Mark Stone - Perth Demons Coach (15.06.2026)

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**Mark Duffield** (1:00)
Welcome back to the SEMWA studio out here at Optus Stadium, Monday morning in Perth. The Perth Demons are in good nick at the moment in the WAFL. After sort of a bit of a hit and miss start to the season, they've climbed themselves into third spot on the ladder. They were 17 point winners over the ladder leading Claremont Tigers at the weekend. And they did it at Revo Fitness Stadium, which is no mean feat. Their coach Mark Stone joins us on the show. Stoney, welcome.

**Mark Stone** (1:31)
Thank you, Duff. Good morning, mate.

**Mark Duffield** (1:33)
Mate, you've climbed to third. You're going OK?

**Mark Stone** (1:37)
Yeah, yeah, we are going OK. I think third's a bit temporary at the moment until everyone plays through the buy rounds. I think there's some teams that only had nine games. So we'll see where we sit at the end of the weekend next weekend. But yeah, it's nice to be up amongst the better teams.

**Mark Duffield** (1:53)
So it's a big win over Claremont, particularly viewed in that context, given that you're a game ahead of a couple and they'll be playing catch up. So to get one over a team that's above you on the ladder at their home ground is significant.

**Mark Stone** (2:07)
It is, Duff, and it's really nothing to do with the... I know you talk about the ladder and the ladder's important and it's tight and percentage is important and all those things. But it was really about beating a team we haven't been able to beat for a long time at their home ground and under a little bit of pressure. So from that point of view, that's the most pleasing part is that we've had several games against Claremont where we thought we were in the game and then they've been able to blow us away. So to be able to hang on and keep forging forward and put pressure on them and keep the scoreboard ticking over and all those little things you have to do against quality teams you were able to do, which is the most pleasing part about it.

**Mark Duffield** (2:48)
So how did you get it done Stoney? What was the key to it do you think?

**Mark Stone** (2:52)
I just think it's been able to play, as the saying goes, for four quarters. When you play good teams, they'll challenge you for the whole game. And if you can fight for a period and compete for a period but then fall away, you won't beat them. And interestingly Duff, in my time there, we've talked about some of the barriers against some of the teams. For example, we'd spoken about how East From Antle until last year had beaten us in the last eight times. We've played them, and there's records like that against Subiaco and a lot of the teams. And this week I just said, right-o boys, I don't want to go down that path. I want to talk about a new version of us, because three quarters of our team don't know anything about the history with us in Claremont and the record that stands in the most recent years. So let's talk about what a new version of us can do and what we can produce. And I referred back to some of the things we used to do at Brisbane, where we played Geelong, we used to talk about having to beat them twice.
And it's a strange phrase, I know, but that's the reality when you play a team like Claremont or South From Ant, or those better teams, East Perth, you have to beat them twice, because you know that if you put your nose in front, or you get a lead on them, you know they're going to come back, and you have to do it again. So I think from our point of view, that was the first time for a while we've been able to, in that lingo, beat a team twice.