The Winners - Round 6, 2019

Subiaco saw its long winning run come to an end with a 22 point loss to South Fremantle.

Despite the loss, there were still positives to take away as Subiaco look to regroup and rebound into another tough test next week.

These are “The Winners” for Round 6.

CAPTAINS, CURRENT & FORMER

It was the current captain in Leigh Kitchin and former captain in Kyal Horsley that put up the strongest fight for Subiaco. The two midfielders were crucial to quelling the South Fremantle efforts inside, with Kitchin having 11 clearances and Horsley laying nine tackles. Together they combined for 61 disposals and 30 contested possessions. In a losing cause, the efforts of the two veteran leaders was significant.  

GREG CLARK

The young midfielder has put together a career best start to a season, continuing his fine year in Saturday’s loss. Clark had 24 disposals, took seven marks and kicked a goal to be one of the few Subiaco winners on the day. This marked Clark’s third 20 disposal game of the year and pushed his average over 20 disposals per game on the season. Clark has also been one of Subiaco’s best midfield options to find the scoreboard, having kicked five goals for the year so far.

AARON HEAL

After a delayed start to 2019 due to injury, Heal has arguably been Subiaco’s best defender in the three games since he made his season debut. Heal was outstanding reading the play and marshalling the Subiaco defence on Saturday. Heal finished with 10 marks on the day, including six that came as intercept marks. The influence that Heal continues to have in the Subiaco defence is crucial to the team defence structure.

RETURNS

One of the other big positives that came from Saturday’s game was a host of key names returning to senior football. Harry Marsh played league footy for the first time since Round Two while both Clancy Wheeler and Drew Rohde made comebacks in the Reserves. Wheeler had been missing since Round One, while Rohde had been out since Round Two. All three worked their way into their respective matches, having important second half impact.

THE SUBIACO COLTS
It has been a tough season so far for the Subiaco Colts, as revamping most of its 2018 Premiership team has meant that coach Chayce Creedy has had to engineer a rebuild of the list. After positive signs in recent weeks, the Subiaco Colts got the much deserved win they were after, accounting for South Fremantle by 12 points in the first game of Saturday. The scenes of the Subiaco Colts coming into the rooms following the win and the singing of the team song highlight that the passion and culture from the next group of Lions remains strong.

STREAKS

While they came to the end with the loss, for one final time, it was worth acknowledging the incredible performances of the Subiaco players across the 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons under coaches Jarrad Schofield and Beau Wardman. Subiaco saw a 25 game win streak, a 42 game home and away win streak and a 15 game Leederville Oval streak snapped by South Fremantle. It is testament to the outstanding character and culture that exists within the club, that this senior group could keep themselves up, aiming to achieve week in, week out for over two years.