WITH senior opportunities set to present over the final two rounds of the regular season, a number of Fremantle's WAFL performers put their best foot forward in round 21 of the state competition.

Steven Dodd, who has played two AFL games this season, was the club's WAFL player of the round, while Clayton Hinkley pushed for his first senior game this season after an encouraging run of form with Swan Districts.

Midfielder Rhys Palmer enjoyed a confidence-boosting game for East Fremantle, while versatile youngster Clancee Pearce was also a strong performer.

Ahead of this week's fixtures, senior development coach Simon Lloyd shared his WAFL notes with fremantlefc.com.au.

Claremont 18.10 (118) d Swan Districts 6.9 (45)
Clayton Hinkley
Clayton played midfield for most of the day on Ryan Brabazon, finishing with 22 possessions and four hard-ball gets. He played his opponent tight at stoppages and his attack on the ball was very good for most of the day. He always put his head and body over the football and his work rate was high.

Clancee Pearce
Clancee started well with a high work rate and he finished with 25 possessions. He worked very hard defensively to get into Chad Jones' space, which seemed to work very well, as Jones didn't have much of an impact before getting hurt in the second quarter. He read the ball well front and square at one point, earning a free kick and converting his set shot. He won most of his contests and was one of Swans' better players.

East Fremantle 10.15 (75) d Subiaco 9.10 (64)
Rhys Palmer
Rhys played across half-forward and onball and he started the game well. His work rate was really good and he worked his tagger over at times. He won clearances at centre bounces and boundary throw-ins and pushed hard into defence, putting his body on the line at one stage to take a great contested mark. Offensively he spread well and had 19 possessions, so we were happy with his game.

Steven Dodd
Steven played across half-back all day and he was very good playing on a variety of opponents. He ran and attacked from half-back and started a lot of East Fremantle's forward moves through his rebound, finishing with 23 possessions. He used the ball well and really put his body on the line, running back with the flight courageously at one point to make a spoil.

Des Headland
Des played onball and forward and his run looked better again this week. He didn't rack up possessions, but his skills were very good when he did have the ball, along with his decision-making. His pressure around the contest was impressive, laying six tackles, and he kicked a nice long goal, which suggests he's regaining power with his kicking. He's determined to get back in the senior side.

Peel Thunder 15.14 (104) d Perth 13.18 (96)
Chris Mayne (reserves)
Chris played in the midfield and rotated through half-forward for the three quarters he played. He ran well and applied plenty of pressure throughout the game, as he would at senior level, and he had some really good touches. He started at some centre bounces, which was a good experience for him.

Brock O'Brien
Brock lined up at half-forward and only lasted a little over a quarter. He just wasn't feeling right in his legs, so we decided to pull him out for the day to avoid any risk of injury. He's obviously been through a fair bit this season, so we proceeded with caution.

Tim Ruffles
Tim played across half-back in the first half before moving onto a wing. He got into the game early with some strong counter-attacks from deep in defence and he beat his opponent in the first quarter. Tim is working hard on the key aspects of his game.

Joel Houghton
Joel played in the ruck and also centre half-back, but he didn't last long, rolling his ankle at the 15-minute mark of the second quarter. Considering there is only a couple of games left that may be it for Joel. He started the year at reserves level and pushed into the league side and it's been a great educational year for him. He'll look to put size on over the pre-season and work on his contested play.

West Perth 15.13 (103) d South Fremantle 11.11 (77)
Ryan Murphy
Ryan played high forward and in the ruck, and his positioning was particularly pleasing for us, both offensively and defensively. He often pushed up the ground and he was constantly on the move and alert, so even though he didn't have a huge amount of the ball he had an impact. He had some good hit-outs in the ruck and it was a good game overall.

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