M & J Chickens Player of the Round

THERE were plenty of standout performers across Round 5 of the WAFL putting their hands up for M & J Chickens Player of the Round honours, but in the end it was East Perth co-captain Patrick McGinnity who simply couldn't be overlooked.

South Fremantle's Shane Hockey and Brandon Donaldson put in impressive performances in the tight contest of the round as the Bulldogs beat Claremont in Albany.

Meanwhile, Andrew Strijk, Tyler Keitel and Blake Wilhelm were among West Perth's dominant figures in a thumping of Perth while Corey Gault was best afield as Swan Districts accounted for East Fremantle.

But in the end, it was the win for East Perth over Peel Thunder on Sunday that gave the Royals three consecutive victories to be building some momentum this season with McGinnity at the forefront of that saw him get the nod for Round 5.

McGinnity is in his second season full-time with East Perth after coming through the ranks at Claremont prior to his AFL career with the West Coast Eagles where he went on to play 93 games between 2009 and 2016, including a period of 57 games from 2010 to 2012.

But after just three games in 2016 at AFL level and spending most of that season playing with East Perth, McGinnity was only too happy to join the Royals on a permanent basis in 2017.

He was appointed co-captain as a result alongside Kyle Anderson and went on to play some good football when his body allowed him on the park and at his best.

Now the 29-year-old has started the 2018 season strongly as sole captain at East Perth until Anderson returns from injury and he went up another level again in Sunday's 66-point win for the Royals against the Thunder at Leederville Oval.

Splitting his time between playing in the midfield and up forward, McGinnity was at his hard ball winning and opportunistic best.

He finished the game with four goals to go with 27 possessions, eight marks and four tackles in a performance that shows why he played almost 100 AFL matches and why when he's fully healthy he's among the elite players still in the WAFL.

M & J Chickens Players of the Round
Round 1 – Rhys Palmer (Swan Districts)
Round 2 – Fraser McInnes (East Perth)
Round 3 – Cody Leggett (Perth)
Round 4 – Shane Nelson (West Perth)
Round 5 – Patrick McGinnity (East Perth)