The South West Football League is aiming for a hat-trick of Nutrien Ag Solutions senior Men’s Country Championships division one titles this weekend in Perth.
Last year saw the South West retain its title as the kings of country football, beating Peel by 19 points in the division one grand final.
The title was the region’s 26th across the championships and added to a dominant run which has seen the South West win eight of the past 12 editions.
Since taking on the head coaching role in 2024, Seth White has only known one thing — finishing the weekend as champs.
Now gunning for the three-peat, White said there was always pressure to win but he knew he had the right group to get the job done.
“Obviously every time you play you want to win, and there’s a little bit of added pressure of being the back-to-back champs and going for three in a row and everyone sort of expects you to win,” he said.
“We’ve got to get the job done, and what we’ve done the last couple of years probably doesn’t matter now, it’s a new one, and hopefully we can do the right thing and bring it home.”
HBL Hayward medallist Jesse Crichton and South Bunbury’s Tom Gorter will again co-captain the side for this year’s championships with White not wanting to alter a successful recipe.
“Tommy and Jesse give us that versatility of different sort of leaders, but with the same common goal, and obviously their experience as both have played at higher levels,” he said.
“They were really good for us last year, and we just saw no reason to change that around.”
Last year’s competition leading goal kicker and this season’s run away leader Liam Creighton headlines the strong attack for the South West, with White thrilled to see what the spearhead can do with multiple stars around him.
“There will be some pretty good wing men up there with him, with Zac Trigwell, Baiden Parsons and Robbie Turnbull, and then a few smalls run around at their feet,” he said.
“But Liam’s a superstar, he’s a great kid, he’s probably the most watchable player in our competition, so he’ll have licence to go out there and put on a show and thrill the crowd, and I’m sure he’ll do that.”
Star midfielders Mitch Tenardi and Caleb Stephens will be key for the side’s chances as two of the competition’s best players, with White excited to see the group’s flexibility to shift positions.
“Obviously we wanted people for certain roles, but we also want people that we know we can swing around and can impact the game, and we’re pretty, pretty confident that we’ve got a few of them,” he said.
“We can roll blokes off half back through the midfield, and then we’ve got a pretty potent forward line.
“Other teams will need to put a bit of time into a couple of them, but there’s going to be five or six of them down there that are at any time going to be the best player down there, so I’m looking forward to seeing how it all works.”
The side kick off the carnival in Mandurah with Peel on Friday, then Avon later in the day. Saturday the South West will play Goldfields and Great Southern at Fremantle Oval.
White is eager to see his side out on the field with a much anticipated clash against Peel.
“Obviously we play Peel first up which is a grand final rematch of last year, so I’m sure both teams will be talking that up the same way to get your carnival off to a great start, so that’ll set the weekend up pretty good, and we’re looking forward to it,” he said.
Every championship match will be livestreamed via the Country Football WA YouTube channel.
Final Squad
Bunbury: Durak Tucker, Denholm King, Baiden Parsons.
Busselton: Liam Creighton, Mitch Tenardi, Jon Meadmore, Bailey Sanford, Ben Ganzer.
Carey Park: Jaxon Bell, Jamahl Mulholland.
Collie: David Cowan, Jason Carter, Paul Rinder.
Donnybrook: Zac Trigwell.
Dunsborough: Simon Moore, Caleb Stephens.
Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault: Jesse Crichton, Ty Anderson, Robbie Turnbull, Jack Fletcher, Connor Carbone.
South Bunbury: Shaun Crane, Kade Wallrodt, Tom Gorter, Jace Cormack.
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