WAFL watch: with Steve Malaxos
Casey Sibosado managed six goals while Des Headland did enough to be considered for Fremantle selection
It was a breakout performance from Sibosado that will see him return after this weekend's general bye to play his first game for the Tigers' league side.
Development coach Steve Malaxos said after a solid period on the track the big game had been building in Sibosado and everything clicked into place against West Perth.
"Claremont, myself and Casey were starting to get a bit frustrated that that hadn't happened yet, because the way he was training it was really building," Malaxos said.
"He's been working really hard on his game, he hasn't whinged about being in the twos, and from our perspective he'll go into the seniors in good form and knowing that he's had to work for it."
After playing all of his school football as a one-out full-forward, Malaxos said Fremantle had decided to avoid Sibosado's strengths in an effort to further develop his game.
"All through school footy he was placed close to goal, the ball would come in and he would jump and take the grab," Malaxos said.
"At AFL level you need to be doing more than that, so we played him up field and worked on his leading and work-rate.
"We knew that if we played him close to goal he'd probably play better, but we wanted him to have to work through those things like work-rate, leading and then re-leading."
Ben Bucovaz lined up alongside Sibosado and made some progress in his second game back from a hip injury while Des Headland, Luke Pratt and Kepler Bradley caught the Freo selectors' attention with their notable performances.
Ahead of Thursday's team selection, Malaxos shared his WAFL notes with fremantlefc.com.au.
Subiaco 25.15 (165) d Perth 9.9 (63)
Des Headland: Played about 85 minutes in his first game for the year, as we requested of Subiaco. He played about 35 minutes of that onball and the rest forward. He led well, his kicking was pretty good and his best work was done forward of centre. It was a good first up effort but there is still a way to go before he's at his best.
Tim Ruffles: He did some really good, courageous things for Perth. He didn't get a lot of opportunities though and I think that was due to missing four weeks with concussion and not being able to train for two of those. He just couldn't run as he does when he's at his beat.
East Fremantle 7.7 (49) lost to Swan Districts 20.9 (129)
Luke Pratt: Solid and reliable across half-back for Swans. Then went onball for the last quarter and did reasonably well there. I was very pleased with how he handled being elevated, then debuting and then being dropped all in the space of a week.
Clancee Pearce: He was going pretty well across half-back for Swans, sending some long entries to the forwards, but he got a heavy knock late in the first quarter and didn't come back on. He's okay for this week though.
Chris Hall: He improved in a couple of areas, particularly ground play. But he was unable to have a big influence in an East Fremantle side that got thrashed.
Andrew Foster: Had four centre bounce clearances, which was pleasing, and he ran pretty hard to make good position. But East Fremantle going down by 80 points also hampered him.
West Perth 15.12 (102) Claremont 12.13 (85)
Kepler Bradley: Played pretty well for West Perth on a wing and in the ruck. He was influential when he was positioned behind the play and finished with 22 disposals, eight marks and a goal. We're happy with Kepler playing a variety of positions when he's back in the WAFL.
Adam Campbell: Statistically it wasn't an eye-catching game from Adam, but we thought it was his best game for a while. He had 13 touches and one goal, but he competed really well and put more forward pressure on than he has been, so it was an improved effort.
Casey Sibosado (reserves): Had his best game for the year at Claremont and was dominant at centre half-forward, finishing with six goals. He played onball a bit as well and is ready for seniors.
Ben Bucovaz (reserves): Second game in the reserves and played about 80 minutes this week. He had 18 possessions and it was a step forward. He's still about a week or two from playing league footy at Claremont but he looks like he'll finish the second half of the season really strongly.
South Fremantle 23.16 (154) d Peel Thunder 13.15 (93)
Daniel Gilmore: Struggled for a reasonable part of the game, but played okay in the ruck in the last quarter. Not one of his better games.
Josh Head: Did some good things in the first three quarters without having a big influence and impressed in the last quarter at centre half-forward.