WA Football

CLAREMONT remained unbeaten, South Fremantle got its first win, Perth continued its charge to being a finals contender and East Perth squared its ledger in Round 9 WAFL action on Saturday.

The 2013 WAFL season resumed following the State game break that saw Western Australia beat Victoria by 17 points in Northam last Saturday, and there were four intriguing matches played across Perth.

The first grand final rematch of the season took place at Claremont Oval with Claremont beating East Fremantle 16.15 (111) to 9.15 (69).

South Fremantle downed Peel Thunder 14.15 (99) to 11.18 (84) at Fremantle Oval, Perth beat Subiaco 18.7 (115) to 13.12 (90) at Leederville's Medibank Stadium and East Perth downed Swan Districts 15.13 (103) to 11.17 (83) at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval.

THE WAFL returns with four games on Saturday afternoon this week following the break for the State Game with four matches across Perth with plenty riding on the results.

The round is highlighted by the first grand final rematch of the year when Claremont hosts East Fremantle at Claremont Oval.

Swan Districts takes on East Perth with Swans' premiership coach Brian Dawson leading the Royals to Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval for the first time while Subiaco takes on Perth at Leederville's Medibank Stadium and South Fremantle hosts Peel Thunder at Fremantle Oval.

The second-placed West Perth has the bye.

THE WAFL website will be publishing columns from players throughout the 2013 season taking a look at what it takes to be a successful WAFL player and also build a life outside the game. This week it's Brisbane Lions premiership player and East Fremantle vice-captain Richard Hadley.

In the 10 years that I was in the AFL it changed a lot. In my first couple of years it was very much a morning and afternoon thing where you would go for three or four hours in the morning, and then come back for another three or four hours in the afternoon. But that soon changed and then there was a focus on core stability, pilates, physio, yoga, stretching and the addition of development coaches so they want to spend time teaching the game and going through video as well.

In the early 2000s, it was morning and afternoons before it quickly went from being all day at the club. You would have one day off a week and at Carlton that was on Thursday but the majority of the other days it was in there at 7 or 7.30am and you would have a few little breaks here and there, but you would basically be going on average until 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon. On the Friday before a game it would be a bit of a lighter day from about 7 to midday before you get home to prepare for the game.

WAYDE Twomey wasn’t even overly confident there would be a spot for him in Western Australia's side to take on Victoria in the State Game when told he was being looked at as a forward, but he kicked five goals in a match-winning performance to come away with a Simpson Medal.

Twomey has spent the majority of his 84-game WAFL career with Swan Districts either across half-back or in the midfield and only kicked 26 goals in that time.

Only once has he kicked three goals in a game as well so when WA coach Marc Webb told him he was considering playing him forward the 27-year-old Swan Districts premiership player wasn’t sure where that left him in the pecking order.

MARC Webb continued the impressive start to his coaching career leading Western Australia to its first win over Victoria since 1991 and he deserves much of the credit for some intuitive moves including playing Wayde Twomey forward, picking Clancy Wheeler and blooding some youngsters.

The former triple premiership captain and four-time premiership player at Subiaco led Claremont to last year's WAFL premiership in his first season as a senior coach meaning he was offered the job to lead WA against Victoria in Northam, and he guided the Black Swans to a 17-point victory.

As a player Webb was part of some tough losses against Victoria most notably the 119-point hammering at Port Melbourne's TEAC Oval in 2007 so he knows just how significant the result is for the WAFL.

"It's just a massive result for the competition. We lost that game a few years ago and it was more the fact that you felt embarrassed for the fact that it was a reflection on the competition that you are a part of," Webb said.