WAFL v NEAFL State Game Preview

WESTERN Australia's State match for 2014 pits the best of the WAFL up against the best of the NEAFL made up of clubs from two states and territories when the two lock horns at Blacktown in Sydney on Saturday.

The game will be held at Blacktown in Sydney and bouncedown will be at 12pm local time, and 10am WA time. The game will be broadcast on a live stream via the NEAFL website – www.neafl.com.au.

It will be the first time that the WAFL has taken on a side representing the North East Australian Football League which will feature players from clubs based in New South Wales, the ACT, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

The WAFL team's final squad of 23 players which travelled to Sydney on Thursday is made up of 15 players set to make their debuts at senior level for WA.

Only Luke Blackwell, Steven Dodd, Andrew Stephen, Brendan Lee, Paul Bevan, Ryan Cook, Tallan Ames and Jay van Berlo have represented WA previously.

Those players are among the best credentialed players in the WAFL as well with three WAFL premiership medallions, a Sandover Medal, Simpson Medal, 301 AFL matches and 13 club fairest and best awards between them.

Bevan is also an AFL premiership player from the Sydney Swans while Blackwell was a WAFL premiership captain with Claremont in 2012.

Tom Howlett, Jamie McNamara, Ashton Hams, Ben Saunders, Haiden Schloithe, George Hampson, Blaine Boekhorst, Ryan Davis, Tony Notte, Jordan Jones, Chris Keunen, Kody Manning, Shane Nelson, Laine Rasmussen and Nick Rodda will all be making their debuts in a Black Swans jumper.

However, there is a strong blend of youth, experience and quality among those players with nine of them being WAFL premiership players, six of them previously being on AFL lists and with a Simpson Medal and Bernie Naylor Medal among the accolades they have won.

The WAFL is coming off a victory in last year's State game over the VFL in Northam which marked WA's first win over Victoria since 1991.

Going back to 2012, the WAFL narrowly lost to the SANFL in Adelaide and prior to that beat Queensland at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium, lost to the VFL at Leederville's Medibank Stadium in 2010, beat the SANFL by a point at the same ground in 2009 and thumped Queensland in Townsville in 2008.

That means that over the past six years, WA has beaten the VFL once, the SANFL once and Queensland twice while suffering a loss each to Victoria and South Australia.

While the WAFL will take on the NEAFL at Blacktown on Saturday as warm favourites, the NEAFL squad certainly isn’t one to be taken lightly.

Considering the combined Queensland and Northern Territory team only lost to WA by a solitary goal in 2011, it's reasonable to expect that a NEAFL combined side with players from NSW, the ACT, Queensland and Northern Territory will be even stronger.

There are also some familiar faces in the NEAFL team including former AFL players Eddie Sansbury, Cameron Ilett, Cleve Hughes, Ryan Brabazon and Will Sierakowski.

Ben Rioli hails from the NT Thunder and he is the younger brother of former Essendon and South Fremantle star Dean.

Jacob Derickx is also no stranger to the WAFL having played in East Perth's team that lost last year's grand final to West Perth while Brabazon had two outstanding seasons with Claremont in 2010 and 2011.

In that time, he played for WA both years and played in the losing grand final of 2010 but missed the Tigers' premiership of 2011 before heading to Sydney where he is now playing with Sydney University.

As for the make up of the WA team, the defence will be led by Ames at full-back with East Fremantle pair Howlett and Dodd the other two key defenders who earned their place ahead of the in-form Justin Simpson from Swan Districts.

East Fremantle's Stephen and West Perth's Jones and Rasmussen will also spend time in defence as will South Fremantle's Hams whose main job will be to set up play out of the back-line.

West Perth veteran Keunen will carry the ruck duties for WA and will have some chop out from Swan Districts' Notte and his Falcons teammate Rodda when needed.

Captain Lee, Claremont's Blackwell, South Fremantle's Schloithe, West Perth's van Berlo and Nelson, and East Fremantle's McNamara will all share the load of playing on the ball and trying to get WA on top in the engine room.

South Fremantle skipper Cook, Subiaco's Hampson and Swan Districts' Boekhorst will be called up on to provide plenty of run on the outside as well.

Up forward is where some interesting decisions had to be made with usual full-forward Josh Smith unavailable after being injured with East Perth and Swan Districts' veteran Tim Geappen also overlooked.

South Fremantle's Saunders has kicked 115 in his 36 matches at the Bulldogs so will settle at full-forward with some height provided by Notte and Rodda, and then Bevan, Hampson and Davis working in and around them.

WAFL SQUAD

Claremont – Luke Blackwell

East Fremantle – Steven Dodd, Tom Howlett, Jamie McNamara, Andrew Stephen

East Perth – Brendan Lee

Perth – Paul Bevan

South Fremantle – Ryan Cook, Ashton Hams, Ben Saunders, Haiden Schloithe

Subiaco – George Hampson

Swan Districts – Tallan Ames, Blaine Boekhorst, Ryan Davis, Tony Notte

West Perth – Jordan Jones, Chris Keunen, Kody Manning, Shane Nelson, Laine Rasmussen, Nick Rodda, Jay van Berlo

NEAFL SQUAD

Ainslie – Sean Ellis, Aaron Vandenberg

Aspley – Gavin Grose, Matt Payne, Mitch Pettitt, Eddie Sansbury, Jed Turner

Hills Eagles – Michael Risely, Trent Stubbs

NT Thunder – Chris Dunne, Cameron Ilett, Ben Rioli

Queanbeyan – Kade Klemke

Redland – Cleve Hughes, Darren Pfeiffer

Southport – Josh Baxter, Jason Burge, Kal Geary, Todd Grayson, Wade Mills, Luke Shreeve

Sydney University – Tim Barton, Ryan Brabazon, Jacob Derickx, Matt O'Dwyer, Will Sierakowski

By Chris Pike