wafl.com.au Team and Player of Round 6

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wafl.com.au Team and Player of Round 6Wednesday, April 26, 2017 - 11:02 PM - by Chris Pike

ROUND 6 of the WAFL was split across Saturday and ANZAC Day with some monster individual performances with East Perth, West Perth, Subiaco and South Fremantle all recording victories.

There were three matches on Saturday with Subiaco defeating Claremont 15.10 (100) to 6.9 (45) at East Fremantle Oval with Liam Ryan kicking another five goals and Chris Phelan racking up 34 possessions.

East Perth scored its first win of 2017 defeating Perth at Leederville Oval 17.13 (115) to 14.11 (95) with Fraser McInnes dominant against his old team with 24 possessions, 13 marks and three goals.

West Perth also won a thriller over Swan Districts at HBF Arena, handing Swans their first loss of 2017 winning 13.7 (85) to 12.8 (80) on the back of 47 disposals from Aaron Black and 39 from Shane Nelson.

The results leave South Fremantle (5-1) on top of the ladder percentage ahead of Subiaco (5-1).

Swan Districts (4-1) sits third with Claremont (3-2) and West Perth (3-2) rounding out the top five.

Peel Thunder (2-3) is just outside the top five ahead of Perth (1-4), East Perth (1-5) and East Fremantle (0-5).

Round 6 WAFL match reports

wafl.com.au PLAYER OF THE ROUND – HAIDEN SCHLOITHE (South Fremantle)

He has been supremely consistent in all six games of this season and delivered another tremendous performance in South Fremantle's midfield in the 41-point ANZAC Day Derby win over East Fremantle.

He had an outstanding fairest and best winning season back in 2014 in his first year off Fremantle's list and that had many expecting him to earn another opportunity in the AFL.

That didn’t eventuate and then his past two seasons have been hampered by injury even though he was still a big contributor in South Fremantle's return to finals action last year when he played largely as a forward.

But he has returned to life as an on-baller this season to great effect and had another 35 possessions, six marks, six tackles, six inside 50s and a goal in Tuesday's derby win.

wafl.com.au TEAM OF THE ROUND (times named)
BACK: Scott Nelson (1), Matthew Jupp (1), Dylan Winton (1)
HALF-BACK: Wayde Twomey (2), Nick Rodda (1), Michael Sinclair (1)
CENTRE: Corey Byrne (2), Haiden Schloithe (2), Ryan Cook (2)
HALF-FORWARD: Will Maginness (2), Fraser McInnes (1), Todd Banfield (1)
FORWARD: Cody Ninyette (1), Michael Lourey (1), Liam Ryan (4)
RUCK: Brock Higgins (1), Clint Jones (2), Aaron Black (2)
INTERCHANGE: Chris Phelan (5), Aidan Tropiano (1), Shane Nelson (2), Adam Faulkner (1)

BACK POCKET – SCOTT NELSON (West Perth)
He had his hands full with some dangerous Swan Districts small forwards, but the 19-year-old has now played every game this season to start his league career as a small defender. He is standing up well also and had 21 possessions and eight marks in Saturday's win over Swan Districts.

FULL-BACK – MATTHEW JUPP (East Fremantle)
His team might have lost to remain winless in 2017 and his opponent for the ANZAC Day Derby, Ben Saunders, still kicked two goals but he did a commendable job. Considering South Fremantle had 68 inside-50 entries and 35 scoring shots, keeping the three-time Bernie Naylor Medallist to two goals is an effort he could hold his head high about.

BACK POCKET – DYLAN WINTON (East Fremantle)
Similar to his teammate's performance on Ben Saunders, he also did a commendable job opposed to another imposing South Fremantle forward target, Mason Shaw. Kept him to just two goals from the massive opportunities and also had 18 possessions and six tackles himself.

HALF-BACK FLANK – WAYDE TWOMEY (Subiaco)
The 157-game triple-premiership winner continues to show his quality with his ability to set up play off half-back for Subiaco. Was instrumental in Saturday's 55-point victory with 22 possessions, seven marks and five inside-50 entries.

CENTRE HALF-BACK – NICK RODDA (West Perth)
Played his best game of the season as a key defender in West Perth's win over Swan Districts on Saturday. Not only did he have a good battle with the dangerous Ricky Cary and kept him to two goals for the game, he finished up with 24 possessions and 10 marks himself in an impressive performance.

HALF-BACK FLANK – MICHAEL SINCLAIR (Perth)
The reigning fairest and best winner showed just how much he has been missed since being out from Round 1 by his strong performance settling in across half-back on Saturday. He racked up 31 disposals to go with 10 marks reminiscent of his form throughout 2016.

WING – COREY BYRNE (Perth)
The 19-year-old is another player that the Demons are banking their future on and he continues to show that faith is justified with another impressive display on Saturday. He finished with a career-best 35 possessions, 11 marks, six tackles and six inside-50 entries.

WING – RYAN COOK (South Fremantle)
He is South Fremantle's longest ever serving captain and he continues to lead the Bulldogs admirably showing the way in the ANZAC Day Derby win over the Sharks. He finished with 29 possessions, five marks, five inside-50 entries and a goal.

HALF-FORWARD FLANK – WILL MAGINNESS (East Perth)
The former Eagle is now showing what he can do when his body gives him a good run of being able to remain on the field. Has had a good start to the season with East Perth both when forward and in the midfield, and had another good performance on Saturday with 19 disposals, five marks and three goals.

CENTRE HALF-FORWARD – FRASER McINNES (East Perth)
The big man has had to play most of the season in the ruck so far and having been used to having Paul Johnson, Scott Lycett, Jonathan Giles and even Callum Sinclair in the East Perth team with him in recent years, that's put more responsibility on his shoulders. He has worked hard and then on Saturday with Scott Jones doing most of the ruck work, he spent more time forward and delivered 24 possessions, 13 marks, eight hit outs and three goals.

HALF-FORWARD FLANK – TODD BANFIELD (Swan Districts)
Has settled into a role across half-back and done it well over the past 12 months, but returned to his more familiar position from earlier in his career both at Swans and the Brisbane Lions as a small forward. Delivered an impressive performance as well finishing with 22 disposals, seven marks, seven tackles and most importantly three goals.

FORWARD POCKET – CODY NINYETTE (Perth)
The 19-year-old has been backed in by coach Earl Spalding to be a big part of Perth's future as a small forward and he showed plenty of exciting signs against East Perth on Saturday. He kicked four goals from 11 possessions as he continues to find his feet at league level.

FULL-FORWARD – MICHAEL LOUREY (West Perth)
After kicking three goals in the first game of the season against East Perth, he has been goalless the previous three games despite remaining West Perth's main target in attack. But bounced back with three important goals in Saturday's win over Swan Districts from seven kicks and five marks.

FORWARD POCKET – LIAM RYAN (Subiaco)
The excitement machine continues to be the best forward in the competition now having kicked 10 more goals for the season than any other player. He booted another five goals in Saturday's win over Claremont to go with 16 possessions and five marks to now have 24 majors for 2017 after kicking 40 in 2016.

RUCK – BROCK HIGGINS (South Fremantle)
East Fremantle saw the chance to try and get the edge in the ruck in the ANZAC Day Derby with the plan to use Cameron Symonds in the ruck hit outs and then Matthew Watson around the ground. It didn’t quite work with Higgins proving the best big man in the contest, particularly in the second half, finishing with 20 disposals and 37 hit outs.

RUCK-ROVER – CLINT JONES (Perth)
The veteran midfielder continues to rack up remarkable amounts of the ball for Perth and delivered a dominant performance for the Demons on Saturday despite the loss to East Perth. The new Perth captain racked up a career-best 53 possessions to go with six inside-50 entries, five marks, four tackles and a goal.

ROVER – AARON BLACK (West Perth)
When you are a premiership player, Sandover Medallist and fairest and best winner with 135 games to your credit, it's hard to have career-best performances but that's exactly what he delivered in Saturday's win over Swan Districts. Moving onto the ball rather than playing on the wing, he finished with a career-high 47 possessions to go with eight marks and six inside 50s.

INTERCHANGE – CHRIS PHELAN (Subiaco)
Another Subiaco game, another win for the Lions and another dominant performance from him in the midfield. The 148-game veteran on-baller was terrific again in the win over Claremont with 34 possessions, 11 inside-50 entries, 10 tackles, five marks and a goal.

INTERCHANGE – AIDAN TROPIANO (Perth)
The Sandover Medallist joined on Perth's prolific ball-winning midfield on Saturday and racked up the second-best possession tally of his career against East Perth. He finished with 39 possessions and 13 tackles. It's better than any game he had in his Sandover Medal season of 2015 and is only second to his 41-disposal haul in Round 22 last year.

INTERCHANGE – SHANE NELSON (West Perth)
A week after celebrating his 100th appearance with a win over Peel Thunder, put in another prolific performance in the midfield in West Perth's win over Swan Districts with 39 possessions, five marks, four inside 50s and a goal.

INTERCHANGE – ADAM FAULKNER (Swan Districts)
Has been remarkably consistent in the midfield for Swan Districts the past couple of years and continued that on Saturday despite Swans losing their first game of the season. He ended the afternoon at HBF Arena with 34 disposals.

UNLUCKY BUNCH
There were plenty of players who delivered tremendous performances across Round 6 but couldn’t quite squeeze into the Team of the Round, including:

Claremont's Jack Bradshaw, Bailey Banfield and Mitch Andrews.