Words Of WAFL

February 12 2011: East Perth player Dean Cadwallader will appeal his two-year ban for steroid use by taking his case to sport's Court of Arbitration.

Cadwallader was suspended from the WAFL until June next year following a league tribunal hearing due the week.

But the former State squad member was expected to claim a lack of drug education in WAFL ranks  in an attempt to reduce the penalty.

Cadwallader was one of a pair of WAFL players to fail a drug test from last season. Swan Districts premiership player Travis Casserly also posted a positive reading following last September's grand final.

It is believed Cadwallader has 21 days to lodge his appeal.

                      

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February 9 2011: East Perth face a mighty task to win Australian's latest football competition following the release of fixtures for the first Foxtel Cup this season.

Sixteen teams from the top State competitions will compete in the FA Cup style knock-out series to start next month.

The Royals have drawn VFL premiers North Ballarat in the first round of the series.

See the entire Foxtel Cup draw here.

WAFL rivals Swan Districts meet Williamstown, which finished third in the VFL competition, in their opening match while Claremont travel to Hobart to play Clarence in a commentator's nightmare.

The winners of first-round matches advance will advance to the second round of matches, which will start on May 28. The WA teams would have to graduate to the quarter finals to have the chance to play each other.

In announcing the details, AFL game development manager David Matthews said matches would consist of four quarters each 18 minutes set time, plus time-on from the last three minutes only (20 minutes approximately total per quarter), to ensure they did not overly impact on club commitments to their on-going state league season, as well as to enable games to fit into a two-hour broadcast window.

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February 5 2011: West Perth have been busy during the off-season boosting their playing stocks with talent from outside their zone.

QAFL premiership forwad Hayden Wilson is the latest addition. Wilson played more than 100 matches for Morningside.

He joins delisted AFL players Mark Hutchings (St Kilda), Steven Browne (Carlton), Daniel McConnell (West Coast, North Melbourne) and Josh Donaldson (Carlton) on the Falcons 2001 list.

Donaldson and Browne are products of the West Perth developmet zone while Hutchings previously represented East Perth in the WAFL.

Meanwhile, Subiaco have snared former Peel midfielder Kane Bloxsidge.

See the 2011 WAFL fixtures.
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January 24 2011: Swan Districts players have taken a novel yet impressive approach to pre-season training by donning overalls and grabbing work tools to help the Queensland flood relief effort.

A band of 60 players and officials from the black-and-whites headed to the disaster-ravaged State to lend a hand as volunteers in the clean-up effort.

Many of the travelling party were shocked at the extent of the damage - and the job ahead - when they arrived in Brisbane.

The time has been spent living rough, nights spent camping on the concrete floor of the flood-damaged Western Magpies Football Club and days spent shovelling mud and clearing debris.

However, it is an outstanding effort by Swans to make the trip, which was funded through sponsors.

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January 24 2011: The WAFL will break with tradition and stage a league match on Good Friday as part of its 2011 fixtures.

Subiaco and East Perth have been granted permission to play on the holy day with the battle of the Medibank Stadium co-tenants to start at 4.15pm.

The AFL has shunned the timeslot and in previous years the WAFL has been content to follow the practice.

However, as the WAFL seeks promotional windows away from the AFL spotlight, the local league has decided to test the waters with a clash on the holy day.

The 2011 fixtures were a logistical nightmare for the WAFL head office, which also had to consider the participation of Swan Districts, Claremont and East Perth in the Champions' League national series to kick off next year.

To allow for matches in both competitions Swan Districts will have an interrupted schedule. They have a bye in round 12, there is a general break for the State match against Queensland in Mandurah two weeks later and the black and whites have another bye in round 16.

See the 2011 WAFL fixtures.

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