Delahunty preparing to notch WAFL century
Murtoa’s Lachlan Delahunty will add one more highlight to an already sterling resume when he plays his 100th West Australian Football League game for Subiaco on Saturday.
Delahunty made his debut for the Lions in 2014, just as the club was on the precipice of one of the most successful eras in its vaunted history.
He was recruited to the club after playing junior football with Minyip-murtoa and subsequently joining the Victorian Football League’s Frankston Dolphins.
Since Delahunty made his WAFL debut the Lions have played in five straight grand finals, winning three of them, and look likely to play in a sixth this season.
Delahunty has played a key role in the team’s success, being named in the WAFL Team of the Year five times and finishing third in last year’s Sandover Medal league best and fairest count.
Delahunty said it was special to be a part of what he described as the club’s ‘purple patch of success’.
“We went through last season undefeated, which I don’t think has been done since the 1930s, so we broke a lot of records,” he said.
“We were coming off losing the previous two grand finals to the Peel Thunder, which is aligned with Fremantle and had 18 or 19 Afl-listed players.
“Our back was against the wall those two years and we probably should have won the one in 2017, we just didn’t kick straight.
“Losing two grand finals in a row is disheartening and to keep going back and doing a big preseason is always tough, but to not lose a game last season was massive for us.
“We lost a teammate of ours, Shane Yarran, and we lost an assistant coach three weeks after, so it was an emotional year.”
The ruck-forward said playing in the WAFL enabled him to achieve his dream of playing state representative football when he was picked to play for the league.
“Being able to represent your state is probably the biggest honour I’ve had,” he said.
“I was an emergency when I was in the VFL in 2013; that was shattering not to get picked and I thought I’d never make the state team after that.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to get some individual accolades, but I think I’ve played state footy four times now which is a huge honour.”
Despite having achieved at one of the highest levels in the sport, Delahunty said there was one goal he was still yet to tick off – playing in a Minyip-murtoa premiership.
“I’m Murtoa born and bred, it has always been on the bucket list,” he said.
“I always get a taste for it when I get home, and that’s probably the next big-ticket item for me.
“It’s got to be work dependent, because I’m set up here with work now and it’s a long trip from Perth to Murtoa, but it’s definitely in the foreseeable future.”