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I know it's a touchy subject for you EP supporters but who said I was referring to your aligned 3 peat in early 2000's?

Mate you must be off your tree. You fallen off your park bench? Now you are going on about Ashton Hams. WTF has that got to do with anything I have said? I think someone has spiked your flagon.

DD wrote: I know it's a touchy subject for you EP supporters but who said I was referring to your aligned 3 peat in early 2000's?

Another lie.The alignment was abolished before the 2002 season.Can you name the four eagles who were in that premiership including the east perth eagle.Easier question who were the two former perth players who played in our 2002 premiership.

DD wrote: I know it's a touchy subject for you EP supporters but who said I was referring to your aligned 3 peat in early 2000's?

A silly comment as we haven't won a premiership under the current alignment.so when did we win a premiership with 12-20 players.

Here is the Ashton Hams retirement story


Often when a player retires earlier than expected it’s due to one of three reasons.

1) His body is unable to hold up to the rigours of AFL,

2) He isn’t getting a game, or

3) He faces significant challenges off the field.

Ashton Hams doesn’t quite fit into any of these categories – yet at just 27 years of age, he’s retired. It’s a decision that surprised many, particularly as he didn’t make his debut until the age of 23.

So why did he retire?

“Oh mate, I’m getting old!” he jokes. “27 is old!”

In all seriousness, he’s had a pretty good run with injuries, played 24 games for the Eagles in the last two years and isn’t the type to find trouble away from the footy field.

The 174cm West Coast pocket-rocket says being in and out of the senior side took a mental toll on him, but he also has a clear affinity with South Fremantle – the WAFL side he played for prior to being selected by the Eagles in the 2010 Rookie Draft.

Traditionally, West Coast and Fremantle listed players have been spread throughout all nine WAFL clubs, meaning Hams was still able to play for South Fremantle when he wasn’t in the Eagles’ side. As of 2014 however, West Coast will be exclusively affiliated with East Perth. Hams admits the new alignment played a role in his decision to call it quits.

“I played about six or seven years at South before I got picked up, so that’s probably the main reason,” he explains. “I just couldn’t put an East Perth jumper on.”

It’s rare to find a player so attached to a WAFL side once he’s established an AFL career – Hams played 39 games in his four seasons at the Eagles – but clearly ‘South’ holds a special place in his heart.

He mentioned the WAFL side he’ll represent next season at least 12 times during our interview and says he can’t wait to get back to his old club.

“I just want to enjoy my footy at South for a couple more years and just get fat and old,” he says with a laugh.


“I just want to enjoy my footy at South for a couple more years and just get fat and old,” – Ashton Hams.

Mentoring some of the younger players is one of the most exciting challenges.

“I was drafted when I was a bit older – about 23, when most people get picked up at 18,” he says.

“There’s still plenty of time [for these young guys] to get drafted, so if I can get that [message] across and they keep working hard at WAFL, they can easily get picked up. If I can teach them a few things to help them get picked up again, that’d be nice.”

Despite being a somewhat senior player at the Eagles in recent seasons, Hams insists mentoring others will be a relatively new experience.

“I tried [at West Coast], but they didn’t really listen,” he jokes.

“You look at other blokes who they could be talking to, like Priddis and Kennedy and those boys. I sort of didn’t try to do that much sort of stuff, so that’s why I’m looking forward to doing a bit more of it at South.”

Hams is clearly a jovial character, but his self-deprecation also hints at something a little more telling. He gives the impression he’s never felt like he belonged at AFL level. Asked if that’s the case, he replies, “yeah, definitely – especially getting picked up so late.”

“I didn’t ever think it was going to happen, and then it did… It’s funny you should say that. It was exactly the same at South for a few years – I didn’t think I belonged there.”

39 games in four years at the Eagles is an impressive achievement, particularly considering he was rookie-listed during his first season, but Hams played just as much football in the WAFL during that time.

“Obviously being in and out of the [West Coast] side… it’s very frustrating,” he admits.

“You think you’re going okay and then you get the arse, so mentally it’s quite draining. It’s a long season when you’re in and out. In saying that, I still really enjoyed it. The boys get you through the year and they’re always there to help out. With the forward group I had a couple of good mates in Lecca and J.K [Mark LeCras and Josh Kennedy] who helped me out a fair bit.”

If being dropped from the West Coast side wasn’t hard enough, being named as an emergency meant he often didn’t get the chance to play for South Freo either – something he always felt was a cathartic footy experience.

“I’d come to South and just play footy – see ball, get ball sort of thing. It’s just so awesome and so relaxing.”

That old-fashioned, instinctive style of footy is something he’s missed.

“There’s so much structure [in the AFL] these days that you’re not even out there playing footy – you’re out there running patterns. It’s so structurally set up. It can get annoying.”

He won’t miss that part of the game, nor the meetings in which those structures were drilled into him and his teammates.

“There are a couple of senior boys who used to talk about having one meeting a week, when you now have three, four or five these days. It’s pretty taxing.”

Having said all that, Hams couldn’t be more grateful for the chance he was given at the Eagles.

“I loved it. Even retiring, it’s still the best four years of my life. Great club, great blokes – I couldn’t have asked for anything more,” he reflects.

Grassy wrote: He's still playing.

He's retired from afl.Just like a hundred cricketers who have retired from international cricket but are playing 20/20 IPL or big Bash just like Ian Bell will be for the scorchers this year.Tayte Pears has retired from Essendon to be a firefighter but who knows he might play in a lower league of football.

Grassy wrote: That's right.

Giving the Big League Away,but not quite prepared to Hang Up the Boots yet,be it Footy or Cricket.Then it may be Retirement.

I wonder if the players in the Ted Whitten charity game are retired or Not quite prepared to hang up the boots. Maybe Dermy can make a comeback for the Demons.You guys are looking for a forward.

Rookie draft wrote:

swan42 wrote:

Rookie draft wrote: No surprises in the responses from the stuck in the mud tragics. Pretty sure the alignment decision was made in 2012. Time to get over it boys And wasn't it after all the prezos voted against stand alone WC & Freo sides. Whether you like it or not AFL is the premier brand and basically funds the WAFL clubs who most would die without it. The alignment gave all WAFL clubs more money.

Not sure what posting 11 months apart or Eagles media has to do with my post. I did post a few new topics on the Peel thread last season but they were hijacked by a number of derogatory posters.

Here's a bit of tucker for mutter that some of you don't seem to get. Football clubs are made up of much more than a dozen or so players that are in the league side. There's the 30 odd busting their gut in the colts the same for the ressies then there's the coaches, staff, volunteers, parents, friends, members, supporters etc. We have never had a large supporter base but I've got mates there and I enjoy supporting them. Do you guys expect us Peel supporters and them EP supporters to give up because there's been a change that isnt what everyone wants.

I'm sorry but that's not the Aussie way. We stick by our mates and teams no matter what.

Perhaps you can give an appraisal of how Peel played against Swans down at Mandurah when you had a reducedn number of AFL aligned players.

No worries I really enjoyed that game. Alex Bray debut and we played 13 locals with 9 or less games. Only had 1 Fremantle listed player with AFL experience and we out scored Swans 11 goals to 10 in 3 of the 4 quarters. Bad 2nd term from memory lost by 5 or 6. Interestingly despite it being Swans best result for the year there was a bigger crowd at Bendigo for that game than Swans next home game.

Grassy, lots of assumptions and errors in your post nvm hey look I'm sure the 70's and 80's were great times in the WAFL but times have changed. You need to too otherwise youll get left behind and become upset frustrated and disgruntled.

RD if it was such an impressive performance why didn't you post such effusive praise on here after the game.

Interesting use of selective quoting of statistics. It was a Swans' away game, so why not quote the next Swans' game? I will do it for you: 2,531 at Swans' next away game compared to the 1,198 at the Peel home game against Swans.

Lol nice try swan42. Since when do clubs measure their attendance by away games. Answer never.

1198 at Bendigo for your finest hour then 1143 at Steel Blue for your next home game, set match

Let's hope Peel go all the way. It will be great for the comp

Rookie draft wrote: Lol nice try swan42. Since when do clubs measure their attendance by away games. Answer never.

1198 at Bendigo for your finest hour then 1143 at Steel Blue for your next home game, set match

Let's hope Peel go all the way. It will be great for the comp

And I quote "Since when do clubs measure their attendance by away games. (sic) Answer never." Given that it was a Swans' away game by your "logic" the figure of 1198 has nothing to do with Swans.

Rookie draft wrote: Lol nice try swan42. Since when do clubs measure their attendance by away games. Answer never.

1198 at Bendigo for your finest hour then 1143 at Steel Blue for your next home game, set match

Let's hope Peel go all the way. It will be great for the comp

Are you real?
It shows the dangers of the alignment.
Your best on ground was a 10 point ex AFL player stolen from a struggling Club.
To allow Peel to play finals with 17 professional footballers is a typical decision made by the WAFL who are incompetent and have priorities in the wrong place.
They should be strengthening the competition by evening the playing field.

Yes 2 standalone AFL clubs who do not participate in the finals.
They can play each other 20 times each year.
The sooner we rid ourselves of the alignment and the Peel farce the better for the competition.