Country championships: South West senior squad packed with experience looking to bring back title

A South West senior squad packed with carnival experience will be looking to win back football’s country championships title in Perth over the weekend. First-time coach Seth White’s lineup has a backbone of veterans who are still performing at a high level in the South West Football League, including Bunbury’s Jesse Gribble, South Bunbury’s Shaun Crane, Jace Cormack and Tom Gorter, Busselton’s Jon Meadmore, Donnybrook’s Ben Howlett and Eaton’s Paul Rinder. Explosive midfielder Ty Anderson (Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault), dynamic attacking threat Richie Bourne (South Bunbury) and reliable on-ballers Mitch Bain (South Bunbury) and Jozef Parkinson (Busselton) are the headline additions to the team from last year’s championships. The squad also features some of the region’s brightest young stars in Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault’s Connor Carbone, Donnybrook’s Cooper Clarke-Dehring and Eaton’s Jack Saunders, who have all had significant impact at league level this season. Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault and undefeated ladder leaders South Bunbury are the most prominent SWFL clubs in the squad with five players apiece, ahead of last year’s grand finalists Busselton and Carey Park with four each. Surprisingly, second-placed Bunbury only have Gribble and crafty forward Cooper Nitschke in the squad, with the competition’s leading goal-kicker Joel Houghton among their players to opt out of the carnival. Eight of the competition’s 11 clubs will have at least one senior representative at the carnival, with Augusta-Margaret River, Harvey Bulls, and Dunsborough the teams without a player included. Having won seven of the last 11 editions of the championships, the South West will be looking to avenge a loss to Avon in last year’s grand final. South West senior country championships squad Jesse Gribble, Cooper Nitschke (Bunbury), Liam Creighton, Jon Meadmore, Jozef Parkinson, Mitch Tenardi (Busselton), Cam Baker, Jude Harrop, Jamahl Mulholland, Reece Payne (Carey Park), Cam Davidson, Jarrod Cameron (Collie), Cooper Clarke-Dehring, Ben Howlett (Donnybrook), Greg Humphries, Paul Rinder, Jack Saunders (Eaton), Ty Anderson, Connor Carbone, Jack Fletcher, Blake Offer, Zavier Williams (Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault), Mitch Bain, Richie Bourne, Shaun Crane, Jace Cormack, Tom Gorter (South Bunbury).