FIRST-YEAR player Tim Ruffles caught development coach Steve Malaxos' eye in the WAFL last week with a solid half of football that landed the 18-year-old in hospital.

Ruffles was among Perth's best against East Perth in round five of the WAFL, despite only playing two-and-a-half quarters. He was knocked out in a clash with East Perth's Curtis Martin – who was found guilty of charging and suspended for three weeks.

"One thing that stood out was his attack on the ball – it's tremendous," Malaxos said.

"He really just went hard at the ball and didn't deviate."

Ruffles was taken with Fremantle's seventh pick (No.68) in the 2008 NAB AFL Draft and Malaxos said he was on track to push for selection late in the season.

The development coach added he has settled in well at Perth where his versatility is being utilised.

"The benefit at the moment for them is he's got good flexibility – he plays back on a small forward and he's quite lively up forward as a crumber," Malaxos said.

"He's pretty quick, so he can also lead okay up forward, play on the smalls and be quite zippy himself."

Malaxos said fellow first year players Matt de Boer and Zac Clarke were ready to play AFL football and were now just waiting for the call up.

Clarke out-pointed West Coast rookie Will Sullivan at the weekend while de Boer was solid for Claremont. 

"He's got some real strengths, Matt, he's a goer – he likes to get in there and win the hard ball and tackle," Malaxos said.

"He's quite smart, too, so he would acquit himself quite well in those areas.

"He's got a couple of areas to improve on, but as a young player there are some good things there."

Malaxos said Clarke had been steadily improving every week in the WAFL and his selection was now a timing issue. 

"That (selection) depends on how the boys are going, how Kepler Bradley has been going or Daniel Gilmore as the second ruckman."

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

Claremont 14.11 (95) lost to South Fremantle 16.16 (112)

Matt de Boer: Started well winning some good hard footy. Slightly injured his ankle, which affected his running and agility but he was okay after that without being great. He should be available to play this week. 

Ryan Murphy: He led and marked well at times, but we would like to have seen more over the course of the game. He finished with three goals for South Fremantle.

Scott Thornton: Played half back for Souths and Trinity Handley played on him as a leading forward, but also as a defensive forward. Scott had a pretty quiet game.

East Fremantle 18.7 (115) d West Perth 13.12 (90)

Chris Hall: Had a very good second half for East Fremantle, running and linking up and finishing off his work with good kicking. He's quite a good quick. He was reasonably good when he came to the club, but he's worked hard on it and improved. 

Adam Campbell: Had a quiet game up forward for West Perth. Robert Young from East Fremantle did a pretty good job on him, keeping him to one goal. 

Andrew Foster: He did really well for the Sharks' reserves in his first game for a couple of weeks after missing with a tight hamstring. Played 70 per cent and was impressive.

East Perth 14.8 (92) d Perth 12.11 (83)

Zac Clarke: Played ruck for East Perth and his ruckwork was good and improving. He also had seven tackles, so he was a good contributor for the Royals. He's close; it'll just be a timing thing. We'll just try and pick the right time.

Tim Ruffles: He was going well until he got knocked out in the third quarter. He was going well in defence and forward. He was knocked out for a couple of minutes and was discharged from hospital on Saturday night, so he spent the night at home and he's been at the club all week.

Marcus Drum: Just a steady game at half-back for Marcus. He was under a fair bit of pressure, because for most of the game East Perth was on top.