THE second round of WAFL pre-season fixtures took place on Saturday with South Fremantle, Peel Thunder, Perth and West Perth coming away with victories just two weeks out from Round 1 of the 2018 season.
The opening round of the official pre-season fixtures took place the previous Saturday with wins for Subiaco against West Perth, East Perth over East Fremantle, Peel Thunder against Claremont and South Fremantle over Swan Districts.
Then on Saturday, there were four more matches with South Fremantle beating East Perth 15.7 (97) to 6.3 (39), Peel Thunder defeating Subiaco 14.8 (92) to 6.7 (43), Perth downing Claremont 10.2 (62) to 7.11 (53) and West Perth prevailing over East Fremantle 14.12 (96) to 6.8 (44).
South Fremantle has the bye in Round 1 of the 2018 home and away season, but the preliminary finalists from the past two years have started in good pre-season form with a second straight win on Saturday.
Coming off a two-point win against Swan Districts, the Bulldogs beat East Perth by 58 points at Lathlain Park on Saturday. It was a South Fremantle team close to full strength with the Royals not fielding too similar a side than the one they will in Round 1 especially in terms of AFL-listed players.
South Fremantle started the game strongly against East Perth with five goals to three in the first quarter and still held a 21-point advantage by half-time.
Three more goals to one in the third term and then five to one in the last saw the Bulldogs claim the 58-point victory against the Royals.
It was then a grand final rematch at Bendigo Bank Stadium with the premiers of the past two WAFL seasons, Peel Thunder, coming away with the win against Subiaco to the tune of 49 points.
Subiaco started strongly kicking three goals to two in the first quarter but then the Thunder took over in the second term with four goals to nil to lead by 18 points at half-time.
The Thunder booted another four goals to two in the third quarter and then four to one in the fourth to end up winning by 49 points.
Then at Claremont Oval, Perth made its first appearance of the pre-season following the Round 1 bye and came away with the nine-point win against a Tigers team who did also lose to Peel in the opening pre-season contest.
Claremont did start strongly with two goals to one in the first quarter before the Demons closed the gap to a solitary point by the main break.
Claremont again kicked away in the third quarter with two goals to one to lead by 13 points at three quarter-time. But Perth kicked five goals to one in the last term to run over the top of the Tigers and end up winning by nine points.
West Perth celebrated its first official game with use of the club's new facilities at HBF Arena on Saturday and put on an impressive performance on the field too with the Falcons ending up beating East Fremantle by 52 points.
West Perth started on fire kicking seven goals to one in the first quarter to set up the win.
The Sharks did kick the only three goals of the second quarter, but then West Perth took advantage of the breeze with the only four goals of the third term, and then also kicked three goals to two in the last quarter to come away winning by 52 points.
The last weekend of WAFL pre-season action takes place this weekend starting on Friday night at Leederville Oval with Subiaco playing East Fremantle.
Then on Saturday, Peel Thunder plays East Perth at Bendigo Bank Stadium, Swan Districts takes on Claremont at Steel Blue Oval and Perth faces South Fremantle at Lathlain Park.
WAFL PRE-SEASON RESULTS – ROUND 2
LEAGUE
East Perth 6.3 (39) lost to South Fremantle 15.7 (97)
Peel Thunder 14.8 (92) defeated Subiaco 6.7 (43)
Claremont 7.11 (53) lost to Perth 10.2 (62)
West Perth 14.12 (96) defeated East Fremantle 6.8 (44)
RESERVES
East Perth 7.2 (44) lost to South Fremantle 8.12 (60)
Peel Thunder 5.15 (45) lost to Subiaco 9.9 (63)
Claremont 8.3 (51) lost to Perth 13.10 (88)
West Perth 8.8 (56) lost to East Fremantle 18.8 (116)
COLTS
East Perth 8.8 (56) lost to South Fremantle 8.9 (57)
Peel Thunder 13.10 (88) defeated Subiaco 8.6 (54)
Claremont 10.9 (69) defeated Perth 10.7 (67)
West Perth 8.11 (59) defeated East Fremantle 8.10 (58)