East Perth played host to West Coast on a bright, sunny and somewhat of a warm May for some Western Australian Football League (WAFL) action at Leederville Oval. East Perth have been touted as premiership favourites for the 2024 WAFL season and with them sitting on top of the table it does look like they will be the ones to chase and somewhat hard to chase. However, there were signs during the game that do point to potential issues with East Perth in how they could face challenges in their tilt for the flag this year. West Coast had started out rather poorly, but were starting to find their feet and begin to cause issues with the hosts whenever they would string their passes and look for options when they were pressing forward into their attacking 50. This is where I mentioned is the potential for East Perth's title tilt to become rather unstuck. There would be moments where the Royals would "shut down" and become all sixes and sevens and simply not be able to kick or hand-pass effectively; in turn becoming impotent when they would try and press and would fail to take their chances. West Coast were mounting a serious challenge to the Royals and this is a clear sign that while East Perth are able to disrupt their opposition and take the lead, they tend to struggle and not be able to maintain their efforts into the second half, especially into their last quarters of matches. Some really troubling signs for them.
However, thanks in part due to West Coast's WAFL side being still rather inexperienced and still trying to find their feet into semi-profession football and the Aussie Rules setup, the experience and caliber of East Perth shone supreme as they were able to wrestle the game away from them in the end of the 3rd quarter and then put the game to bed in the last quarter. East did not look back as the goals were slowly mounting and the win was all but secured. However, West Coast should not feel too despondent as there were promising signs of good performances and I think that they could pose a threat to other WAFL teams further on into the season. As the AFL West Coast team have been turning their fortunes around compared to last season and have been really challenging teams, like the Essendon match. East Perth had finished the visitors off with a 74 point win, a needed percentage booster against title challenger Peel Thunder and 2023 WAFL grand finalists who are sitting in second position.
Now for the food and drink. While I did not have any alcohol, I perhaps should have as the food was not worth the lengthy wait and was even for WAFL and Aussie Rules rather sub-par. The cheeseburger was 13 dollars and was not worth this price, nor worth the taste either. Was highly disappointing but was semi-saved with a sausage roll from Mrs Macs which was 5.50 and while there is a mark-up to make money off the sale of a Mrs Mac's sausage roll, it is perhaps a dollar or 2 just too much there. Hot chips and gravy were 8 dollars and were not too bad, but the gravy was on the more stingy side and a bit watery and weak. The chips were nicely done and were nicely salted also. A real shame there as it could have gone down a treat to save me from the cheeseburger and the bog-standard sausage roll.
Drinks were 4 dollars for the cans and well, they are simply a can of Fanta and Coke. What more could you say about those? They tasted exactly as you would expect, just that they are double what would be a reasonable price for anyone. While I might feel that I am somewhat stuck in the past or unrealistic, having to cough up that much for a can does make going out to the football, or any other local sport over the weekend a difficult prospect at times.
Due to my university commitments and personal commitments, I have seemingly visited more Aussie Rules football games of recent times. While I am the punctual football fan and I do love my football, I must confess that I do enjoy watching my other favourite sports and was good to go and watch my father's and mine's favourite team of East Perth play. It has been a long time since my father and I have watched an East Perth game or WAFL game live together. Brought back many memories and was a great afternoon. Would love to do it all again when we can. These moments feel further special as age is marching on and Dad is getting older. Well, was a good day watching the football, but food wise was rather forgettable.
