WAFL Team of the Week – Round 3

The WAfl had Jonathon Marsh kicking six goals, Jake Florenca racking up 38 possessions, Wade Derksen showed his potential, Luke Meadows sent a reminder of his capabilities and they were just some of the standout performances in Round 3 of the 2022 WAFL season.

Competition was again hot for spots in the WAFL Team of the Week for Round 3 following the Saturday victories for Claremont, West Perth, Peel Thunder, East Fremantle and Swan Districts.

The Round 3 action begin in Northampton with East Fremantle capitalising on a 10-goal opening quarter to beat East Perth 13.13 (91) to 12.9 (81).

West Perth also inflicted upon Subiaco a third straight loss to open the new season when they won 16.4 (100) to 10.9 (69) at Leederville Oval

Claremont remained the last standing undefeated team this season by beating South Fremantle 10.10 (70) to 8.11 (59) at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

It was then a double-header at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park with Peel Thunder beating West Coast 19.6 (120) to 10.5 (65), and Swan Districts defeating Perth 12.6 (78) to 10.13 (73).

Following the Round 3 action, it's Claremont sitting on top of the WAFL ladder with a perfect 3-0 record to be ahead of South Fremantle, East Perth, Peel Thunder, West Perth and East Fremantle who have all won two out of three matches in 2022.

Swan Districts and Perth have won one of their three matches with Subiaco and the West Coast Eagles winless after three games.

Round 4 will see all five matches take place on Saturday afternoon in the 2.10pm time slow with Swan Districts playing Claremont, East Perth taking on Subiaco, Peel Thunder facing Perth, West Perth battling South Fremantle, and East Fremantle playing West Coast at the WACA Ground.

PLAYER OF THE ROUND – LUKE MEADOWS (WEST PERTH)
He played in his first victory for West Perth since the 2020 first semi-final and he sent a reminder of why he was one of the league's most damaging players before he left, and why he can be upon his return in 2022.

Having spent the 2019 and 2021 seasons playing in the VFL, and coming back to West Perth in 2020 when the VFL season didn’t go ahead, he has returned to the Falcons in 2022 and showed just how valuable of an addition he will be in Saturday's win against Subiaco.

Having made his debut back in 2013, Meadows cemented his spot at West Perth by 2015 as a key part of the defensive set up with his lethal kicking off half-back became a real weapon.

By 2017, he started to spend more and more time in the midfield where he became a tough contested ball winner and clearance machine, where his powerful right boot became an even greater weapon to drive the ball into attack.

Following being part of West Perth's Grand Final appearance in 2018, he wanted to test himself in Victoria, but now has committed to return to West Perth in 2022 to continue what was already a 100-game WAFL career.

He made a significant impact back in Round 1 in his first game for West Perth since the 2020 preliminary final loss to South Fremantle where he was unfortunately out of the game early with a nasty concussion.

He had 30 possessions against Claremont at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium in that game and then after missing last week's win against Peel Thunder through COVID protocols, he tasted his first victory against Subiaco on Saturday at Leederville since the 2020 first semi-final against Perth.

Meadows delivered 22 possessions, seven marks, six inside-50 entries and five tackles in the 31-point win. But it wasn’t about the numbers.

It's what he does with the ball he wins and he's now sending a reminder why he could again become the most damaging and efficient player in the competition in 2022 for West Perth.

Players of the Round
Round 1 – Jake Florenca (South Fremantle)
Round 2 – Ryan Lim (Claremont)
Round 3 – Luke Meadows (West Perth)

WAFL TEAM OF THE WEEK – ROUND 3
BACK: Jacob Blight (C), Noah Strom (SF), Declan Hardisty (C)
HALF-BACK: Cam Eardley (EF), Matthew Jupp (EF), Chad Pearson (SF)
CENTRE: Ryan Lim (C), Jackson Ramsay (EP), Luke Meadows (WP)
HALF-FORWARD: Bailey Rogers (C), Fraser McInnes (P), Greg Ottaviano (SD)
FORWARD: Jonathon Marsh (EF), Wade Derksen (PT), Keegan Knott (WP)
RUCK: Lachlan Delahunty (S), Connor Blakely (PT), Jake Florenca (SF)
INTERCHANGE: Kyle Baskerville (EF), Angus Schumacher (EP), Corey Byrne (P), Tobe Watson (SD)

UNLUCKY BUNCH
There were plenty of players who delivered tremendous performances across Round 3 but couldn’t quite fit into the Team of the Round, including:

Perth's Matthew Taylor and Dakota Baldwin-Wright.

Swan Districts' Sam Fisher, Seb Bright and Chris Jones.

West Coast's Jack Williams, Joey Deegan, Jamaine Jones, Josh Rotham and John Levien.

Peel Thunder's Jye Amiss, Blair Bell, Sam Sturt, James Ewing and Haydn Matthews.

South Fremantle's Haiden Schloithe and Jarrad Doney.

Claremont's Ben Edwards, Jye Bolton and Ben Elliott.

Subiaco's Leigh Kitchin, Chad Harris, Noah Ash, Liam Hickmott and Angus Dewar.

West Perth's Tyler Keitel, Conal Lynch, Aaron Black, Trent Manzone, Shane Nelson and Blake Wilhelm.

East Fremantle's Milan Murdock, Blaine Boekhorst, Jarrad Jansen and Luke English.

East Perth's Nick Robertson, Angus Scott, Hamish Brayshaw, Stan Wright, Scott Jones and Kye Willcocks.