Italiano Named Player Of The Round After Second Game

GIVEN just 12 months ago he was playing in Harvey, it's a remarkable journey just for Patrick Italiano to be playing league football at Swan Districts but he had such an impact in Saturday's crucial win against East Fremantle that he was named WAFL Player of the Round.

Italiano did play a couple of colts matches at Swan Districts last year but most of his time was spent at the Harvey Bulls in the South West Football League and certainly there was never any guarantee he would end up playing WAFL league football.

But the now 19-year-old did come up and play a reserves game for Swan Districts in Round 2 but he didn’t make another appearance until Round 10 when he played against Claremont at Claremont Oval.

A couple of weeks later, he played particularly well against Subiaco with 17 possessions and three tackles before then having 11 disposals and eight tackles in Round 13 against Peel Thunder.

He was really starting to find his feet a week later against Perth with 17 disposals, seven tackles and a goal before then having another 17 touches and eight tackles against East Perth in Round 15.

That saw him earn a league debut in Round 16 against West Perth at Joondalup Arena exactly 12 months after playing his second and last game in the colts for Swan Districts in 2017.

He showed some encouraging signs in the loss to the Falcons too but it was against East Fremantle at East Fremantle Oval that he delivered his best performance at any level for Swan Districts.

Italiano was tremendous for the black-and-whites in what was a must-win game against the bottom of the table Sharks and he went on to kick three crucial goals in the first half while ending the afternoon with 25 possessions, four marks and three inside-50 entries.

Considering it was just the second league game of his career, it was a remarkable performance from the small of stature 19-year-old who is just 180cm tall and weighs only 75kg.

But he proved he isn’t afraid to throw his body in at the contest and win the hard ball and lay tackles, to get out into space and run and that most importantly, he could finish well in front of goals.

He helped Swan Districts to the crucial 34-point victory against East Fremantle that keeps their finals hopes alive as well with games to finish the 2018 season to go against Subiaco, South Fremantle and Claremont.

Italiano himself might have been a little surprised at the Player of the Round honour, but has enjoyed his chance at league level.

"I thought I did OK," he said.

"It was a very good opportunity to have and I'm pretty glad I took the chance to sort of show what I can do. Thanks to Pickers for giving me the chance to play at league level."

Italiano is the second Swan Districts' player to earn Player of the Round honours for 2018 after Rhys Palmer did for his stunning performance in Round 1 against Perth.

He was named in the Team of the Round as well alongside Swan Districts teammates Jesse Turner and Nathan Blakely.