East Fremantle CEO Todd Shimmon impressed with Mid West development

It was a perfect weekend for the East Fremantle Sharks as all four sides in action won their games, including their WAFLW side claiming their second premiership over Claremont.

The Sharks got revenge for falling short in last year’s grand final with CEO Todd Shimmon hailing the development of young stars through the Rogers Cup as key to its success.

“We’ve progressed probably 12 girls that have come up from the Rogers Cup and had a taste of league footy,” he said.

“There’s been an influx of large talent coming through and we and all the clubs have put a lot of work in to get their development programs going.

“Even girls from the Mid West like (Jasmine) Johansen who came down and played four games this season delighted to be a part of it watching on from Geraldton..”

Shimmon also got to watch his league side claim an important win over Peel in Geraldton to move into third.

“We were delighted with the crowd and for us, it ticked a lot of boxes across the weekend,” he said.

“We think Wonthella could be the largest oval in Australia, they were out on their feet in the last quarter and it was a wonderful football to watch.

“Then for Andrew Lockyer to come on board to subsidise junior football registration next year is such a great initiative and he has done an outstanding job and hopefully we’ve raised north of $30,000.”

Beyond the results on the field, Shimmon was also pleased with how programs off the field were winning.

“Coming away with the win was fantastic but for us, it was more of a check-in for all of our programs we set up in Geraldton and the Mid West,” he said.

“The program we set up with the Mid West Academy of Sport has been very successful fitness-wise, having access to a gym 24/7 and the extra training programs that Beau Simpson and Nathan Johansen run.

“We’ve just also recently employed an Indigenous development officer in Clinton Bolton and to check in with the Indigenous squad was such an important part to us and we must strengthen them as much as we can.”