Wardman's Words Final Pre-Season Update

On the eve of the 2019 WAFL season league coach Beau Wardman checks in with an update of how the team is looking before round one.

Find out Beau’s thoughts on pre-season, what his coaching staff learnt and what areas the team is still looking to progress with early in the new season.

This is Wardman's Words.

Beau, two wins, one loss; over 35 players getting a chance to play at league level over the three games of pre-season, from a league perspective comfortable wins against East Perth and Swans before a narrow loss against South Fremantle, was there anything noticeable you took away from the loss as opposed to the wins?

We really wanted to achieve a few different things across the games and took the scoreboard out of the equation. Our pressure and intensity wasn’t where it needed to be against South Fremantle and that provided us with some good learning. There were elements of our game which we can tick off on as a result of the practise games and some which still need continued focus.

Couple of the areas which were impacted with the loss of Zac Clarke, Chris Phelan and Adam Cockie over the off-season; in the ruck and the inside midfield; comfortable with what pre-season showed in their areas to suggest that there won’t be much drop off?

Chris and Adam have been great people to have at the club over a long period of time, their on-field success stands among the great Subiaco players but their off-field contributions leave a great legacy. Zac was terrific throughout 2018 buying into the culture and providing the team with first use from the stoppages and a target deep forward. We are confident with the depth in the midfield with Max Walters, Craig Hoskins and Greg Clark all looking for greater opportunity through the middle. Joe Scafidi returns to the club and is a strong body. We will certainly look to throw a number of players through and see what our best mix is alongside premiership midfielders Horsley, Kitchin and Deluca. In the ruck, we have a few developing well in Sutherland, Doyle and Chapman, whilst Mach Deng is fresh out of the colts premiership side. You can’t replace someone of Zac’s class but we feel if we can get strong energy and a contest in the contest we give our mids a chance.

A number of young players emerged across the pre-season, Liam Hickmott and Jack Beverley being two that stand out that have not played league footy yet, how did you see these two and the younger brigades performances across pre-season games?

Both boys have been great throughout the pre-season. Jack’s pressure and strength in the contest has stood out, he is an imposing figure. Liam is clean inside and shown he can match it with some experienced midfielders. Both of the boys performed well in their games with some areas they can focus on to accelerate their performances. With continued progress would both get an opportunity at League level throughout 2019. 

Individually a couple of the new leaders in the leadership group this year, Josh Deluca and Ben Newton had strong pre-seasons. Happy with the performances of these two in the midfield and as leaders?

Josh and Ben had to shoulder the load against South Fremantle with a few of our other mids missing and they did a really good job. They have both grown in confidence in their leadership over the last couple of months, credit to Kellie Properjohn who as been working with the boys on their leadership skills. 

As has been the case for a number of seasons, the defence has really set a strong early tone. Across pre-season conceded just 45 and 76 points in the two full games, happy with how the defence has looked through pre-season?

Nigel Hamilton, our defensive coach has done a great job in educating the boys on their positioning and impact. We want to be a hard team to play against and that is built on our defensive mechanisms. We have a total team philosophy to our defence and all players understand the buy-in required to achieve these results.

Quickly turn from pre-season to round one, just three days away, how are your nerves or is it more excitement for your first official game coaching a WAFL league team?

I think there is a mix of both. The boys have worked hard on the track, the coaches and physical performance team have been thorough in their planning, so we know we are prepared well. I have enormous respect for our groups commitment to getting the most out of themselves and look forward to seeing this translate into a strong performance in round 1 and into the season. 

East Perth in round one, likely to be an emotional day for them as they return as a standalone club for the first time, would expect them to come out strongly and represent their club with pride early on?

East Perth have a strong and proud history. I think all teams would come out to represent their clubs strongly every week. We know what we can expect, our challenge is about sticking to our processes and executing that well. 

Thanks Beau and good luck on Saturday.