or delisted AFL players returning and young players coming through. It is becoming fairly common, however, for young players to be drafted as 17- or 18-year-olds directly to the AFL and not play in the WAFL football for more than a few games. Attendances have recovered slightly and in 2004, the league posted a total attendance of 202,797. The total attendance, including AFL games was a record 1,030,000. In 2019 the West Coast Eagles entered the Wafl so the teams are now 10. Future While the WAFL has not been as keen as the SANFL to include teams from other states, there have been proposals to include teams from regions unwanted by the AFL, and to serve as a second-tier national league. The most pushed for expansion team was to be from Darwin, Northern Territory, formed as a representative club of the Northern Territory Football League, however the NT team opted to join the Queensland Australian Football League for the 2009 season, and moved to the newly created North East Australian Football League in 2011 after the top divisions of the Queensland AFL and AFL Canberra merged. In 2019 the WAFL partnered with the West Australian Women's Football League to create a new women's state league, the WAFL Women's. The league is run adjacent to the WAFL premiership. Awards and records Awards The following awards are or were awarded each season: The WAFL Premiership Cup for the winner of the WAFL Grand Final. The Sandover Medal for the fairest & best player(s) in the WAFL. The Simpson Medal for the best players in the WAFL Grand Final. The Bernie Naylor Medal for the leading goalkicker during the home and away season. The JJ Leonard Medal for the best coach during the season. The Montgomery Medal for the best field umpire during the season. The RP Rodriguez Shield for the best overall team, combining league, reserves and colts games. Click here for a list of winners. The Prendergast Medal for the fairest & best player(s) in the reserves. The Jack Clarke Medal for the fairest & best player(s) in the colts. The WA State Premiership (1903–24), awarded to the winner of a match between the WAFA/WAFL premiers and the GFA/GFL premiers. Premierships East Fremantle has won the most premierships, with 29, most recently in 1998. West Perth rank second with 20 premierships, the most recent in 2022. The reigning premiers (2022)