Latest News
Round 21 – East Perth v Swan Districts Match ReportMonday, August 14, 2017 - 8:28 AM - by Chris Pike
EAST Perth's ominous form heading towards the WAFL finals continued Saturday with the Royals beating Swan Districts by 54 points at Leederville Oval.
Plenty went on the line at Leederville Oval between the fifth placed East Perth and fourth placed Swan Districts on Saturday.
The Royals were looking for a third straight victory to not only remain in fifth spot but to maintain hopes of finishing higher up on the ladder come finals time.
Swans needed to win to guarantee they would play finals in 2017 and to also maintain hope of finishing in third position to earn a finals double chance.
But East Perth soon asserted its authority and continued its outstanding recent form to kick the only five goals of the first quarter. By three quarter-time, the Royals were 72 points in front before going on to record the 17.8 (110) to 8.8 (56) victory.
It's a third straight win for East Perth who improves to a 9-9 record and while the Royals remain in fifth position, they are percentage ahead of the sixth placed West Perth and just a game out of fourth position a game behind Swan Districts but with a superior percentage.
East Perth has won its last three games against Claremont, West Perth and Swan Districts by an average of 47.3 points having averaged a score of 107.7 points themselves and conceding just 60.3. That compares to 83.1 points for and 77.6 points against on the season as a whole.
Swan Districts remains in fourth position despite the loss with a 10-8 record but with a percentage less than East Perth's and only just better than West Perth's, Swans do need to win one of their last two games against Claremont and East Fremantle to ensure a finals position.
Winning both would mean Swan Districts stays at least fourth and could potentially third. With either of those finishing positions guaranteeing the black-and-whites a home final at Steel Blue Oval.
The key to East Perth's impressive performance was once again the number of strong contributors the Royals had all over the field, and that was despite losing ruckman Scott Jones to an ankle injury.
Young West Coast small forward Willie Rioli stepped up to kick four goals from eight kicks while Jake Waterman, Julian Ameduri and Patrick McGinnity all kicked two goals apiece.
Emerging midfielder Stan Wright was outstanding with 35 possessions, eight inside 50s, five marks and five tackles.
Chris Masten racked up another 31 disposals for East Perth, Tom Lamb 24, Jordan Snadden 24, Shayne Hille 23, McGinnity 23, Ameduri 22, Tom Cole 20 and Francis Watson 19.
Nathan Blee continued his run of career-best form just before and after his 100th game with the Royals amassing another 32 possessions, nine marks, five inside-50 entries, four tackles and a goal.
Swan Districts' cause wasn’t helped with the continued absence of Matt Riggio, David Ellard and Xavier Ellis with Ricky Cary also joining them out of the team against the Royals.
Adam Faulkner still worked tirelessly in the midfield for Swans with another 26 possessions while Corey Gault was tremendous in the ruck with 27 disposals, seven marks, 22 hit outs and a goal up against West Coast pair Jonathan Giles and Fraser McInnes.
Kirk Ugle continued his strong form as a small defender and had another 16 possessions and a goal for Swans with Alex Howard having another good performance in particular down back.
Ryan Crowley finished with 27 possessions for the black-and-whites, Jesse Turner 24, Jarrad Blight 20, Warrick Wilson 20, Freddie Clutterbuck 19 and Jamie Bennell 19.
Todd Banfield worked hard to kick two goals from 15 possessions and four tackles for Swan Districts.
East Perth came into the game in impressive form following wins against West Perth and Claremont to move into the top five, and the Royals dominated the first term to set up the win against Swan Districts on Saturday at Leederville Oval.
It took 10 minutes for the first goal courtesy of Shayne Hill before Fraser McInnes, Scott Jones, Julian Ameduri and Patrick McGinnity all kicked truly in opening quarter as the Royals took a 30-point advantage into quarter-time.
East Perth then made it the opening eight goals of the game when Nathan Blee, Callum Hart and Jake Waterman all kicked truly to start the second quarter to see the Royals lead grow to 49 points.
Swan Districts eventually stopped the run and kicked a goal through Tony Notte 16 minutes into the second term. But immediately East Perth responded thanks to Waterman.
But a couple of late first half goals for Swans to Kirk Ugle and Ryan Crowley at least gave them a glimmer of hope cutting East Perth's half-time advantage to 34 points.
Any hopes Swan Districts had of getting right back into the game to start the second half were shattered with two early East Perth goals from Willie Rioli and Ameduri.
The Royals then kicked away further with McGinnity's second goal before Swans did get a steadier thanks to Brayden Noble.
It didn’t stop the Royals momentum, though, with Maginness kicking another and then Rioli two more before three quarter-time that saw them lead by 72 points.
To Swans' credit they did finish the game strongly with four goals to one in the last quarter but all that managed to do was bring the final margin to 54 points by the siren.
East Perth can now further close in on rising from fifth position with a win against Perth at Lathlain Park this Saturday.
Swan Districts faces a must-win battle with Claremont this Saturday at Steel Blue Oval to guarantee their place in the WAFL top five. A loss and the Swans will be in real danger of missing out on playing finals in 2017 and sitting in sixth position come Saturday night.
EAST PERTH 5.1 9.2 16.5 17.8 (110)
SWAN DISTRICTS 0.1 3.4 4.5 8.8 (56)
EAST PERTH – Goals: Rioli 4; Waterman, Ameduri, McGinnity 2; Lamb, Jones, McInnes, Hart, Blee, Maginness, Hille.
Best: Wright, Blee, McGinnity, Rioli, Lamb, Ameduri, Masten, Snadden.
SWAN DISTRICTS – Goals: Banfield 2; Bennell, Ugle, Gault, Crowley, Notte, Noble.
Best: Gault, Crowley, Ugle, Faulkner, Banfield, Turner, Wilson, Blight.
Join Our Newsletter
Subscribe Now!
Join our WA Footy family to receive all the latest news and results.