Mitchell Howlett. Jordan Dobson had 18 disposals, Michael Hutchings 18 and David Roche 18 as well.

EAST PERTH 3.1 6.3 10.8 12.10 (82)
PEEL THUNDER 1.3 4.7 6.7 10.9 (69)

EAST PERTH – Goals: Moss, Bennell 3; J Smith 2; Kommer, Shepheard, Prior, Brookes.
Best: Moss, Lee, Wulff, Clutterbuck, Blee, Kommer, Macaulay.
PEEL THUNDER – Goals: Brown, K Thornton, Holmes 2; J Jones, Ebert, Lycett, B Jones.
Best: Brown, McFarlane, J Jones, Wilson, Eddy, K Thornton.

Wulff leading Royals gallantly from the middle

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +1000

CRAIG Wulff has stepped up as captain and in a new on-ball role with his typical vigour, passion and effectiveness in recent weeks and is desperately hoping last Saturday's win over Peel sparks a Royals' revival starting this week in the Foxtel Cup semi-final against Williamstown at Etihad Stadium.

Wulff started his league career with East Perth during 2002 originally as a defender, but for several years now has been one of the best wingmen in the competition.

However, he has never shirked an issue when any ball was there to be won and with the Royals' down on experience in the middle he has moved in there the last two weeks with great effect.

That included 35 possessions in Saturday's win over Peel at Medibank Stadium that ensured the Royals' stayed clear of bottom spot on the ladder.

However, disappointingly for the 28-year-old veteran of 173 WAFL games, he also ended up copping a one-week suspension meaning he will miss this Saturday's Foxtel Cup clash with Williamstown.

However, if the Royals win they will make the grand final and Wulff knows that everyone in the East Perth side wants to win and get that opportunity to face off against the winner of next week's clash between Claremont and the Port Adelaide Magpies.

"We are in it to win it there's no doubt about that. We'll put our best team on the park and that's what you have to deal with. We still feel that we have a team that will be capable of running their older or more physical players around, and we are looking forward to it," Wulff said.

"Now it's here and we are all trying to win, and are a looking forward to it. We don’t want to lose when we have Western Australia on our backs. We are trying to put up a good show to let the rest of Australia know that WA has quality football.

"It's an honour to play over there against quality teams, and quality players who aren’t playing AFL at the moment to see where we are personally and physically compared to them."

With Shaquille McKenzie and Rob Macaulay making their debuts against Peel it means that five players now have played their first games over the last fortnight after Brock Higgins, Ryan Smith and Arthur Bennell took on South Fremantle as well.

That's a good sign for the future and Wulff was glad to see everything click for a win over the Thunder.

"It was critical for both teams because we were sitting down near the bottom where we could move a game clear of the other and they could have got off the bottom," he said.

"We've just got such a young team at the moment that confidence is the key and we just have to try to keep winning and educating those young players, and build for next year by finishing this season off strongly.

"They've all got their roles and know what they have to do. They don’t have to do anything outside of what we expect. They just have to follow team rules and put their body on the line when they have to. At the moment they are all stepping up and taking their role on the chin."

Wulff has enjoyed the opportunity to play on the ball the last couple of weeks mostly alongside Brendan Lee and Garry Moss, and just tries to let his attack on the ball set the example for the rest of his teammates.

"It was a bit of a different role with being in and around the ball, and not out wide so it's good to get a bit of the ball and some contact. Hopefully I can feed the ball out to some of our runners, that's what I try to focus on doing," Wulff said.

"Sometimes on the wing you can be stuck out wide and don’t get to many contests or you are a feed player which is always not a great tag to have. I prefer to be in-and-under and we have some young guys playing on the wing who need time to develop their games.

"If that means me stepping out of my position for a while so be it. Not saying that the young guys can't do that, but you probably need someone in there with a bigger or stronger body just to give us first use of the ball to give the younger guys more space out wide where they can use their skills and running to hurt the opposition."

As well as Wulff picking up 35 possessions in Saturday's win over Peel, Brendan Lee gathered a career-high 41 as he continues his remarkable season that would see him being a Sandover Medal contender, FD Book Medal favourite and he did represent Western Australia.

Wulff continues to admire the way he goes about his football on and off the field.

"He knows how to find the footy that's for sure. He has been outstanding and his work rate at training, and through pre-season is probably the best I've ever seen of a teammate I've played with," he said.

"His dedication to football is amazing and he does all the little things, and makes sure everyone else is working hard. The work he does behind the scenes is great for everyone to learn from, even me as an older player I can still learn from the way he goes about his business.

"He's probably the premier midfielder in the comp at the moment with Luke Blackwell, and when you are getting the numbers he is and with the way he's using it as well it's hard to look past him."

Wulff now has had to step up as captain for four weeks since Michael Swan injured himself in the last Foxtel Cup clash with the Northern Territory Thunder in Darwin.

Two weeks ago Craig Glancy also retired due to recurring injuries as he joined the list that includes Luke Webster, Adam Pickering, Andrew Merrington and Brent Cowell as East Perth stars who have called an end to their careers in the last 12 months.

With Swan still out of the side, that makes Wulff the last remaining veteran in the side and he was especially disappointed when 2002 premiership player Glancy was forced to retire.

"It's very sad with the work that Plucka has put in this year to try to get out and play has been amazing," Wulff said.

"He does all the work off the field, all the extra running, goes to all the rehabs and it's really disappointing that he couldn’t get up for a final game for the club and even me personally. To see a mate have to go out like that and not get a final game is disappointing."

Glancy backs in Royals to quickly bounce back

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +1000

IN RETIREMENT there is no question that star in-and-under East Perth premiership midfielder Craig Glancy will be sorely missed, but he's proud of his career as he reflects and feels the Royals are in good hands looking forward with the likes of Brendan Lee setting the benchmark.

Given he had battled a variety of nasty injuries virtually his whole career, it was likely that Glancy's career would be cut short eventually and that's how it turned out with nagging hamstring problems meaning he couldn’t add to his 103 games this season.

That meant he was forced to make the tough decision to retire, but there's no question he has plenty to look back fondly on.

In just about every one of those 103 games he played, he was among East Perth's best players and that was highlighted by his 2008 season where he managed just 11 games but finished second in the FD Book Medal just behind Tim Noakes.

As a 2002 premiership player, captain and one of the most respected players in all of the WAFL over the last decade, Glancy has plenty to reflect back fondly on and he was especially glad that he was able to taste that success early in his career.

"I was fortunate to be around for the tail-end of a very successful period at the club. Especially now when it's all over you can be pretty proud to look back on being part of that," Glancy said.

"I played in a colts premiership back in 2000 as well and me and Wulffy were the only two left from that. I've obviously played a lot of footy with Swanny and that's pretty much it from the old days, as well as Hangers."

Playing WAFL football while juggling work, family, study and then trying to play, train and recover is an ever-increasing difficult role and Glancy feels that's why it is becoming harder and harder to rack up big numbers of games.

"Especially in the WAFL competition because it has become more and more professional, when you get to 26, 27 or 28 your work becomes more important and it becomes hard," he said.

"That's why you find young people running around and I'm 28, and was one of the oldest at the club. It's a young man's competition now the WAFL."

Glancy certainly is as passionate about East Perth as anybody going around and will continue to help out for the rest of 2011, and then look to get involved in coaching himself in the next year or two at some level.

"I'm probably going to stay involved and come down to training a couple of times a week for the rest of the year, but I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do next year," he said.

"Hopefully I'll play football, but that's a big if with the body the way it is. Down the track I will look to do a bit of coaching."

While East Perth has slipped from last year's preliminary final to so far having a tough 2011 season, Glancy feels the loss of not only himself, but Adam Pickering, Luke Webster, Brent Cowell, Ben Noakes, Tim Noakes, Ben McKinley, Zach Beeck and Andrew Merrington over the past 18 months has certainly hurt.

That becomes tough to cover especially when Zac Clarke is usually unavailable, Michael Swan, Pat Travers and other senior players are out injured and Glancy feels that's a big reason why the Royals' have struggled for the most part in 2011.

However, he remains confident they can bounce back strongly in 2012 and he can't help but be in awe of the rise in the game of Brendan Lee, who is in the midst of an outstanding season averaging almost 29 possessions a game.

"You have a look at the guys from that preliminary final side and we've lost quite a few senior players. They are very hard to cover, but the positives from this year is the blooding of so many young guys. We obviously won't make finals, but hopefully it's just something we have to go through and then next year with the younger guys coming on they can push back up," Glancy said.

"He is going extraordinary well. I think he had to play 30 or 40 reserves games as well before he got his crack. To see him persist and the way he's managed to change his body shape, and the way he's worked hard, makes him someone that everyone at this footy club should look up to. If a younger guy wants someone to look up to and aspire to be like, then 'Binga' Lee is the one right now."

Round 17 Preview v Perth

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +1000

EAST Perth returns home this Saturday to host Perth and regains some star veteran players as the Royals look to continue their recent strong form over the Demons.

East Perth has beaten Perth the last four occasions the teams have met and done so emphatically. Earlier this season in Round 10, the Royals thumped the Demons by 69 points and then in the two meetings last year they won by 67 and 117 points.

Then late in the 2009 season when both teams were still in the hunt for a finals berth East Perth thumped Perth by 118 points, so those last four victories have come at an average of an unbelievable 93 points.

However, Perth can remain in the hunt for a finals berth with a win up against East Perth on Saturday at Medibank Stadium, while the Royals will be determined themselves to win and avoid slipping to the bottom of the table.

East Perth welcomes back some much-needed experience in the form of captain Michael Swan, vice-captain Craig Wulff and prolific-ball-winning midfielder Pat Travers. Rob Macaulay, Shaquille McKenzie and Jake Derickx could also come back in.

Brendan Hancock, Chris Warrell and Luke Sampey go out of the East Perth side that went down to Williamstown last week.

The Demons will likely need to win at least six, if not all seven, of their remaining games in 2011 to make a finals appearance for the first time since 1997, but they have shown an ability to take it up to the best teams in the competition.

That included a win over Claremont in Round 14, but then the week after that it was a disappointing loss to Swan Districts. Perth has had an up and down season, but its best does suggest it is capable of playing finals football.

However, that is unlikely to happen unless a win over East Perth eventuates, but the Royals will not want to drop the four points and risk slipping to the bottom of the ladder if Peel happens to beat Swan Districts.

East Perth did get its first win in a month in its last WAFL appearance two weeks ago against Peel, but then last week was a 71-point Foxtel Cup defeat at the hands of an AFL-strengthened Williamstown at Etihad Stadium.

Perth's side is strengthened as well with the return of captain Steve Armstrong and 100-gamer Jarrod Kayler-Thomson but in-form ruckman Andrew McDougall goes out from the team that lost to Swan Districts a fortnight ago.

Foxtel Cup semi-final preview

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +1000

East Perth found some winning form last week beating Peel Thunder and will be hoping that carries over to Melbourne on Saturday when the Royals take on the VFL's Williamstown with a Foxtel Cup grand final berth at stake.

East Perth takes on Williamstown at Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon with the game starting just after 3pm WA time and while the Royals might be all but out of contention to make the finals in the WAFL in 2011, making the grand final of the inaugural Foxtel Cup is certainly the goal.

The Royals go in with some winning form as well after a hard fought 13-point win over Peel Thunder at Medibank Stadium last week that ended a losing run at three matches following defeats to West Perth, Subiaco and South Fremantle.

The win has also coincided with the Royals blooding a host of youngsters.

Five players have made their debuts over the past fortnight with Brock Higgins showing he is a capable ruckman, Ryan Smith doing well in defence and then Arthur Bennell, Rob Macaulay and Shaquille McKenzie showing an ability to do well as lively small forwards.

That included Bennell booting three goals last Saturday in just his second league appearance.

While other youngsters including defender Nathan Blee, Freddie Clutterbuck on the wing, Rowan Brookes across half-forward, Nick Kommer off half-back and midfielder Cameron Grover are showing good signs also, some more experienced Royals are in outstanding form.

Midfielder Brendan Lee is coming off a career-high 41 possessions against Peel and Garry Moss has had an outstanding last three weeks with 86 disposals and eight goals.

Then there is Josh Smith who has booted 34 goals for the season and won the Simpson Medal three weeks ago in Western Australia's State game win over Queensland.

To get to the semi-final, East Perth has beaten North Ballarat at Patersons Stadium and the NT Thunder in Darwin both in thrilling contests.

Meanwhile, Williamstown beat Swan Districts in Perth and then downed West Adelaide impressively also.

The Seagulls are coached by dual Subiaco premiership coach and former North Melbourne star Peter German, and are affiliated with the Western Bulldogs.

As a result, Williamstown will field a strong team on Saturday featuring Dylan Addison, Lukas Markovic, Mitch Hahn, Josh Hill, Will Minson, Andrew Hooper, Jordan Roughead, Tom Liberatore, Patrick Veszpremi and Brennan Stack.

While East Perth has Craig Wulff, Michael Swan, Mathew Seal, Pat Travers, Craig Glancy, Graham Polak, Kayne Pettifer and Kyle Anderson all unavailable through suspension, injury or recent retirements, the Royals will be going full throttle trying to win and make the Saturday August 6 grand final.

Round 17 Wrap v Perth

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +1000

EAST Perth continued its recent domination over Perth on Saturday bouncing back from a slow start to thump the hapless Demons by 64 points at Medibank Stadium in what was a tremendous performance from the Royals.

With Perth looking to move to just a game behind fourth-placed East Fremantle on the ladder, the Demons started well opening up a three-goal lead by quarter-time against the Royals on Saturday, but from there East Perth completely dominated.

It continues the Royals' terrific run in recent times against the Demons as well. It all began late in 2009 when East Perth thumped Perth by 118 points. Then last year the two wins were by 117 and 67 points, and earlier this season the Royals also won by 69 points.

Saturday's 18.15 (123) to 8.11 (59) win on Saturday at Medibank Stadium was actually the lowest winning margin of those four games, but considering it was still by 64 points it was a tremendous effort by the Royals and it sent Perth all the way to the bottom of the ladder.

After quarter-time, East Perth piled on 16 goals to just four from Perth. It began in the second term as the Royals quickly gained the lead and with eight goals to two led by 22 points at the main break.

Five more goals to nil in the third spread the advantage even further and then with three goals to two in the last quarter it was out to 64 by the final siren.

Brendan Lee continued his brilliant season in the midfield for East Perth with another 37 possessions to go with four entries inside-50.

Aaron Sweet was also terrific as he showed that he responded to being dropped a fortnight ago in the right way collecting 35 possessions, laying five tackles and kicking a goal.

Garry Moss continued his outstanding second half of the season form as well with another 29 disposals, 11 inside-50s and two goals.

Daniel Macaulay was also outstanding racking up 32 possessions, Freddie Clutterbuck had 31, Craig Wulff 28, Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls 22, Nick Kommer 20 and Steven Payne 19.

Captain Michael Swan made a welcome return from a knee injury to be terrific with 19 disposals, five inside-50s and two goals as well.

Brock Higgins played his best league game since being called up to carry the ruck also with 17 disposals and 25 hit outs.

The forward-line benefitted from the good work of those further up the field as well with Josh Smith booting five goals, and Mat Seal and Adam Prior three apiece.

Meanwhile, the reserves went down to the Demons despite 26 possessions to Ryan Maldenis. Boston Williamson also had it 25 times, Brett Dobson 21 and Jackson Slater 18. Chris Warrell kicked three goals.

The colts suffered a loss also with David Roche and Michael Hutchings terrific with 52 possessions between them. Liam O'Connor also had 23 possessions and Blake Borrett 21.

The Royals now take on fourth-placed East Fremantle this Saturday at East Fremantle Oval in their first appearance at the venue since last year's first semi-final victory.

EAST PERTH 2.1 10.7 15.13 18.15 (123)
PERTH 4.7 6.9 6.10 8.11 (59)

EAST PERTH – Goals: Smith 5; Seal, Prior 3; Moss, Swan 2; Sweet, Clutterbuck, McKenzie.
Best: Moss, Lee, Wulff, Clutterbuck, Swan, Macaulay, Sweet.
PERTH – Goals: Donovan, Pitt 2; Armstrong, Sibosado, Moody, Florio.
Best: Siekierka, Florio, Kayler-Thomson, Tedesco, Donovan.

Super skipper Swan pumped to be back

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +1000

EAST Perth captain Michael Swan was rapt to make his return in the Royals' big win over Perth on Saturday and now is looking forward to keeping his team's chances of a finals appearance alive with a group that includes youngsters and mid-range players taking the next step.

The Royals skipper had a horror injury run for much 2008 and 09, but was able to play out most of last season and help lead the team all the way to a stirring run into the preliminary final.

He was then also feeling as fit and fresh as he has in years entering 2011 and made a superb start spending significant time in the midfield for the first time in several years.

However, an unlucky knee injury suffered in Darwin in East Perth's Foxtel Cup win over the Northern Territory Thunder meant he has been on the sidelines since that game in Round 11.

The bone bruising and cartilage damage in his knee took some time to heal and while the 133-game veteran was out it certainly was a challenging time for the club for a host of reasons, but on the field it turned around on Saturday with a 64-point win over Perth at Medibank Stadium.

Swan was outstanding as well with 19 possessions and two goals, and was just thrilled to be back out there and help the team record a crucial win that keeps them in the finals' race still.

"It was awesome on Saturday to be out there again on the field to actually be able to make an impact and help the team out. It was really important that we did have that win because if we didn’t we would have been last on the ladder," Swan said.

"That's not a position anyone wants to be obviously and it definitely does keep our season alive with a really important game this week against East Fremantle. We had a real slow start and Perth came out and played a really good first term.

"Boobie gave us a big rev up at quarter-time and the boys responded really well by being able to kick eight goals in that second quarter. From there we went on and had a good win."

Since Swan went down with his knee injury, the Royals didn’t win until Round 15 against Peel and now has actually won two straight WAFL games with the Foxtel Cup loss to Williamstown in between.

However, there was also the retirements of Graham Polak and Craig Glancy, departure of Kayne Pettifer and some other off-field dramas that East Perth could have done without.

That made it especially tough for Swan to be on the sidelines during, so he was as happy as could be to return on Saturday and to have a big impact.

"Having Polly getting knocked out a few weeks ago and seeing him lying there was very disturbing and that really got the boys down. Then Plucka having to retire as well and also the issue has been really disappointing for the whole group," he said.

"The group has shown good resilience, though, and put those issues to the side just to try and focus on developing themselves as much as anything with our game plan, and as individuals to become better players.

"It has been really hard having to watch from the sidelines because there really isn’t a lot you can do when the team's out there playing unfortunately. It's more of a relief to just be back on the field to have an impact, and contribute to the team."

While the 2011 season might have been a tough one for East Perth to date, there are certainly some shining lights including Brendan Lee's outstanding on-ball form, Garry Moss now finding his best midfield and goalkicking form and Craig Wulff's leadership in the midfield in recent weeks.

Swan certainly took notice of the efforts of those three players as he was forced to watch on.

"Binga has been outstanding all year and he's easily our best midfielder, and one of the form midfielders of the competition. He's done a fantastic job having to carry a lot of the load through the midfield," he said.

"Mossy's form over the last five or six weeks has been outstanding because he can get forward to kick goals as well. Wulffy going in there has given us a lot of hardness and he can win the contested football and drive it forward to give the forwards a chance."

There is also an exciting young brigade coming through at the Royals that includes ruckman Brock Higgins, defender Nathan Blee, the hard running Steven Payne and exciting young forwards Shaquille McKenzie, Chris Warrell, Arthur Bennell and Rob Macaulay.

"It is really exciting and it's great that a lot of those guys have stepped up to the plate. Nathan Blee has been outstanding down at full-back and centre half-back all year, and taken on really big jobs for us and has won I reckon 85 per cent of his match-ups throughout the season," he said.

"For his development it has been fantastic. Brock Higgins coming in the last month has been really good in the ruck too and he gives us that extra person to use around the ground.

"Steven Payne has been another good one who has been at the club for a few years now and he's playing some really good football across the wing. Shaq McKenzie as a 17-year-old has had his chance over the last three weeks and shown some good form too, so it is exciting to have these young guys get given an opportunity and then go out and try to make the most of it."

The leadership that Wulff provided to East Perth with Swan out was superb and now the pair of them carry the load in terms of experience at the club with Glancy, Luke Webster, Adam Pickering, Brent Cowell, Andrew Merrington and Zach Beeck all having retired since early in 2010.

While Swan noticed how good Wulff did as captain in his absence, the next batch of leaders are also starting to stand out.

"Wulffy did do an excellent job and we have a good relationship, and share the load quite well together. We do have important roles as leaders, but there is a lot of opportunities for other guys to step up and show their leadership credentials," he said.

"That has been happening as well with Brendan Lee, Garry Moss and Josh Smith providing really good leadership. We've got a couple of young fellas too like Freddie Clutterbuck and Rowan Brookes who help provide some leadership too, especially on the training track which is excellent for their development and that of the group."

Swan now is fully focused on playing some strong football personally to close out 2011 and if the team turns that into more victories than losses, then a second successive finals appearance remains a chance.

"We have six games to go in the regular season and there's six more opportunities to try and put my best foot forward to play to the best of my ability," Swan said.

"Also for the team we still hope to get something out of the season and sneak into the final four."

Round 18 Preview v East Fremantle

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +1000

EAST Perth returns to East Fremantle Oval for the first time since last year's memorable first semi-final victory and a win this Saturday over the Sharks in Mat Seal's 100th game will shoot the Royals right onto the verge of a top-four spot.

For a host of reasons the 2011 season has been a tough one so far for the Royals, but victories the last two WAFL games against Peel and Perth has brightened things among the East Perth camp.

Suddenly the Royals are just two games behind fourth-placed East Fremantle with a win over the Sharks this Saturday closing that gap to just one game meaning that a second straight finals appearance would remain well and truly alive for East Perth.

Last Saturday's 64-point victory over Perth at Medibank Stadium boosted the confidence of everyone at East Perth.

The defence led by Nathan Blee was rock solid, the midfield of Brendan Lee, Garry Moss, Freddie Clutterbuck and Craig Wulff was dominant, and then up forward Josh Smith, Adam Prior, Seal and returning skipper Michael Swan all combined for 13 goals.

Confidence is a remarkable thing and now suddenly the wins over the Thunder and Demons in between the Foxtel Cup loss to Williamstown has East Perth still alive with a strong finish to the season capable of putting all the troubles of 2011 so far right in the rear-vision mirror.

A victory now on Saturday will give the Royals a real sniff of a second straight finals appearance, but a loss could see them slip to the bottom of the table depending on how Swan Districts, Peel and Perth goes on Saturday as well.

In that last meeting at East Fremantle Oval in the finals last season, East Perth came from behind to win the first ever final at the venue to advance to the preliminary final against eventual premiers Swan Districts.

East Perth started the season slowly with seven straight losses after a Round 1 win over Swan Districts. The Royals steadied with wins over Peel and Perth, but then losses to West Perth, Subiaco and South Fremantle meant they slipped to a 3-9 record.

Two wins in the last two WAFL games, though, against Peel and Perth have the Royals back within some chance of making the finals.

It's also a big day for 24-year-old forward Seal as he reaches the 100-game mark with the Royals to book his name onto the No. 3 locker. He made his debut in 2005 and over his 99 games has managed to kick 151 goals as a lively and hard working half-forward.

Captain Swan made a strong return from a knee injury in last Saturday's win over Perth and is now looking forward to not only this week's clash with East Fremantle, but all the games left in 2011 as his Royals look to win as many matches as possible to remain in the hunt for a finals berth.

"We have six games to go in the regular season and there's six more opportunities to try and put my best foot forward to play to the best of my ability. Also for the team we still hope to get something out of the season and sneak into the final four," Swan said.

"It was a really good final there last year to have a win in an elimination final. We will be going down there with a lot of confidence to try and repeat that effort of last year, but we are under no illusions as to the quality that East Fremantle has throughout their team. It won't be an easy job by any stretch.

"It is a pretty good driving force to still be able to play finals, but at the end of the day you just have to focus on the game that you have in front of you because the competition is so tight. That's all we can focus on as individuals and as a team, and try to make sure that we do our best and hopefully that's good enough. If we win those contests then everything else will take care of itself."

Round 18 Wrap v East Fremantle

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +1000

EAST Perth just fell short of what would have been a memorable fight back against East Fremantle at East Fremantle Oval on Saturday.

The Royals got off to a slow start against the fourth-placed Sharks with East Fremantle kicking the first six goals and leading by 36 points at one point in the opening quarter, but East Perth then showed the spirit and trademark that has been the backbone of the club.

East Perth turned up the pressure enormously on East Fremantle over the last three quarters to really shut down their running game.

That eventually saw them hit the front at the 14-minute mark of the last quarter when Rowan Brookes kicked truly after some superb work from Adam Prior to get the ball to him.

However, things then turned against East Perth, including some bad luck courtesy of the men in yellow, to see East Fremantle kick the next two goals and then hold on for the 18.6 (114) to 17.8 (110) victory.

It was a brave effort by the Royals, though, to fight back from the slow start to make a stirring run all the way to hitting the lead in Mat Seal's 100th game with the club.

In his second game back from the knee injury he suffered in the Foxtel Cup clash in Darwin with the Northern Territory Thunder, captain Michael Swan was simply superb kicking six goals for the first time with East Perth.

He had booted six twice previously in the VFL with Port Melbourne, but it was the first time he's done so in 134 games with the Royals.

He actually booted East Perth's first of the game in the first quarter, three more in the second quarter and then two more crucial ones in the last term.

The skipper was far from the only shining light for the Royals on the day at East Fremantle Oval though.

Brendan Lee continued his remarkable season in the midfield and racked up another 42 possessions to go with six tackles.

Craig Wulff started the day running with Chris Masten, but then moved into the middle and was instrumental in East Perth's fight back finishing with 41 disposals and seven tackles.

Freddie Clutterbuck had the better of his duel with Bradd Dalziell on the wing to pick up a career-high 39 disposals as well. Aaron Sweet continued to regain some form with 27 touches, Steven Payne had 25 and Daniel Macaulay 19.

Garry Moss kept up his outstanding form in the season half of the season with not only 21 possessions, but four terrific goals on his lethal left boot.

Nathan Blee was once against superb in defence keeping Brock O'Brien to just two goals and six kicks.

Josh Smith and Brock Higgins worked tirelessly all day in the ruck in the absence of Hamish Shepheard with Adam Prior and Shaquille McKenzie booting two goals apiece.

East Fremantle looked like running away with a massive win in the opening quarter booting the first six goals. With the Sharks' running brigade finding far too much space, it was all too easy and they led by as much as 36 points.

With their intensity lifted and pressure on East Fremantle's ball winners vastly improved, suddenly chances presented for the Royals in the second quarter and Swan and Moss, in particular, took toll.

The Royals were then within 11 points when Swan booted his fourth goal after a double 50-metre penalty against rival skipper Mark McGough.

However, the resultant scuffle sparked the Sharks to kick the next three goals, including a lucky one to Masten when Prior wasn’t paid a deserved mark and/or free-kick. McKenzie goaled after the siren for East Perth to make the half-time margin four goals.

East Perth continued to shut down East Fremantle's run through applying enormous pressure, but could only kick three goals to two in the third quarter to be 21 points down at three quarter-time.

Two quick goals to Moss and Swan's fifth suddenly had East Perth within three points and when a soccer from Prior found Rowan Brookes alone in the goal square, the Royals were in front. However, the Sharks steadied through Richard Hadley and Ben Bucovaz for the crucial win.

Ryan Maldenis was terrific in the reserves' loss for the Royals with 29 possessions. Brett Dobson picked up 24 touches and kicked a goal, Boston Williamson had 23 touches and a goal, Riley Hutchinson had 21 touches, Matthew Pearce 21 and David Marinovich kicked three goals.

The colts had a tough day out against the Sharks but Julian Ameduri picked up 24 possessions, Jordan Dobson 22, David Roche 22 and Brandon Hughes 21.

EAST PERTH 1.2 9.3 12.7 17.8 (110)
EAST FREMANTLE 7.1 13.3 16.4 18.6 (114)

EAST PERTH – Goals: Swan 6; Moss 4; Prior, McKenzie 2; Smith, Oakley-Nicholls, Brookes.
Best: Swan, Moss, Lee, Wulff, Clutterbuck, Blee, Payne.
EAST FREMANTLE – Goals: Hadley 4; Bucovaz, B O'Brien, Houlihan 2; Chidlow, Stevens, Lee-Steere, McGough, Brennan, Teakle, Masten, Dalziell.
Best: Hadley, McNamara, Stevens, Bucovaz, Young, McGough.

Seal proud of 100 to join Spencer on No. 3 locker

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +1000

EAST Perth forward Mat Seal notched 100 games with the Royals on Saturday to book his name onto the No. 3 locker beneath Peter Spencer as he now sets his sights on 150 and becoming one of the leaders at the club.

Seal came right through the East Perth ranks to make his league debut in 2005 and virtually ever since, aside from a 2008 ravaged by groin injuries, has been a permanent and effective member of the Royals' forward-line.

The 23-year-old played his 100th game on Saturday in the narrow loss to East Fremantle at East Fremantle Oval, and now over those matches he has booted 151 goals and is part of the new batch of leaders coming through at the Royals.

The 100 crept up on Seal a little as he has first cemented himself as a league player, became a cornerstone of the team and now a developing leader, but it's an honour he's enormous proud of.

"Originally when you come through the colts you just try to have a bit of fun with your footy. Then you move up the grades and try to just get a league game first, and then once you get it you slowly move up the brackets and try to get more responsibility in the team," Seal said.

"Then you get close to the 100-game mark and it creeps up on you. I'm glad to have got there. It definitely means a lot to play 100 games at a WAFL club and it's a big achievement for anyone. I'm very proud to now have my name up on the No. 3 locker."

Ever since Seal pulled on the No. 3 jumper for the first time as a league player he has stared at Spencer's name on his locker.

To now be on there with Spencer, who played 185 games, kicked 322 goals, won three FD Book Medals and two Sandover Medals in his East Perth career, is something he's tremendously proud of.

"I'm under Peter Spencer now so that's a pretty big name to follow on from, but I've met him a few times and he's a really nice guy," he said.

"If I can do a few things that he did in his career I will be a very happy man."

As for Saturday's game against the Sharks, East Perth fell 36 points down early but then made a stirring comeback to hit the front midway through the last quarter, but unfortunately just fell short with East Fremantle holding on to win by four points.

For Seal, it sums up the Royals' 2011 season given if they did play like they did after quarter-time for the whole game there's no doubt four points would have come their way.

"The boys really tried hard out there and you can't ask for any more than that. It was just disappointing to not get over the line in the end, but it was a good effort from the boys," he said.

"It has been the story of our year and we know that if we play four quarters that we would beat most sides, but we just can't seem to sustain our good work for long enough at the moment to challenge good sides."

"We have pulled off comebacks like that before and I have played in a lot of those over the years where we've got over the line, and we have just fallen short in others. I had a great feeling there when we got in front, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be and we will move on from here."

One of the most endearing traits of any East Perth team is its fighting qualities and through a lot of adversity again throughout 2011 that has remained present, and was again on show in that comeback against East Fremantle.

With Craig Wulff and Michael Swan leading from the front as veterans, and the next group of leaders including Seal, Brendan Lee, Freddie Clutterbuck, Garry Moss and Josh Smith coming through, and potential young guns Steven Payne, Brock Higgins, Nathan Blee, Nick Kommer, Shaquille McKenzie and Rowan Brookes as well, Seal has no question East Perth's future is bright.

"We never give up and we are really working on this young group that we've got on moving towards the future. If it takes a couple of years then it takes a couple of years, but we know we are on the right track to get to another premiership at the end of the day," Seal said.

"It's a good group and we've got all of the young players in the team now. Our leadership group isn’t very old either so there's a lot to learn and develop, but we can certainly see a lot of good signs and scope for improvement there. Once the improvement kicks in, we'll start winning a lot more games.

"A lot of good players have moved on over the last couple of years so there has been a big void left by them and we sort of have to pick up the slack. Especially us guys aged from about to 24 to 26 and we need to step up to be the leaders of this young group."

While a lot of leaders have moved on including Luke Webster, Brent Cowell, Craig Glancy, Jeremy Humm, Tim Noakes, Adam Pickering and Andrew Merrington in just over the last 12 months, Seal is confident that himself and others will continue to develop under the likes of Wulff and Swan.

"Guys like Brendan Lee, Garry Moss, Josh Smith and Freddie Clutterbuck, and myself, have all had to step up to be the next group of leaders," he said.

"We are all young enough and are still learning so it's going to take a few years to get to the level of a Swanny or Wulffy, but we are aiming to get there and if we get there we will have a good side underneath us."

Seal made a superb start to his 2011 season in what has still been one of his more consistent periods of his career even though niggling injuries have crept in including a sore shoulder and then knee complaint that hindered him last Saturday against East Fremantle.

He's confident of still playing this Saturday against Claremont at Claremont Oval, but if he doesn’t he is optimistic about only missing one game with a bye to come the following week.

"I've had a bit of a slump over the last few weeks, but I've had a few injuries to go along with that even though that's not really an excuse," Seal said.

"I just hope I can push through this knee problem and play a few more games this year. Hopefully the scans come back well and it's only a little bit of bruising so I can come back up next week, but we then have a bye so I might come back after that."

Round 19 Preview v Claremont

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +1000

EAST Perth travels to Claremont Oval this Saturday facing a tough task against a strong Tigers line-up, but the Royals will be out to keep up their form from the last three quarters last Saturday going and if they reproduce that then the four points could well come their way.

Claremont currently sits in second spot on the WAFL ladder coming into Round 19 action with the Tigers still looking to remain in the hunt for the minor premiership.

With veteran forward, who has moved back at times this season, David Crawford also playing his 150th game, Claremont has plenty of reasons to be desperate to win but East Perth will be out to ruin those plans.

The Royals were terrific in the last three quarters last week against East Fremantle and were unlucky not to win eventually going down by just four points in a thrilling finish.

Before that, East Perth recorded strong wins over Peel and Perth as well so the form has been improving and much of that has been down to some veterans, mid-age players and youngsters all stepping up.

Captain Michael Swan and vice-captain Craig Wulff continue to lead from the front with the likes of Brendan Lee, Garry Moss, Josh Smith, Freddie Clutterbuck and Mat Seal, who unfortunately misses this week with a knee injury, continuing to emerge as the next batch of leaders.

Then there has been exciting signs from young players including Nathan Blee, Nick Kommer, Steven Payne, Shaquille McKenzie, Brock Higgins, Rowan Brookes and Cameron Grover.

The Royals' team has been able to steady itself now in recent weeks after having Graham Polak and Craig Glancy retire, Kayne Pettifer depart and a host of others suffer injuries.

Now this week against Claremont, while Seal goes out of the team and is joined by promising young defender Ryan Smith, there are some strong inclusions for East Perth particularly in the big men department to go up against the talls from the Tigers.

Fremantle rookie Hamish Shepheard has worked hard when in the ruck this season despite being undersized and he returns for the Royals this week after missing last week's game with East Fremantle.

Big ruckman Jamie Birrell has now put together some strong form in the reserves after an early season injury and he is also in contention for his first league game of the season, and seventh of his career.

Emerging mid-sized defender Ryan Maldenis has played six games this season and continued his outstanding form in the reserves so looks set to earn a recall with small forward Chris Warrell and tagger Brett Dobson also putting themselves in the mix.

Claremont loses West Coast pair Tom Swift and Gerrick Weedon, and has dropped forward Ben Saunders, but has some big inclusions with Ian Rowe, Byron Schammer and Lewis Broome their likely replacements.

While the Tigers did beat East Perth earlier this season by 42 points, the Royals have the memories of a terrific win in the last round of 2010 that secured a finals berth and now another strong showing on Saturday at Claremont Oval will continue East Perth's encouraging recent form leading into the end of the season.

Round 19 Wrap v Claremont

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +1000

SOME East Perth veterans and rising youngsters alike put in strong showings against Claremont on Saturday at Claremont Oval, but in the end the Tigers proved too strong with their blend of current and former AFL experience in their team.

East Perth put in a strong showing in the first half in particular coming back from conceding the first two goals to then kick four in-a-row from the four-minute mark of the term to the 13th.

The Royals also did well to fight back from being 26 points down late in the second quarter to trail by just 13 points at the main break, but in the end Claremont's experience and quality shone through winning 20.16 (136) to 10.10 (70).

Claremont's team consisted of three currently listed AFL players and nine more who had been on lists before plus veterans like 150-gamer David Crawford, captain Clancy Rudeforth and veteran Trinity Handley.

Again it was a youthful East Perth side with eight players from the 22 having played 12 or fewer WAFL games, and the Royals had just two AFL rookies and two who had played AFL before.

There were plenty of Royals who stood up and did their best against the strong Tigers outfit though.

Vice-captain Craig Wulff again played on the ball for most of the afternoon and was outstanding with 37 possessions, six marks, nine tackles and four entries inside-50. Captain Michael Swan was also dangerous around goals again kicking three goals and Josh Smith booted two.

The defence was under siege for most of the day, but Daniel Macaulay was one player to stand up in a new role that he's been playing in recent weeks. He also racked up 27 disposals, drove the ball inside-50 four times and kicked a goal.

Ryan Maldenis also had 20 possessions in defence, Steven Payne 18 and Nick Kommer 17.

In the middle, Brendan Lee picked up 25 disposals despite the close tag from Clay McLernon, Pat Travers had 24 touches and Garry Moss 19 to go with five inside-50s and two goals.

Brock Higgins worked hard in the ruck finishing with 14 touches, five tackles, 19 hit outs and a goal. Smith offered him good support with 14 disposals and six hit outs.

It took only 40 seconds for Claremont to get the game's first goal on the board through Chad Jones to send a warning sign East Perth's way, and even more so when Byron Schammer marked and goaled a minute later but the Royals steadied.

Three goals in four minutes to Moss, Swan and Aaron Sweet put East Perth in front and the Royals extended the advantage to 12 points when Moss booted his second soon after. Claremont, though, booted the last three goals of the quarter to lead by seven points at quarter-time.

The Tigers threatened to blow the game open leading by 26 points when 150-gamer Crawford booted his first goal late in the second term, but late goals to captain Swan and ruckman Higgins kept East Perth in the hunt trailing by just 17 at the main break.

East Perth had been brave to hang in there throughout the first half, but Claremont once and for all put its foot down in the third term. By the time Crawford kicked his second at the 24-minute mark, Claremont's lead was out to 58 points.

The Royals managed the last goal of the third quarter and first of the last, but the Tigers booted the last three goals of the game with Beau Wilkes nailing two of them and Alroy Gilligan his second.

The reserves also went down to Claremont but Mitchell Howlett was outstanding coming up from the colts with 27 possessions. Jamie Del Borrello picked up 26 disposals, Matthew Green 23 (and two goals), Don Stirling 19 and Boston Williamson 19. David Marinovich kicked two goals.

The colts also suffered a defeat with Julian Locantro picking up 18 touches, Michael Hutchings 17 and Liam O'Connor 17.

EAST PERTH 4.3 8.6 9.7 10.10 (70)
CLAREMONT 5.4 10.7 17.11 20.16 (136)

EAST PERTH – Goals: Swan 3; Smith, Moss 2; Macaulay, Higgins, Sweet.
Best: Wulff, Macaulay, Payne, Moss, Lee, Kommer.
CLAREMONT – Goals: Wilkes 5; Bradshaw 3; C Jones, Crawford, Gilligan, Richardson 2; Schammer, Foster, Andrews, Rudeforth.
Best: Blackwell, Wilkes, Browne, Richardson, Laurie, Foster, Franz.

Higgins making most of time in ruck for Royals

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +1000

EAST Perth ruckman Brock Higgins has shown plenty of encouraging signs in the opening five games of his league career prior to last week's bye and now is looking for a strong finish to 2011 like the rest of his Royals teammates.

Higgins broke in to make his league debut with East Perth in Round 14 against South Fremantle and he's now played the last five WAFL games for the Royals as well as the Foxtel Cup clash at Etihad Stadium against eventual premiers Williamstown.

Over those games he has done well around the ground averaging 14 possessions, he kicked his first goal against Claremont in Round 19 and in the actual ruck department he has also been prominent averaging over 22 hit outs per game.

That all suggests that the 21-year-old 191cm big man has made his mark already at East Perth and will be right in the mix for the club's ruck stocks going forward.

He has enjoyed the chance to play so far and the challenges that it has presented up against bigger and more experienced ruckmen, and he hopes to keep making a positive impact over the last four games of the season now.

"I have learned a lot over the last couple of months. Especially in the Foxtel Cup against (Will) Minson and then last week up against Mitch Andrews who was a much bigger boy than me. It has been a good experience," Higgins said.

"I just have to take my chances and keep playing well, or trying to play well. The first few weeks it took some getting used to for sure, but now I'm trying to find my regular spot. It is a lot quicker than reserves football and there's a lot bigger bodies out there, and stronger. I enjoy playing in the ruck. It's good being up around the ball so I hope I can continue to do that."

Even though Higgins goes up against some bigger men in the ruck, he certainly still does all he can to do his best in the contests in the middle, but there's always a Plan B. The current set up with Hamish Shepheard and Josh Smith backing him up is working nicely also.

"With the ruck hit outs you always go out there trying to win the contests, but we assess it out there as the game goes on. If I'm getting on top of him we will attack, but if he's going on top of me I just try to halve the contests and see how we go," he said.

"The way it's been working I have been starting by doing the first eight to 10 minutes, and then when I need a rest Shep comes in and then we have Smithy there as well if one of us needs a bit of a chop out. It has been working pretty well for us."

Royals' assistant coach Russell Thompson has worked closely with Higgins and there's no doubt East Perth is trying to make the most of his agility to get around the ground and win some football himself to help out midfielders Brendan Lee, Pat Travers, Garry Moss and Craig Wulff.

"'Bomber' talks to me about working hard around the ground and using my athleticism versus their height, so that's what I try to do," he said.

"Trying to be that other midfielder is what I try to do by getting involved in the contests, and hands off the ground. They are great in there. They talk all day, are always encouraging me and they know where to go as well."

Higgins didn’t take the traditional route to wind up at East Perth, but he certainly had always wanted to play WAFL football and now that he's got the chance, he's glad to be making the most of it.

"I never went through any development squads as a kid or anything, and then played footy up in Broome for a year and then a year of Amateurs," he said.

"I was in the colts state program and got a call from East Perth and a few other clubs, but I came here because I knew a few people down here. I've always wanted to play WAFL footy and while I can, try to play at the highest level I can. At the moment, I'm enjoying it."

The Royals can't make finals from here in 2011, but with games to go against Subiaco, West Perth, Perth and Claremont the plan is to get as much out of the rest of the campaign as possible and continue to build into pre-season and 2012.

"It's all about building at this stage of the year for us. We have to keep building, get some momentum going into next season and then next year giving it a big run. Even Mossy and Smith with their experience they've got from AFL level it helps out heaps," Higgins said.

"Then there's Binga and Freddie Clutterbuck as well, and the leadership group we've got is awesome. We are all just eager to win and play together. We know that we're playing for spots not only this year, but for the future and everyone is out there playing as hard as they can all the time.

"It is a really good feeling in the group. Even down at training everyone is enjoying themselves, and we like being around one another."

Round 21 Preview v Subiaco

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +1000

EAST Perth returns from its first bye of 2011 last week to take on an in-form Subiaco in the third Medibank Stadium co-tenant battle of the season.

While East Perth is out of the hunt to play finals in 2011, the Royals have still played some good football in 2011 and are not a side to be taken lightly.

They will also be desperate to not only get one step away from finishing with the wooden spoon, but to also spoil Subiaco's hopes of making the finals come September.

The week off last weekend would have done everyone at East Perth the world of good given that because of the Foxtel Cup, the State game break was the only week off for much of the playing group.

However, in the case of Josh Smith and Brendan Lee, last week was their first weekend without playing in 20 weeks given they also played for Western Australia in the win over Queensland.

East Perth loses Hamish Shepheard from the team that lost to Claremont a fortnight ago, but Fremantle's Dylan Roberton comes back along with ruckman Jamie Birrell, midfielder Cameron Grover and defender Kyle Anderson.

Emerging East Perth ruckman Brock Higgins has now shown good signs as the club's No. 1 ruckman over the last six games and he's looking forward to getting back out there this Saturday evening to take on Michael Rix.

"The plan will probably be to just jump into him and try to then outrun him out there all day. I love those sorts of challenges, though, so it will be a great test for me. I can't wait for it," Higgins said.

"We try to win every game that we can and we want to finish off the season really strongly. We all can't wait to get back out there now. We are all just eager to win and play together. We know that we're playing for spots not only this year, but for the future and everyone is out there playing as hard as they can all the time."

Subiaco, though, has every right to lay claim to being the form side of the competition ever since a tough three-week period between Rounds 10-12 where the Lions lost to Peel, Perth and Claremont.

However, since then Subiaco has been in outstanding form beating East Perth, East Fremantle, South Fremantle, Swan Districts, Peel and Perth with a narrow loss to West Perth the only blip.

Last Saturday's come-from-behind win over Perth at Medibank Stadium saw Subiaco move into fourth position on the ladder as well replacing East Fremantle, but the Lions do need to continue winning in order to play finals again.

The Royals and Lions have shared the Leederville venue since 2004 and the rivalry has been steadily growing in intensity ever since.

Battles in recent seasons between the two have been some of the best games of each WAFL campaign, but in the early years of being co-tenants Subiaco dominated proceedings.

The Lions won the opening eight meetings between 2004-06 by an average of almost 43 points before the Royals finally got on the board in the first meeting of 2007 in a roaring comeback.

Subiaco hit back hard later in 2007 winning the second clash by 110 points, but the last three years honours have been relatively even. The Lions won both clashes in 2008, but East Perth won two of the three in 2009 and then all three last year – by 25, eight and 13 points.

Having also won the opening two games this year, Subiaco leads the overall record since the co-tenancy began 13-6.

Subiaco loses 200-game champion Allistair Pickett with a knee injury and Ryan Crowley to Fremantle from last week's team that beat Perth, but Des Headland (pictured) heads a list of inclusions that also has Abe Davey, Scott Worthington, George Hampson and Scott Ward pushing for a spot.

Presentation's Tonight

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +1000

All Loyal Royals.

Due to the twilight game against Subiaco tonight there will be no presentation's after the game. Please still come up and show your support from the Club as the Member's bar will be open.

Go the Mighty Royals!

Round 21 Wrap v Subiaco

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +1000

EAST Perth might have eventually been overrun by a Subiaco team that is the in-form side in the WAFL at present in Saturday night's clash of the Medibank Stadium co-tenants, but the Royals put themselves in a strong position by midway through the third quarter with some encouraging signs.

Coming off its first bye of the season thanks to making it all the way to the Foxtel Cup semi-final before going down to eventual premiers Williamstown, the Royals came out strongly against the Lions before eventually going down by 60 points.

Subiaco has now won seven of its last eight games after a slow start to the season to be in fourth position on the ladder after the 18.12 (120) to 8.12 (60) victory on Saturday night in the twilight fixture that was played in wet and windy conditions by the finish.

However, East Perth certainly could come away with its heads held high still despite the eventual final margin.

After conceding the first two goals, East Perth got cracking in the opening quarter and went on to control the majority of the first half. The lead got out to as much as 17 points after captain Michael Swan snapped through his second goal at the 21-minute mark of the second term.

It was still 13 by 10 minutes into the third as well after an exciting running goal from youngster Shaquille McKenzie, but from there Subiaco kicked the last 12 goals of the game.

Vice-captain Craig Wulff was a tireless worker in the midfield for the Royals to finish with 32 possessions. Brendan Lee had Pat Hassett running with him but still managed to gather 29 disposals and drive the ball inside-50 on seven occasions.

Pat Travers also picked it up 25 times on the ball, Aaron Sweet 22 and Steven Payne 20. Daniel Macaulay worked hard providing run out of defence with 32 possessions as well and after Ryan Maldenis went down concussed in the opening quarter, Adam Prior went back as well and was solid.

Brock Higgins did all he could in the ruck up against the dominant Michael Rix and actually finished off with a good performance with 18 possessions, five tackles, 19 hit outs and three entries inside-50.

Swan and Garry Moss kicked two goals apiece while Josh Smith threatened to be the difference between the sides early on for the Royals, but couldn’t quite get his radar working. He kicked 1.4 from 15 possessions and 10 marks.

Subiaco and the league's leading goalkicker Blake Broadhurst started ominously with the first two majors of the game inside seven minutes, but East Perth worked its way on top largely thanks to the strong leading and mark from Smith up forward.

He kicked the Royals' first goal from outside 50 and then had a hand in majors to Moss and Swan as well, but the Lions were just three points down thanks to a late soccer goal from Rhett Kerr.

It was then all East Perth for the first 25 minutes of the second quarter and the Royals did boot three goals in that period to move 17 points in front when skipper Swan snapped truly on his left boot.

However, late Subiaco goals to Jason Bristow and Broadhurst after the Lions had been goalless for a full quarter meant that the margin was just six points in favour of the Royals at the main break.

Subiaco got the first goal of the second half through Kerr and had a chance of another to Danny Hughes, but as he ran into an open goal under no pressure he inexplicably hit the post. East Perth then went down the other end for Nick Kommer to boot just the second goal of his 11-game career.

Exciting speedster McKenzie then also kicked a goal on the run to put East Perth 13 points in front again, but Subiaco managed the last three of the term to turn for home with a four-point advantage.

It was then all Subiaco in the final quarter as the wind and rain made it virtually impossible for East Perth. The Lions piled on nine goals without the Royals scoring to run out 60-point winners.

East Perth's reserves started the day early on Saturday and only narrowly went down to Subiaco by three points. David Marinovich kicked three goals with Josh Stott and Jamie Del Borrello adding two each. Brett Dobson had 31 possessions and Cameron Grover 21.

Then in between the reserves and league game, the colts took to Medibank Stadium with Subiaco also running out 54-point victors. For East Perth, though, Gordan Alone, Julian Ameduri, Michael Hutchings and Liam O'Connor worked especially hard as did Sean Bradley in the ruck.

EAST PERTH 3.5 6.7 8.12 8.12 (60)
SUBIACO 3.2 5.7 9.10 18.12 (120)

EAST PERTH – Goals: Moss, Swan 2; Smith, Clutterbuck, McKenzie, Kommer.
Best: Wulff, Lee, Higgins, Travers, Macaulay, Prior, Payne.
SUBIACO – Goals: Broadhurst, Hughes, Blechynden 3; Horsley, Kerr 2; Cockie, Headland, Worthington, Hildebrandt, Bristow.
Best: Horsley, Kerr, Bloxsidge, Bristow, Blechynden, Hughes, Hildebrandt.

Round 22 Preview v West Perth

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +1000

EAST Perth heads up to Arena Joondalup to take on fierce rivals West Perth on Saturday in the final Perth derby of 2011 with the Royals desperate to avoid allowing the Falcons to take out a clean sweep of their clashes for the season.

West Perth has won the first two Perth derbies of the season but by narrow margins with a 23-point victory in Round 5 at Arena Joondalup and then on Foundation Day winning by just 12 points at Medibank Stadium.

Neither the Royals nor Falcons have been able to record a clean sweep over the other in a season since West Perth did back in 1999 so East Perth will certainly be desperate to avoid that happening this Saturday up at Arena Joondalup.

East Perth might be out of the race to make the finals in 2011 but will be desperate to finish the 2011 campaign strongly to not only avoid the wooden spoon, but to gain some confidence to head into the pre-season for 2012 with.

East Perth has struggled against in-form sides Subiaco and Claremont to lose by 66 and 60 points in its last two games in between a Round 20 bye, its first of the season, but has certainly shown signs of competitiveness in both those games.

The Royals will also be desperate to not drop a third straight game to West Perth for the season after having their chances in the first two meetings.

The Royals have also made plenty of changes to the side that went down to Subiaco last Saturday by 60 points after leading by 17 themselves in the second quarter and still by 13 midway through the third.

Danny Chartres, Don Stirling, Mat Seal, Brett Dobson, Hamish Shepheard, Jamie Birrell and Cameron Grover are all pushing for selection.

Jacob Derickx, Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls, Dylan Roberton and Ryan Maldenis go out of the side.

West Perth also needs a win to boost its confidence again. Coming off four straight wins against Swan Districts, Subiaco, Claremont and South Fremantle that had the Falcons comfortably atop the WAFL ladder, the Falcons have now lost three consecutive games.

That has included a 29-point loss to Perth, 25-point defeat at the hands of South Fremantle and then last Saturday in Geraldton a 19-point loss to East Fremantle.

That has seen West Perth now slip to second spot on the ladder and with one game less to play than Claremont and an inferior percentage, it's unlikely they will now be able to bridge the gap.

However, the Falcons would like to gain some confidence this week against East Perth and then next week against Swan Districts prior to the bye in Round 24. And not only for the confidence, but they do risk losing second spot to South Fremantle if they don’t win at least one more game as well.

Veteran Josh Pearce will also celebrate his 150th game with the Falcons.

Luke Tedesco goes out of the West Perth side that lost in Geraldton last Saturday with Marc Crisp, Joel Rice, Jay Tindall and Kody Manning a chance to come back in.

CHANGE TO PRE SEASON FIXTURES

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +1100

Due to extreme heat conditions expected this Saturday, our fixtures against East Fremantle at Medibank Stadium have been changed to the following.

Colts - 6:00pm Friday night

League - 9:00am Saturday morning

Reserves - 11:30am Saturday morning

All games 4x25 mins no time on.

Come down and support the boys in their last pre-season hit up before our first game on March 24th vs. Claremont

Round 22 Wrap v West Perth

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +1000

EAST Perth put in a tremendous effort all afternoon at Arena Joondalup to knock off the second-placed West Perth by a comprehensive 27 points with virtually all 22 Royal players making a strong contribution.

The Royals led the game from the outset after Shaquille McKenzie got the game's opening goal inside 35 seconds. East Perth did have to withstand a West Perth fight back midway through the last quarter when the Falcons got to within 10 points, but the Royals then kicked away to record the 18.9 (117) to 12.18 (90) victory.

The win for the Royals also sees them avoid dropping all three games to West Perth this season and certainly gives them a confidence boost heading into the last two games of the 2011 season up against Perth and Claremont.

Michael Swan and Josh Smith both kicked four goals each, and Shaquille McKenzie, Garry Moss and Hamish Shepheard two. Moss also had 19 possessions and six entries inside-50.

Daniel Macaulay picked up 28 possessions, Aaron Sweet 26, Brendan Lee 25 and Craig Wulff 19. Kyle Anderson was superb in defence keeping Jeff Gobbels goalless and to just nine disposals as well.

It took just 35 seconds for McKenzie to kick the first goal of the game and then two to Moss saw the Royals up by 15 points early. That advantage was out to 27 points by quarter-time when the speedster McKenzie kicked truly on the run just before the siren sounded.

The Royals then continued their path onto a big upset with Shepheard marking and goaling twice in the opening eight minutes of the second term.

West Perth fired up soon after, though, with skipper Salecic kicking two goals in three minutes and then Stockley added another to bring that Falcons back to within just 14 points.

However, East Perth was desperate to avoiding dropping off as it has against Claremont and East Perth the last two games. Late second quarter goals to Adam Prior, Smith and then Swan with an absolute ripper from the boundary had the Royals with a commanding 27-point half-time advantage.

While West Perth only kicked one goal for the third quarter, Joel Rice kicked two set shots on the full with Stockley, Tregear (twice), Salecic and Strijk all kicking behinds from gettable opportunities.

With Smith and Swan kicking truly for the Royals down the other end, East Perth maintained control to lead by 31 points still at the last change.

However, West Perth made a charge with two early goals to Strijk and then one to Salecic had the home side back within 10 points, but the Royals steadied with the last three goals through Smith and Swan (both two).

East Perth's reserves came from behind to beat West Perth by 38 points with Josh Stott and David Marinovich kicking three goals, and Rowan Brookes and Jamie Del Borrello two. Cameron Grover had 23 possessions and Riley Hutchinson 17.

Meanwhile, the colts went down to West Perth despite two goals from Ashley Wallam, 21 possessions from Brandon Hughes and 20 from Thomas Omodei.

EAST PERTH 7.2 12.4 14.7 18.9 (117)
WEST PERTH 2.5 7.7 8.12 12.18 (90)

EAST PERTH – Goals: Smith, Swan 4; Shepheard, Moss, McKenzie 2; Clutterbuck, Dobson, Kommer, Prior.
Best: Lee, Sweet, Anderson, Macaulay, Moss, Smith, Wulff.
WEST PERTH – Goals: Stockley, Salecic 3; Strijk 2; Tsalikis, Fleay, Tregear, Saylor.
Best: Salecic, Bartholomew, Strijk, Stockley, Burns, Tsalikis, Pearce.

Round 23 Preview v Perth

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +1000

EAST Perth looks to continue to build some strong momentum to finish off the season with at Lathlain's Brownes Stadium on Saturday up against a Perth side that it has dominated in recent times.

East Perth played tremendously well last week to beat West Perth by 27 points in an emphatic Perth derby performance at Arena Joondalup against the second-placed Falcons.

That victory was East Perth's first since a 64-point win over Perth back in Round 17 and now gives the Royals a real chance to finish the 2011 season strongly with a win this Saturday over the Demons and then a home clash with likely minor premiers Claremont in the final round.

East Perth will take enormous confidence into the clash as well considering its dominance over Perth in the last five meetings between the two sides.

Ever since Perth last won over East Perth back in Round 12, 2009, the Royals have won the last five clashes by a massive average of 87 points.

That has included a 118-point victory in Round 20, 2009, 67 and 117-point wins in 2010 and then two triumphs this season already by 69 points in Round 10 and then 64 in Round 17.

The Royals will come in with massive confidence not only because of that but also because of the exciting signs from last week's win over the finals bound West Perth.

With Josh Smith and Michael Swan combining for eight goals, Daniel Macaulay, Aaron Sweet, Brendan Lee, Garry Moss, Craig Wulff and Pat Travers instrumental through the middle, and the likes of Kyle Anderson and Nathan Blee tremendous in defence, the Royals dominated most of the game.

Then with excitement from emerging players like Brock Higgins, Nick Kommer and Shaquille McKenzie as well and there's plenty there for Royals' fans to be optimistic about.

Rowan Brookes, Josh Stott, Jamie Birrell and Jamie Del Borrello are pushing for a spot in East Perth's side with Danny Chartres the only out at this stage.

Perth, though, won its seventh game of the season last week downing Peel by two goals at Bendigo Bank Stadium coming off relatively narrow losses to South Fremantle and Subiaco.

Scott Siekierka has retired and goes out of the Perth team following his 126-game league career with Joel Fiegert joining him out of the side. Brett Hodge, Dene White, Daniel O'Sullivan and Damon White are all on track to come in for the Demons.

EAST PERTH DISTRICT - GRAND FINAL RESULTS

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +1000

EAST PERTH DISTRICT

GRAND FINAL RESULTS

PLAYED AT LIGHTNING PARK, SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 18

13’S:

Grand Final: Noranda Gold 7-6-48 defeated Mount Hawthorn 3-9-27

14’S:

Grand Final: Mount Hawthorn 7-9-51 defeated Ballajura Black 3-10-28

15’S:

Grand Final: Morley 8-10-58 defeated Noranda 2-10-22

16’S Cross-Districts:

Grand Final: Mt.Lawley-Inglewood 15-8-98 defeated Thornlie 1-6-12

17’S Cross-Districts:

Grand Final: South Perth 6-7-43 defeated Ballajura 3-11-29

Round 23 Wrap v Perth

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +1000

EAST Perth now turns its full attention to a big finish to the season against minor premiers Claremont this Saturday following last week's 16-point defeat to Perth at Lathlain's Brownes Stadium.

East Perth had won its last five games against the Demons by an average of a massive 87 points, but wasn’t quite able to replicate that on Saturday with Perth running out 15.12 (102) to 13.8 (86) victors.

The first quarter was a tight affair with the Demons leading by just the solitary point at the first change, but by half-time Perth had kicked six second quarter goals to East Perth's four to hold a 13-point lead at the long break.

The margin was still just 12 points by three quarter-time, but with two goals apiece in the final term it was enough for Perth to record its first win over the Royals since 2009.

Freddie Clutterbuck worked hard all day for the Royals as he has for all of his breakout 2011 season. He finished with 28 possessions, nine marks and four entries inside-50.

Craig Wulff picked up 26 possessions as well and took 11 marks, Pat Travers had 25 disposals, took six marks, had four inside-50s and kicked a goal, Steven Payne had 24 touches and kicked a goal, Brendan Lee had 22 possessions, Mat Seal 21 and defender Nathan Blee 20.

Daniel Macaulay continued his strong form since being moved into defence as well with 28 possessions, eight marks and five tackles.

Up forward, Adam Prior and Josh Smith kicked three goals apiece, and Michael Swan and Shaquille McKenzie two each.

East Perth's reserves also went down to Perth on Saturday despite 24 possessions from Jamie Del Borrello. Boston Williamson also had 22 possessions, Rowan Brookes 19, Riley Hutchinson 18 and Stephen Mansfield 17. Kane Moulton kicked three goals.

The colts put in a competitive effort against the Demons but also fell short to the tune of 27 points. Mitchell Howlett was simply outstanding with 41 possessions, eight inside-50s and a goal.

Liam O'Connor picked up 24 possessions, Michael Hutchings 23, Jackson Slater 23 (and two goals), Thomas Omodei 21, Julian Ameduri 18 and Daniel Bin Omar 18. Marcus Ruggiero also kicked two goals for the Royals.

East Perth will now finish its 2011 WAFL campaign this Saturday against the minor premiers Claremont at Medibank Stadium.

EAST PERTH 4.2 8.3 11.7 13.8 (86)
PERTH 4.3 10.4 13.7 15.12 (102)

EAST PERTH – Goals: Smith, Prior 3; McKenzie, Swan 2; Travers, Payne, Seal.
Best: Travers, Wulff, Clutterbuck, Payne, Macaulay, Smith.
PERTH– Goals: Busher, Sibosado 3; Armstrong, Florio, Rogers, Leeson, De Jongh, Houghton, O'Meara, Edwards, Donovan.
Best: Young, Busher, Florio, Rogers, De Jongh, Leeson, Tedesco.

Round 24 Preview v Claremont

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +1000

EAST Perth will be looking for a positive finish to the 2011 WAFL season this Saturday hosting minor premiers Claremont at Medibank Stadium.

East Perth did beat Claremont in the final round last season also and on that occasion that was to book in a first semi-final appearance against East Fremantle. While a finals berth is not at stake on this occasion, the Royals will still be throwing everything at knocking off the Tigers.

The Royals will certainly head into the clash with the minor premiers looking to take some momentum into the pre-season with and will be confident of doing so having beaten the second-placed West Perth just two weeks ago and only narrowly losing to Perth last weekend.

There is also the potential for two more East Perth players to make their debuts in the game as well. Riley Hutchinson is coming off 18 possessions, six tackles, five inside-50s and a goal in the reserves last week against Perth and Josh Stott has also been in strong form in recent weeks.

They could join a long list of Royal debutants in 2011 that already includes Nathan Blee, Brock Higgins, Nick Kommer, Ryan Maldenis, Cameron Grover, Rowan Brookes, Shaquille McKenzie, Arthur Bennell, Ryan Smith, Chris Warrell, Chris Franklin and Rob Saylor.

As well as the potential of Hutchinson and Stott coming in for the clash, East Perth could also recall Danny Chartres, Jamie Del Borrello, Jake Derickx and Brookes to the side to take on the Tigers.

Captain Michael Swan has been in tremendous form since returning from his knee injury in front of goal and again goes out hurt with damaging and potent left-footer Garry Moss joining him out of the line-up. Hamish Shepheard also goes out and looks set to make his AFL debut with Fremantle.

Claremont guaranteed the minor premiership last Saturday with a 93-point win over Peel Thunder meaning that it has little to play for this Saturday against East Perth aside from making sure they are fully primed for West Perth next week.

The Tigers will finish on top of the ladder for the second straight season and host the second semi-final next week against the Falcons.

Claremont won the opening clash of the season between the two back in Round 4 winning by 42 points and then the last meeting was only in Round 19 when the Tigers also won by 66 points at Claremont Oval.

The Tigers lose Ryan Brabazon to a hamstring injury with key position pair Tom Lee and Brett Jones also going out of the side, but coach Simon McPhee has some supremely talented players to call upon.

Lewis Stevenson, James Thomson, Gerrick Weedon, Tom Willett and Lewis Broome are all pushing for selection as is Ben Saunders after booting 11 goals in the reserves' win over Peel last Saturday.

Change of Date For Fairest & Best Night

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +1000

Due to unforeseen circumstances it has been decided that the Trophy Presentation night will be now held on Friday the 7th of October not Saturday the 8th as previously arranged.

We apologise for any inconvenience

Go the Mighty Royals

Round 24 Wrap v Claremont

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +1000

EAST Perth took it right up to minor premiers Claremont at Medibank Stadium on Saturday in the final game of the 2011 season, but eventually went down to the Tigers in a brave showing.

Captain Michael Swan, leading goalkicker Josh Smith and classy left-footer Garry Moss were among those players who didn’t line up for the clash through injury, but still East Perth was able to be competitive before Claremont eventually prevailed 16.11 (107) to 12.9 (81).

Claremont led by just a goal at quarter-time and then by 12 points at the main break. The Royals maintained touch during the third quarter and trailed by just 21 points at three quarter-time before going down by 26 against the top-of-the-ladder Tigers to enter the finals as premiership favourites.

Pat Travers was outstanding all day for the Royals and he finished with the impressive stat-line of 28 possessions, six marks, three inside-50 entries and two goals.

Brendan Lee finished off his superb season with 27 disposals with Daniel Macaulay also picking up 27 touches, Craig Wulff 26, Rowan Brookes 21, Mat Seal 20 and Freddie Clutterbuck 17.

Aaron Sweet finished off his 2011 campaign impressively with 27 possessions and two goals as well, with Steven Payne emerging as a quality league footballer in the latter part of the year and finishing off with 27 disposals, seven marks, five inside-50s and two goals.

Exciting small forward Shaquille McKenzie also booted two goals as did last year's leading goalkicker Adam Prior.

The Royals had already blooded 14 debutants in 2011 and added another on Saturday in the form of Josh Stott. He wasn't out of place either and played well to finish with 16 possessions and seven marks.

The reserves went down to Claremont as well despite several strong individual performances. The best was Ryan Maldenis who finished with 33 possessions and seven tackles.

Boston Williamson also had 28 disposals, Jye Keath 27, Mitchell Howlett 23, Chris Warrell 23, Cameron Grover 22 and David Bawden 21.

In the colts, the Royals also went down to the Tigers despite two goals from Marcus Ruggiero and 20 possessions from Daniel Bin Omar, and 19 from Aaron D'Rozario and Liam O'Connor.

EAST PERTH 2.4 4.5 8.6 12.9 (81)
CLAREMONT 3.4 6.5 11.9 16.11 (107)

EAST PERTH – Goals: Prior, McKenzie, Sweet, Payne, Travers 2; Derickx, Del Borrello.
Best: Travers, Payne, Sweet, Wulff, Macaulay, Lee, Brookes, Anderson.
CLAREMONT – Goals: Wilkes 4; C Jones, Handley 2; Foster, Swift, Mitchell, Blackwell, Richardson, Crawford, Rudeforth, Weedon.
Best: Foster, Browne, Murphy, Wilkes, Mitchell, Swift, Richardson.

Denis Collins 1953-2011

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +1000

Denis Collins a former league player of the club, passed away on August 30 at Hyden W.A. aged 58 years.

Denis played 10 games, 7 goals in 1981-82 and was recruited after a VFL career with Footscray 1972-77, 100 games, and 60 goals. Carlton 1978-79, 30 games, 12 goals, Richmond 1980, 17 games, 2 goals.

Our deepest sympathy is extended to his wife and family.

There is an excellent write up on Denis’ career athttp://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php?page=Denis+Collins

2011 East Perth Medal Winners

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +1100

Brendan Lee capped off a stellar year to take out the FD Book Medal as the Fairest and Best League Player at the Club's annual FD Book Medal night on Friday 7th October in our Members Bar at Medibank Stadium.

A clear favourite Lee won from leading goal kicker Josh Smith. Nathan Blee took out the best 1st year player as well as coming third in the count. Garry Moss claimed fourth on the back of an impressive last half of the season.

The night was enjoyed by 175 players, sponsors and supporters. Having the event in the Member's Bar surrounded by all the Club greats of yesteryear provided a great atmostphere around the celebrations.

Congratulations to all our winners

2011 COLTS FAIREST & BEST AWARDS

COLTS MOST COURAGEOUS AWARD

Chris McGuire

(Donated by Brian Goddard)

COLTS ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD

Sean Bradley

(Donated by Reg & Kaye Pratt)

COLTS EDUCATION AWARD

Joel Kane

Seff Parry Memorial Trophy

(Donated by Bill Forrest)

COLTS BEST CLUBMAN AWARD

Michael Rimbus

(Donated Embassy Caterers)

COLTS OUTSTANDING PLAY AWARD

Julian Ameduri (101 Votes)

(Donated by Kevin Gaines)

FAIREST & BEST

Blake Borrett, Michael Hutchings, Liam O'Connor (109 Votes)

Hec Strempel Medallion

(Donated by EPFC Past Players’ & Officials)

2011 RESERVES FAIREST & BEST AWARDS

RESERVES OUTSTANDING PLAY AWARD

Rowan Brookes (128 Votes)

(Donated by EPFC Past Players’ & Officials)

RESERVES OUTSTANDING PLAY AWARD

Ryan Maldenis (130 Votes)

(Donated by Reg & Kaye Pratt)

RESERVES OUTSTANDING PLAY AWARD

Cameron Grover (154 Votes)

(Donated by Janice Tobin)

FAIREST & BEST

Boston Williamson (185 Votes)

Eric Smith Medallion

(Donated by Reg & Kaye Pratt)

2011 LEAGUE FAIREST & BEST AWARDS

LEAGUE EDUCATION AWARD

Daniel Macaulay

Ken Hatfield Memorial Trophy Response by player

(Donated by Reg & Kaye Pratt)

LEAGUE BEST FIRST YEAR PLAYER

Nathan Blee

Mussman-Gardiner Memorial Trophy Response by player

(Donated by EPFC Past Players’ & Officials)

BEST CLUB MAN

Freddie Clutterbuck

(Donated by Reg & Kaye Pratt)

LEAGUE LEADING GOAL KICKER

Josh Smith (50 goals)

(Donated by Tom Percy QC)

TRAINERS AWARD

Brock Higgins

(Donated by EPFC Trainers)

OUTSTANDING PLAY AWARD

Garry Moss (250 Votes)

(Donated by John Hyde MLA)

OUTSTANDING PLAY AWARD

Nathan Blee (268 Votes)

(Donated by Paul Litherland)

LEAGUE RUNNER-UP

Josh Smith

Janice Tobin Memorial Perpetual Trophy 298 votes

(Donated by Allianz)

CLUB CHAMPION

Brendan Lee (331 Votes)

FD Book Medallion

(Donated by Tint-A-Car)

Pre Season Training Kits

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +1100

For a limited time you have the opportunity to own the 2012 East Perth FC training kit. The kit includes, an East Perth running Singlet, East Perth running shorts and an East Perth running hat. Limited stock so first in first served. (Size Large only).

Please follow the links under the tab Team Store.

Go the Mighty Royals!

Girls Rule at East Perth District Lightning Carnival

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +1100

It was a case of ‘Girls Rule’ at the East Perth Football District’s annual all-girls Dockers Shield Lightning Carnivals, held over two days on November 2^nd and 3^rd, at RA Cook Reserve in Morley.

First, it was the turn of the Primary Schoolgirls to showcase their footy skills. The Year 5 & 6 students made light of the hot and unpleasant conditions to have a fantastic day of friendly competition. Eight teams had a (pink) ball as they chased the footy around the home of the Morley Bulldogs. There was a lot of talent and enthusiasm on show, as the teams battled for supremacy. In the end, it was the girls from East Beechboro Primary School who earned the coveted Dockers Shield as the team who had the most fun and who displayed the best teamwork; “The girls returned to school after the carnival absolutely buzzing, which is always great to see, especially those who don't find phys ed the easiest of things to do”, said coach and P.E. teacher Jamie Maidens. “It was fantastic to see how excited they were and it capped off a great day”.

Camboon Primary’s coach and P.E. teacher Jeff Scott was equally thrilled with how his students responded to the carnival. “They thoroughly enjoyed the day - the opportunity to play footy, to be team mates and to compete and socialise with peers from other schools, in such a relaxed, non threatening setting. It's been a long time since I've heard such positive, enthusiastic banter after games - notwithstanding the heat. It was a very happy, chirpy bus that returned to school!”

Above: East Beechboro PS winners of Dockers Shield in the Primary Schools division.

It was always going to be difficult to top the buzz from the Primary Carnival when the Secondary Schools took the field on Thursday 3^rd November. In stormy and threatening weather, eight teams, comprised of Year 9 & 10 girls, competed for victory in the Dockers Shield.

This carnival was a competitive one from the start, and teams were well-organised by their coaches and keen to win. The Ellenbrook Secondary College squad was the surprise packet of the day and won all their games except for a draw in the game immediately after lunch – wonder if that had anything to do with the Hungry Jacks feast they enjoyed?? However, it was the team from Perth College who reigned supreme on the day, earning the Dockers Shield with five wins from their five games; a fantastic effort, considering that not one of their team had played a game of football before!

Above: The successful Perth College team get a pep talk from their coach during the Secondary girls’ carnival.

From these carnivals, forty girls indicated an interest in continuing on in football in 2012, which augers well for East Perth District’s proposed six-week girls’ interclub competition, which will be played for the first time next year. If the carnivals are any indication of how they will be received, they will be a roaring success!!

Pre-Season Fixtures

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +1100

Please see below for our pre-season fixtures. Entry into all pre season games is free

WAFL Pre-Season Fixtures

Round 1.

Friday 24th Feb - East Perth vs. Subiaco - Medibank Stadium

League - 5.30pm Reserves - 7.40pm

Saturday 25th February - East Perth vs. Subiaco - Medibank Stadium

Colts - 8.30am

Round 2.

Friday 2nd March - East Perth vs. South Fremantle - Fremantle Oval

League - 5.30pm Reserves - 7.40pm

Saturday 3rd March - East Perth vs. South Fremantle - Fremantle Oval

Colts - 8.30am

Round 3.

Saturday 10th March - East Perth vs. East Fremantle - Medibank Stadium

League - 2.10pm Reserves - 11.40am Colts - 8.30am

2012 Recruits

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +1100

2012 Recruits

East Perth Football Club is pleased to announce the key signings of former West Coast, Melbourne and Hawthorn key position player Paul Johnson, former North Melbourne midfielder Marcus White, Port Melbourne Ruck man Tim Martin and returning East Perth and former Richmond and West Coast player Jarrod Oakley-Nicholls for the next 2 seasons.

Football Operations Manager Mark Winnett said “The football club is delighted to have added these players to our playing group, all of the players mentioned have considerable playing experience in successful environments and we look forward to having them at the football club for the next couple of seasons”

They join East Fremantle midfielder Kym Monteath and Claremont key position player Nick Derickx as the key signings in the off season for the Royals, whilst in further news Wodonga recruit Adam Prior has also recommitted to the football club for a further 2 seasons.

East Perth Function Dates 2012

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +1100

Please see the following and start marking down the dates in your calendar for all the great social events for season 2012

Weds 14th March	Corporate Classic	Medibank Stadium

Thursday 12th April	Golf Day	TBC

June	100 Club Luncheon	Members Bar Medibank Stadium

20th/21st June	Hall of Fame Induction Night	Members Bar Medibank Stadium

Thursday 26th July	Banquet Auction	TBC

Saturday 25th August	Life Members/Quarter Century Members Day	Medibank Stadium

October	Best and Fairest	TBC

	Golf Day	TBC

Positions available – Girls Football – East Perth Football

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +1100

Positions available – Girls Football – East Perth Football District:

All-Girls Primary Interclub Competition Coordinator:

A new football competition, for Years 5, 6 and 7 girls only, is being offered over a 6 week period.

Games will be on Sundays, 9.00-10.30am, on March 25, April 1, 15, 22, 29, May 6.

The competition will be based at the Morley JFC, R.A.Cook Reserve, Coode Street, Morley. It will be run as AFL 9s recreational footy.

The coordinator of this competition is responsible for the advertising, promotion and running of this new competition. They will work closely with the East Perth District Development Officer to ensure that this program is successful in its first year and offers a football playing pathway for youth girls.

An honorarium payment of $800 is offered to the successful person.

All-Girls Secondary Interclub Competition Coordinator:

A new football competition, for Years 8, 9 and 10 girls only, is being offered over a 6 week period.

Games will be on Sundays, 10.30am-12.00noon, on March 25, April 1, 15, 22, 29, May 6.

The competition will be based at the Morley JFC, R.A.Cook Reserve, Coode Street, Morley. It will be run as AFL 9s recreational footy.

An honorarium payment of $800 is offered to the successful person.

All-Girls Auskick Coordinator, Morley JFC

A new AFL Auskick centre, for Years 1, 2 & 3 girls only.

Games will be on Saturdays, 10.30am-12.00 noon, from early May until August.

The centre will be based at the Morley JFC, R.A.Cook Reserve, Coode Street, Morley. It will be run alongside the Morley JFC Auskick Centre.

The coordinator of this competition is responsible for the advertising, promotion and running of this new centre. They will work closely with the East Perth District Development Officer to ensure that this program is successful in its first year and offers a football playing pathway for young girls, in a supportive and relaxed female-only environment.

An honorarium payment of $1400 is offered to the successful applicant.

All-Girls Auskick Coordinator, Beechboro JFC

A new AFL Auskick centre, for Years 1, 2 & 3 girls only.

Games will be on Sundays, 9.00am-10.30am, from early May until August.

The centre will be based at the Beechboro JFC, Altone Park, Benara Road, Beechboro. It will be run alongside the Beechboro JFC Auskick Centre.

An honorarium payment of $1400 is offered to the successful applicant.

For further information about any of these positions, or to apply for a position, please contact Brendan McFaull on 0430 868 512, or bmcfaull@eastperthfc.com.au

Sponsor-A-Player

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +1100

All Loyal Royals

Our Sponsor a Player initiative is on again for season 2012. For only $350 you will receive a Club Membership and Season Pass (valued at $170), acknowledgement as a player sponsor in our Member's Bar and on our website and a $20 voucher to spend at our team store. The player you sponsor will receive their on and off field playing uniform for 2012 including Club polo, jacket, socks, shorts and bags. Get in quickly to get your favourite player. Please Click Here for further details and form.

Go the Mighty Royals

Good Friday Game East Perth vs Perth Playing Times

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +1000

We have a Good Friday fixture at Medibank Stadium for the 2nd year in a row, against the much improved Perth Football Club. Come down with the family to what is sure to be a great contest and cheer on the black and blue. Enjoy the atmosphere of the game and stay for a beer afterwards at the match day presentations in the Member's Bar after the game. We had a fantastic crowd for the match last year and are hoping even more people come down on Friday.

The times are as follows

11.15am - Colts

1.45pm - Reserves

4.15pm - League

Go the Mighty Royals

Breakfast With The Coach

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +1100

Breakfast With The Coach

Friday 30th March 7.15am

This is your opportunity to have an exclusive, up close and personal, meet and greet with our Club coach Tony Micale. After the weekend’s controversy over approaching umpires, Tony is sure to have plenty to say. Hosted by David Christison in the beautiful surrounds of Fraser’s Restaurant you will be served a magnificent continental breakfast as Tony talks about the season ahead and what is in store for our great football Club. Cost is $45 per and tickets are limited. Please Click Here for further details

Season Passes and Game Times

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +1000

2012 Season passes will be accepted at the game in Manjimup against Swan Districts on Saturday 5th of May. The game is at the Manjimup Recreation Ground. Bouncedown is at 2.10pm.

The Colts and the Reserves are playing on Sunday at Medibank Stadium. The Colts start at 9.10am and the Reserves start at 11.40am. With all teams having great starts to the year its important we all get down and show our support

Go the Mighty Royals!!

New Merchandise Available

Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:00 +1000

Our 2012 Season polo shirts and casual t-shirts have arrived. Be one of the first Loyal Royals to have one and purchase yours today. Our polo's are available for $50.00 ($45.00 for members) and the t-shirt is available in blue or black for $30.00 ($27.00 for members). Our team jackets will be available in the coming weeks.

Royals on Tour

Mon, 07 May 2012 00:00:00 +1000

Over the weekend the boys travelled down and had an excellent win over Swan Districts in Manjimup. Whilst down there we took the opportunity to run a clinic for all our junior players in the area. With over 70 kids taking part the clinic was an overwhelming success. Thank you to all who went to the game and to the Imperials Football Club who hosted the weekend

Paul Johnson with a fan

Freddie Clutterbuck and Ryan Maldenis with some Royals of the future

Radio Coverage Round Rd 10 vs Peel Thunder

Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:00 +1000

The 990 Information Radio commentary team is travelling down to Bendigo Bank Stadium in Mandurah this Saturday the 19th of May to broadcast the game between the Mighty Royals looking to win our 6th straight game and Peel Thunder. The coverage commences at 2.00pm and will include updates from the other 3 WAFL matches happening at the same time.