Around the Leagues: Familiar faces win Belt-Up jumpers, high-five for Claremont colts & Matilda’s AFLW call-up

The Advertiser brings you Around the Leagues, taking a look at football stories of players and personalities from the Great Southern, Ongerup and Upper Great Southern regions. Dominating out in the Districts Leagues around WA took part in the annual Belt-Up Round at the weekend. To celebrate 25 years of partnership between the WA Country Football League and the Insurance Commission in promoting the road safety message, special Belt-Up jumpers were handed out to best players in games all over the State. Heading out to the Eastern Districts Football League, two well-known players to ATL were awarded jumpers for their respective teams after a clash in Hyden on Saturday. Connor Spinks and Sam Want were fittingly captured holding the match day footy together in their Belt-Up jumpers, after both had dominant days out. Spinks is playing for the Narembeen Hawks in the EDFL and was explosive out of the middle of the ground. Hailing from Jerramungup, he also spent time in the Great Southern playing for both Albany and North Albany. Want is running around for the Hyden-Karlgarin Saints and was very influential in the midfield and across half-back in round five. He spent time as a junior playing for Railways in the Great Southern. Tom Baldwin and Heath Spinks also featured in the game, playing key roles for the Hawks as they won by 24 points. Baldwin spent time at Jerramungup and Royals as a youngster before heading to Perth where he played 37 league games across three seasons. Heath Spinks was a North Albany junior and played State 16s for WA. Claremont colts high-five It will be a high-five for the Great Southern Football League on Saturday, with five of their players running out together for Claremont’s colts team. Albany-based players Lucas Ravenhill and Clay Michael have made the trip to Perth and will face East Fremantle while Seb Ballard’s hard work has been rewarded, breaking into the side after six rounds. Claremont officials have been keen to get towering teenager Ravenhill — who played for WA at the National Under-16s Championships last year — in for a game. He has kicked 12 goals in five matches for North Albany this season and has been named at full-forward. Michael is named at centre half-forward and the strong-marking teenager is also in good form, having booted 14 majors in five games for Railway so far this year. Ravenhill and Ballard made their colts debut for Claremont last year, when the club brought a fixture to Albany and played West Perth, while Michael will make his first colts appearance for the WAFL club in the round seven fixture. The three inclusions will join Ryley Valli (Railways and Royals) and Ryan Lazar (Royals) in the Tigers line-up to tackle the Sharks at Revo Fitness Stadium at 2.10pm. Valli has played every game this season and Lazar has played the last two matches. Kangas stalwart reaches 250 Reaching 250 games is nothing to be sneezed at and ATL feels like the milestone will be only become rarer as the years roll on. The time has come to stand and applaud Graham Ross who will play his 250th league game for North Albany on Saturday. He is a highly decorated Kanga and one of the GSFL’s best defenders of the past couple of decades. Ross has won eight league flags and was the 2009 Kleemann medallist, to go with three club best-and-fairest awards and time spent as Kangas captain. At the age of 37, Ross has been thrown forward with great effect and he currently sits second on the league’s goal-kicking standings. A loyal member of the Kangas, well done Rossy on this wonderful individual milestone. Umpire milestone for Uppers doyen Well-respected umpire Travis Norton is also celebrating a milestone, chalking up 200 league games in the Upper Great Southern Football League. Norton started out behind the whistle as a teenager in the Great Southern and then transitioned to the WAFL. From there he found his way to the UGSFL, making his debut in 2009. Norton has officiated in eight grand finals and it is understood he is the first umpire to reach the 200-game milestone in the UGSFL. He will be in the middle of the clash between Wickepin and Boddington in Wickepin on Saturday, umpiring alongside Steve Irvine and Craig Tonkin. Blight’s name in the draft mix Railways junior Jacob Blight is among a list of 321 players who have nominated for next Wednesday’s mid-season rookie draft. There is a host of WA players that have put their name in the hat to potentially be picked up by an AFL club. Blight, who made the move from Claremont to Peel Thunder, has played terrific footy in defence. The 21-year-old is averaging 16.7 disposals and 5.5 marks a game as a key defender this season. Surprisingly, Brookton-Pingelly star Tom Blechynden who played State footy for WA last weekend, was not among the list of nominees. Exciting Perth forward Jaiden Hunter, who had a family link to Albany, is one player that multiple AFL clubs have shown interest in. From Narrogin to The Hanger After being overlooked in two national drafts, tall talent Matilda Dyke was beginning to question if she would ever reach the big time. Essendon threw the Narrogin-raised footballer a chance, however, becoming a late AFLW signing with the club this week. Dyke has been impressive for Claremont in the WAFLW, playing both in the ruck and in defence, and was snapped up by the Bombers when a spot became available on their list. The 21-year-old, who spent time recently watching her brother play at home for the Narrogin Hawks, has signed a one-year deal and is determined to live out her dream of playing at the top level. Dyke comes from a proud footy family and is relocating to Melbourne this weekend before preseason begins next week. Awesome Adelaide experience for Tom Brookton-Pingelly gun Tom Blechynden went close to a win in his State debut on Friday. Blechynden played his first game for WA in their clash with South Australia at the Adelaide Oval. Unfortunately, WA were not able to win the Haydn Bunton Cup, as the home side got up by 13 points in a tight affair. It was a proud moment for the South Fremantle midfielder, his parents making the trip over to watch from the stands. The 23-year-old playing in a forward role where he gathered 10 disposals and laid four tackles to go with one mark and one inside-50. Blechynden was one of three South Fremantle representatives in the team while Boddington’s Rachael Mottershead was the head physiotherapist for WA. Got a footy story from our region to share? Email cameron.newbold@albanyadvertiser.com