WITH careers on the line and tough decisions now waiting around the corner, Fremantle's WAFL performers have plenty at stake and everything to play for.

Second-year rookie Luke Pratt is nearing a defining moment in his fledgling career, and the desperate acts that have defined his time at the club keep coming.

The 19-year-old Swan Districts defender will miss this week's crunch clash with ladder-leaders South Fremantle with his second bout of concussion this season.  

Development coach Steve Malaxos said being fearless and putting himself in dangerous positions was one of the small defender's key attributes.

"Being fearless is a real strength of his, so that will definitely be considered when the club sits down and decides what to do with Luke," Malaxos said.

Pratt has become pigeon-holed as a small defender at Fremantle this season, and in-from teammates Paul Duffield, Greg Broughton and Nick Suban have held him out of the side for all but one game in round seven.

Malaxos has tried to push the youngster's case at Swan Districts for more time onball or across half-forward, but he said Pratt would now be an asset for the WAFL side as a small defender in September.

"They're going into finals mode now they've backed away from that and don't want to experiment," Malaxos said.

The development coach said Pratt's disposal had progressed reasonably this season, but would still be his major focus heading into next pre-season.

Jay van Berlo was Malaxos' WAFL performer of the week after his 26-possession game for West Perth.

After four games with Fremantle and some impressive performances with the Falcons, Malaxos said it was still premature to say van Berlo belongs at the elite level.

"He's done pretty well since he started playing at Fremantle," Malaxos said. "With a little bit more improvement he could be a consistent AFL player."

Ahead of Thursday's selection Malaxos shared his WAFL notes with fremantlefc.com.au. 
 
Claremont 21.9 (135) d West Perth 11.9 (75)

Adam Campbell
Better effort from Adam, he was a lot more involved for West Perth, as his 17-possessions and 11 marks shows. He was involved in a lot of attacking moves, even though he didn’t kick a goal. The only black mark on his game was that he gave away six free kicks. We've worked on some things with West Perth to get him more involved and there was evidence of that.

Jay van Berlo
He played very well and was West Perth's best player with 26 possessions and a goal. He ran hard throughout and used the ball pretty well. He took some good marks in West Perth's defence and had an excellent game.

East Fremantle 9.6 (60) lost to Swan Districts 19.23 (137)

Luke Pratt
Played a solid game in defence for Swans, he got a heavy knock, which meant he missed a fair bit of play in the third quarter, but he was a solid contributor in the backline with 17 possessions and seven tackles.

Michael Walters
He played pretty well and his kicking was excellent. He played as a half-froward that pushed up the ground and used the ball really well in pretty ordinary condition for Swans. He had 22 possessions and the way he's using it we'd like to see him get more, however, that can be hard when you're a small forward. We'd just like him to be a little bit more consistently involved.   

East Perth 8.14 (62) lost to Subiaco 11.13 (79)

Zac Clarke
He was probably beaten by Subiaco's ruckman Michael Rix in the hit-outs, although he did some good things around the ground. He finished with 14 possessions, which is a good haul for Zac, but it was in the centre square and the ball-ups where he was exposed. He was beaten on the day, but he wasn't disgraced.

Hamish Shepheard
He started pretty quietly for East Perth and then had a good patch in the second quarter. He played forward and led and marked well, and while he wasn't dominant for that period he was pretty influential. Thereafter he was playing a bit deeper and was quieter. What he did was good, it's just a matter of doing it more often.