OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE WAFL $3.00 EDITION 1 APRIL 2, 2021 INTRODUCING THE 2021 Optus WAFL Premiership Season They say a week is a long time in footy, but this past 12 months has felt nothing short of an eternity for football across the country. It’s been exactly 382 days since the WAFL was stopped in its tracks on the eve of the 2020 campaign by COVID-19, thus beginning the slogan of a ‘season like no other.’ The competition stopped then started but looked entirely different; 16-minute quarters, a nine-round season and a top four finals series. It was WAFL football, but not as we knew it. Fortunately, unlike most other State Leagues, the WAFL was able to complete a season, with the undoubted highlight taking place in the last game of the year. 10,000 fans packed Fremantle Community Bank Oval to witness a fitting Grand Final between South Fremantle and Claremont. The arm wrestle of a contest thrilled spectators and fans around the state, with the Bulldogs finishing three-point victors and deserved Premiers. We arrive at the beginning of the 2021 Optus WAFL Season with renewed optimism. The competition returns to 20 rounds. Quarters change back to 20 minutes plus time on. The five best teams will battle it out in the WAFL Finals Series. And the West Coast Eagles return to the u Keegan Knott competition. This publication is proudly produced by the WA Football Commission. WAFL admission prices Cover // (L-R) Fraser McInnes, Will Schofield, Hamish Brayshaw, DID YOU KNOW? $15 – Adult* Dylan Main, Lewis Jetta You can subscribe to the Football Budget $12 – Concession* Photography // Gary Day & Michael Farnell Simply call 0419 930 763 or email Free – Children 15 and under Design // Jacqueline Holland, Direction Design and Print [email protected] *Includes a copy of Football Budget Printing // Data Documents www.datadocuments.com.au The Football Budget is printed on Gloss 90gsm paper, which is sourced from a sustainably managed forest and uses manufacturing processes of the highest environmental standards. The magazine is 100% recyclable. Copyright © No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system without the permission of the publisher. Opinions expressed in the Football Budget are not necessarily those of the WAFC. The WAFC or affiliated clubs believe that the material produced in this publication is accurate, but gives no warranty in relation thereto and disclaims all liability for claims against the WAFC or affiliated clubs, its employees, agents, or any other person, which may rise from any person acting on the materials contained herein. 2 by Elliot Raiter INTRODUCING THE 2021 Optus WAFL Premiership Season If that isn’t enough, more than 700 games of AFL been with up to five games a week being broadcast experience have made its way back to the WAFL, across TV, Radio and Live Stream. bringing even more talent to a competition brimming Channel 7 will broadcast 20 games across the with excitement. season, including the Optus WAFL Grand Final, Optus Premiership defender Lewis Jetta is back where it WAFLW Grand Final and Simply Energy WAFL Colts all began at Swan Districts, while fellow teammate Will Grand Final. Schofield becomes the enemy at Peel Thunder. The WAFL and The West Australian are live streaming Matt Parker has made his way from St Kilda to the up to four games a weekend across the WAFL Club Bulldogs, while the Cam McCarthy show will roll on in Facebook pages and www.thewest.com.au. Fremantle, just down the road on Parry St. SportFM continues their strong affinity with the The Tigers collected a trio of homegrown players WAFL to broadcast a ‘Game of the Round’ on the radio, from both Fremantle and West Coast, as Perth build while SEN will begin to cover games and broadcast their squad further with Doulton Langlands (St across the Southwest and on digital. Kilda) and Josh Smith (West Coast) joining at Mineral We open the season with the simple phrase of ‘This Resources Park. is Home.’ East Fremantle had a busy offseason with the The WAFL community stretches far beyond the West acquisition of Jonathon Marsh (St Kilda) and Josh Australian borders. Once you join the WAFL, you’re Schoenfeld (Gold Coast), while East Perth and West family you’re a part of the story forever. We revere our Perth look to maintain their squads ahead of the new history, are excited about the future, we protect our campaign. own and its place where family means everything. Brandon Matera has become a Subiaco Lion and will So, no matter how far you travel or where you’ve pair up with his brother in the maroon for season 2021. been, the WAFL is always home. Coupled with the exciting player intake, the Welcome Home. competition will become as accessible as it has ever Bring on season 2021! 2 3 by Sean Cowan VALE Tracey Lewis She may have originally been from Sydney, but there and was a tireless was nobody more engaged with WA football than contributor to that Tracey Lewis. organisation. From her early days as a journalist in the 1990s at At the end of 2004, Westside Football and the Football Budget, through Tracey stepped back to her time as media manager for the WA Football from the Budget to Commission, Tracey lived and breathed footy. have her first child, And she was universally respected by players, Abbey, but she coaches and administrators. returned to football Sadly, Tracey lost her six-year battle with breast soon after as media cancer in December. She was just 47. manager for the WAFC. Given her contribution to the game and to this All the while, she publication, it’s only appropriate that we formally continued writing for the Budget, which was edited remember Tracey in the Football Budget today. first by Stuart McLea and then by Elborough. Close friend Tania Armstrong remembers getting After the birth of her second child, Jack, Tracey to know Tracey Searle, as she was known then, in the returned as editor of the Football Budget in 2010 and, 1990s when Tracey would help her put together her despite battling cancer from late 2014, she held that Football Budget column “Tan’s Top 10”. position until 2019. As the only women in the football media in Perth, During the past ten years, given the editor’s role they were often mistaken for one another. was no longer full-time, Tracey also held various other positions. She was media and communications Tracey had attended Willetton Senior High School, coordinator for Netball WA, a web content writer before graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Media for the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Studies from Edith Cowan University in 1994. communications officer and donor relations officer By the time the 1995 football season opened, for St Mary’s Anglican Girls School, a consultant with Tracey was writing for both Westside Football and the LastSay Communications, a senior communications Football Budget alongside the likes of Brad Elborough, officer with the Department of Lands, Planning and Scott Coghlan, historian Les Everett and the editor of Heritage, and communications and engagement both publications, the late Alan East. advisor with Metronet. The journalists would work for Westside Football But anyone who knew Tracey knew that her real until Monday night, when they would turn their connection was with sport, particularly football. attentions to the Budget. Outside of work, Tracey was just as well-loved and Tracey later recalled that her early duties respected. included covering football development and award She was heavily involved with her own children’s presentations. She also had to organise Q&A stories sporting clubs, including the Subiaco Marist Cricket with rising stars, such as Ben Cousins and Philip Club, Marist Football Club, and Newman Churchlands Matera, for a column called “What The Rookies Say” Swimming Club, right through until she was unable to and, of course, “Tan’s Top 10”. continue because of her health. East retired as editor of the Budget at the end of 1997 She loved nothing more than packing up the family when Westside Football folded after being published for a trip with Tania Armstrong’s family to the Seabird for a year as a free newspaper called Westside Sport. Caravan Park, north of Perth, which is where she broke Glen Quartermain then took the helm for 1998 and the news that she had a lump in her breast in 2014. A 1999 before Tracey took over in 2000, still aged 26. few days later she was diagnosed with breast cancer. In that same year, she married The West Australian But she did manage to pack in some wonderful football journalist Ross Lewis. The pair were well- experiences in her last years, including trips to the known supporters of both East Perth and Hawthorn, US. COVID put paid to her plans of a round-the-world though you would have never have guessed it from family trip last winter. reading their copy. On December 15 last year, Tracey Lewis passed In 2001, Tracey became the first woman to be elected away, leaving husband Ross and children Abbey and president of the WA Football Media Guild, serving the Jack behind. The world, and especially the football maximum two-year term. She later became secretary world, is a better place for her having been in it. 4 by Sean Cowan COLLECTABLES During 2021, the Football Budget will again feature a section on WAFL memorabilia and invites you to write or email if you want more information about the football collectables you have tucked away at home.