West Australian Football League

moving across, coming off halfback and setting up their play and you, you just had a real big win that day and, uh, the conditions, um, you, you just reveled in it and you showed your wares and then, uh, a year later you went down to Dean Mill, had a kick with a few mates and, uh, fell, kicked short and then, um, back up to Swans where you, uh, established yourself in the league side and, um, you went on to, uh, play 100 games for Swan District, 100 on the knocker I see and, um, your last, your back half of the year, your last four or five years were huge.

You're a premier player in the South, even at Waffle Comp.

And, um, I think you can come home.

You're only a young lad by, you know, by, uh, you haven't retired and you're still in your prime and, and you're showing that now.

Yeah.

So above anything he did at AFL level, you know, coached Waffle.

Yeah.

Played VFL himself for Footscray back in the day.

Cool, calm, collected.

Again, I think that, you know, that WAFL grand final where you were just absolutely BOG, I think that comes in handy.

But again, there was a, a really good mix today of that frenetic three-oh pressure that we became so accustomed to in the early rounds, and being able to, to buffer and, and take that pressure and, and move it.

What were your thoughts on that?

Uh, nothing of any significance, uh, over the weekend.

Doing a WAFL game.

But no, I'm looking forward to this, uh, particularly just, just to get the early vibe, uh, because there was no interaction with the crowd last week, really.

None.

It lacked...

Uh, the crowd was not a factor.

You have to play WAFL time.

I don't care what happens.

Uh, I've just got home from work, mate, so, um, just floating around the Moorabbin area, and it's been a, been a little bit cooler than what it's been last few days, but in for some good weather with the, the start of spring carnival kicking off this weekend.

Oh, yeah, we've got some good weather over here in, uh, Perth at the moment, which is lovely, uh, especially with the lead into a prelim final and a WAFL grand final.

Of course, Friday night footy too with the semis, uh, Freo and Geelong, so plenty to look forward to for us here in WA.

Now, I know you would've been following along the semifinal between East Perth and Perth with a vested interest.

Um, the guys, I was fortunate enough to be flown over for both finals to, to help Stonie and Dottie and the boys out, and, um, yeah, it's absolutely heartbreaking.

Um, you know, we...

It didn't help losing Charlie Dean, who, who would be staggered if he wasn't, uh, one of the key defenders in the WAFL Team of the Year.

He's had an outstanding season, so to lose him, you know, in the first five minutes certainly made things challenging.

Jonathan, this question is from friend of the podcast and my co-writer, Sean Lawson.

His question is, should the Premiership Cup be named after someone? And why should it be named after Jeff Motley, who holds the record for most premierships as a player across the VFL, Waffle and Sandville? And this is how Sean talks.

Like, you think that that sounds like a stilted sentence, but no, no.

Like, you go to the pub with him and he'll ask you a question like that.

It's a good league.

A lot of ex-Waffle players come back and play down in this area, and we went and watched the second semi on Sunday, Bumby versus Busselton, and it's a really good standard of football.

Are you a fan of the Peel Thunder model with the Fremantle Dockers, or are too many local Peel regional players being lost to Waffle footy because of a lack of opportunities to get into the league side?

It's a really good question because when I played at Peel, there was no alignment.