Royals WAFL Pre-Season Update 2026

Royals Summary

INS

Luke Foley  |  26-yr-old, Defense, 82 x WAFL/AFL Matches – Subiaco (WAFL)

Darcy Craven  |  21-yr-old, Fwd/Mid, 32 x VFL/WAFL Matches – Brisbane (AFL/VFL)

Damon Freitag  |  24-yr-old, Fwd/Ruck, 65 x SANFL Matches – South Adelaide (SANFL)

OUTS

Jonah Brooks  |  21-yr-old, Midfield, 10 x WAFL Matches – West Perth (WAFL)

Adam Boules  |  23-yr-old, Fwd/Mid, 17 x WAFL Matches – Claremont (WAFL)

Darcy Miller  |  21-yr-old, Def, 1 x WAFL Match – Swan Districts (WAFL)

Nick Bonomelli  |  27-yr-old, Fwd, 28 x WAFL Matches, – Retirement

THE ROYALS OFF-SEASON UPDATE

After falling short in a second successive Grand Final, this off-season shapes as one of our most important as we continue to build a list capable of breaking a 23-year premiership drought.

We don’t talk about “windows” at this club. We enter every pre-season with the goal of building a squad that competes strongly every week, and by doing so, earns the right to play finals football. This pre-season is no different.

Lists evolve each year as players come and go for a variety of reasons. Our List Management philosophy remains consistent: provide a genuine pathway for locally zoned talent to represent East Perth at the highest level, while strategically recruiting to fill specific needs and add experience, depth and quality.

We’ve been active across the off-season with extensions and acquisitions, many of which have already been announced on Instagram and Facebook. If you haven’t already, I’d recommend following us to stay across movement as it happens.

Acquisitions

Luke Foley headlines our incoming group. The former West Coast defender (32 AFL games) joins us from Subiaco after an injury-interrupted 2025 season. Luke is looking forward to fresh start and adds plenty to our already deep, talented defensive unit.

Darcy Craven, the Bridgetown product, returns to the Royals after 18 months on Brisbane’s AFL list. While he didn’t break through for an AFL debut, he was a consistent VFL performer and will look to make an immediate impact as a forward while exploring roles further up the ground.

Damon Freitag arrives from South Adelaide in the SANFL after choosing to relocate to Perth for a fresh football and life opportunity. We’ve been searching for a genuine key forward/ruck option for some time and Damon fits the mould perfectly.

We’ll keep working through a few recruiting options in the coming weeks, but with our player points allocation close to exhausted — and no major list gaps identified — we don’t anticipate significant additional movement.

Retention and List Profile

Retention of regular League players has been strong, and the squad remains hungry to build on last season. Pre-season will begin with an eager group of graduating colts, plus amateur and regional invites all pushing to secure a place in the 2026 Senior Squad, which will be finalised in February.

Departures

We have seen several departures across the off-season:

Nick Bonomelli has retired from WAFL football. Jonah Brooks, Adam Boules, and Darcy Miller will continue their WAFL careers elsewhere in 2026.

While it’s disappointing to lose players, we remain in a strong position with the youth coming through, our established senior core, and our targeted recruits. Competition for spots — at both Reserves and League level — will be fierce in 2026.

We also acknowledge several players who’ve contributed strongly to our program, even if not regulars at League level: Tom Amos, departing for work reasons after an injury-affected period. Jake Howes, Yugusuk Soka, Mitch Miller, Jude Mazzucchelli, Kade Lines, Jacob De Santis, Bailey Hyne and Alexio Yiannakis will also move on.

We thank each of them for their commitment and wish them well in the next chapter of their football journeys.

Patrick Reilly deserves special recognition. He made a significant impact as a leader on and off the field. Though he never made a WAFL League debut, the proud Boyup Brook product built an outstanding Reserves career — winning back-to-back Eric Smith Medals in 2022 and 2023, then becoming a Reserves premiership player in 2025. That achievement is even more remarkable considering he played the finals series out with a ruptured LCL in his knee, requiring surgery.

On behalf of everyone at East Perth: thank you, Paddy. We wish you all the very best moving forward.

Pre-season is underway, and we’ll keep you updated on any further movement as the season approaches. Let’s get to work.

Warren Parker – GM Football