IN AN effort to reinvigorate Marcus Drum's football, Fremantle has sent the 22-year-old defender into attack, and the move paid off at the weekend.

Drum played centre-half forward in his Perth's 48-point win over East Perth, finishing with 16 disposals, six marks, 11 tackles and a goal.

Development coach Steve Malaxos said he had never discussed sending Drum back to Perth's reserves side, but conceded the No.10 draft pick had hit a wall this season.  

"We thought Marcus was stagnating a bit and we were looking at ways to break him out of a little bit of a rut," Malaxos said.

"That prompted the move a few weeks ago, so he's been playing forward probably for the last month. That's the first time he's played centre half-forward for the whole game.

"He's progressively got better up forward and it's improved his enthusiasm and appetite for the game.

"He's shown a little bit of footy nous for us when he's played forward as well."

After playing 17 matches in his first three AFL seasons, Drum has played just once for Fremantle in 2009 – in the round one loss to the Western Bulldogs.

Malaxos said he would need to show more improvement and string more games together to earn an AFL recall.  

Malaxos' top performer from round 12, however, was exciting young speedster Tim Ruffles, who booted five goals for Perth.

The 18-year-old turned in his best game for Perth since being drafted by Fremantle with pick No.68 in the 2008 NAB AFL Draft.

"He showed a few signs last week and I guess the only difference this week was Perth had more of the ball," Malaxos said.

"So he had more opportunities to be involved and he capitalised on them."

Ahead of Thursday's selection, Malaxos shared his WAFL notes with fremantlefc.com.au. 

Perth 15.9 (109) d East Perth 8.13 (61)

Marcus Drum
It was an improved effort from Marcus. He played centre half-forward for the whole game and his role was to lead up and he did that throughout the game. Finished with 16 touches, six marks and a goal. Perth had him down for 11 tackles as well, so his work in the packs was pretty good.

Tim Ruffles
A combination of his speed, his anticipation and his attack on the ball made Tim pretty hard to handle. He finished with 5.3 for Perth in what was his best game yet. He showed some signs last week and the only difference this week was Perth had more of the ball. 

Zac Clarke
Interesting game from Zac. He played half in the ruck and half as a deep forward. I thought he was reasonably good when he was in the ruck, but when he was deep forward the ball didn't go down there. When it did, East Perth either used their other options, the ball got turned over or it went over his head. So it was only a reasonable game, but you couldn't say he did too much wrong.

Hamish Shepheard
Got injured right on half time but should be right for this week. He started back opposed to Drum and made an interesting duel that probably broke even. He then went forward and led well, kicking a nice goal.

Brent Connelly (reserves)
He was okay last week and he's continued to improve. Another week in Perth's reserves and he'll be in the league team. He played on the wing last week and was an extra midfielder again this week, finishing with 20 disposals, 11 marks and a goal. He pushed around the ground well.  

Peel Thunder 10.13 (73) lost to East Fremantle 15.20 (110)

Chris Hall
He played quite well, particularly in the first half in his half-forward and wing roles. He won a couple of hard balls as well as using the ball quite well by foot for East Fremantle.

Subiaco 16.14 (110) d Swan Districts 13.11 (89)

Luke Pratt
He was going well on Trent Dennis-Lane until he got a cork to his hip and had to come off, just after Dennis-Lane kicked his second. So he's in a little bit of doubt for this week. Luke's developed to the point where he's quite composed when he gets the ball now, so he's often a link. Swans will win the ball in defence and then he'll distribute it to the midfielders.

South Fremantle 21.19 (145) d West Perth 10.4 (64)

Daniel Gilmore
Probably his best game for Souths for a while. He played ruck rover mainly and a little bit across half-back and just continually went hard. He had 34 possessions and his kicking was improved, but he still needs to do a little bit more there, so disposal efficiency would be the main focus for him now. He also tackled better.

Josh Head
Played his best game at Souths for a few weeks as well, running off half-back and linking up through the half-back line and midfield. So it was an improved effort from him. Finished with 17 disposals and six inside 50s.  

Ryan Murphy
Had an interesting duel with Dan Hunt and kicked 4.3, so that looks like a pretty good day there. But as the score indicates there were a lot of opportunities. He played reasonably well without having a great day.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.