STAR East Perth veteran Craig Wulff could well be in career-best form and now after playing in just the second WAFL finals victory of his 159-game career he hopes the Royals keep their momentum going in this Saturday's preliminary final.
Wulff's last victory in a final was the first semi of 2003 when East Perth beat Claremont before losing to West Perth the next week in the preliminary final.
Wulff's only other September appearance was in the 2007 losing first semi-final to South Fremantle, so Sunday's 14-point win over East Fremantle was a long time coming and was a memorable day for Wulff and East Perth.
That victory was the Royals' seventh straight as they have made a stirring comeback this season to be in the preliminary final this Saturday against Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval, and Wulff is confident of going to Bassendean and winning to advance to the grand final against Claremont.
"We've been beaten by them twice this year, but we were in winning positions against them in both games," Wulff said.
"We aren’t scared of Swan Districts by any means, we have played well up there before and won there so if we turn up to play we can beat them definitely."
Wulff might have broken into an East Perth team in 2002 to debut during the hat-trick of premierships, but success hasn’t been around ever since making this incredible 2010 campaign worth the wait after a lot of tough years.
"That's only my third WAFL final in nine years so it's taken a while to get back there, but it's definitely worth its while. We now have to make sure that we don’t just make up the numbers next week now by sticking to our game plan and working hard," Wulff said.
"We never gave up and that's a good trait for our team, but we did look done and dusted during the year. We just have to take our chances now. We are good enough to go further and we just need to make sure all the boys understand that, and show it on the field on Saturday."
Wulff is having a brilliant season on the wing averaging almost 26 possessions and kicking 12 goals, and continued his form on Sunday with 29 disposals and a goal. The win didn’t come easy, though, as East Fremantle led by 30 points early but Wulff was pleased by his team's comeback.
"We just changed our game plan around a bit to get it in deep when we had to, and just hitting up the short ones when we could. In the first quarter we let their running players get a bit too forward of the play and couldn’t get numbers behind the ball quick enough, and they made us pay," he said.
"We were disappointing at times and the use of our hands and decision-making in certain areas let us down, but it's obviously good to win a final. I definitely think we have a lot of improvement left and given it's a final it'd have to be in the top 10 wins of my career."
East Perth might not have the natural ability of Swan Districts, Claremont or even last Sunday's opponents East Fremantle, but the Royals are playing tremendously as a team, with enormous spirit, will to win and to the game plan solidly.
With Zach Beeck dominating the ruck to set up midfielders Brendan Lee and Brendan Hancock, Aaron Sweet emerging, and Ben McKinley, Zac Clarke, Adam Prior, Michael Swan and Mat Seal dangerous up forward the Royals have a good mix, but the defence has simply been outstanding.
Led by Luke Webster and with strong support from Luke Sampey, Jye Keath and Mark Deaves, Wulff loves seeing his defence go about their work.
"He's (Deaves) played two games now and played in two wins with another final next week, it's like a fairytale for him so far. We've got defenders who can play on smalls and talls, and run off when they need to or to get across to help their teammates, so it's handy," he said.
"Webby is unbelievable but it's not just out on the field on game day, but the way he goes about training and of the track with the work he puts in is second to none. I've never seen anyone put in the amount of work that he does for his teammates."
East Perth's supporters are always vocal and are now turning out in good numbers, and Wulff and his teammates get enormous encouragement from them. That should lead to an interesting, and exciting, day at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday and Wulff can't wait.
"Once the crowd gets behind us everyone seems to lift and they did it again for us on Sunday, they were nice and loud. It only takes one or two acts from someone to get everyone jumping on board so if you get 22 doing the right thing it makes you tough to beat, it doesn’t matter who you are," he said.
"I'm sure there'll be a bit happening off the ground in the grandstand, but that's football and we enjoy that. If someone kicks a goal and you hear them all of a sudden you get a massive lift.
"They cheer us when we win or lose, and we have a good fan base. Sometimes they can be hard on the umpires and opposition, but we love them."
