Optus WAFL Round 3 WrapMonday, April 22, 2019 - 12:17 PM - by Chris Pike

EASTER Round in the WAFL was spread across three days and saw some terrific action with Subiaco and Peel Thunder scoring Good Friday victories, Claremont continuing its impressive form, Perth holding out Swan Districts and then South Fremantle proving too good for West Perth.

Easter Round in the WAFL began with two matches on Good Friday and it started with Subiaco playing the West Coast Eagles for the first ever time. The reigning premier Lions had to fight hard but won a 22nd straight match with the eventual 8.12 (60) to 6.9 (45) victory.

The other Good Friday clash is the now annual fixture between Peel and East Fremantle at Mandurah's David Grays Arena. The Thunder ended up coming from behind to beat the Sharks 12.13 (85) to 11.7 (73).

There were then two more matches on Saturday afternoon with Claremont improving to 3-0 on the season beating East Perth 11.9 (75) to 5.5 (35) at Leederville Oval.

Perth also improved to a 3-0 on the season and kept Swan Districts winless at Steel Blue Oval winning 11.8 (74) to 8.17 (65).

The round concluded on Easter Sunday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with South Fremantle making it 10 of the last 11 against West Perth, prevailing 11.12 (78) to 10.2 (62).

SUBIACO 8.12 (60) defeated WEST COAST EAGLES 6.9 (45)

Despite holding West Coast to one goal in the first half, Subiaco could never quite shake the Eagles in the Good Friday clash at Leederville Oval before eventually keeping their winning run going with a 15-point victory.

Challenging conditions greeted their teams as Subiaco continued its tradition of hosting a Good Friday fixture, this time against the Eagles rather than their Leederville Oval co-tenants East Perth.

Subiaco would kick the only two goals of the first quarter, both courtesy of Rhys Waters, before the Eagles got their first goal early in the second term thanks to Jarrod Cameron.

That would be West Coast's only goal of the first half though. The Eagles finished the first with 1.8 while Subiaco added two more second quarter goals through Jack Beverley and Braden Fimmano to go into half-time leading comfortably by 16 points.

The Eagles got up and going in the third quarter and ended up kicking four goals to one and that meant scores were all tied up by three quarter-time.

West Coast then went in front to start the last quarter with a goal to Luke Foley, ironically drafted from the Lions. But Subiaco responded with the last three goals of the game to win 8.12 (60) to 6.9 (45) and to make it 22 straight wins.

Rhys Waters kicked three goals for Subiaco and Ryan Borchet two to go with 12 kicks and 11 marks in difficult conditions.

Ex-skipper Kyal Horsley continued his brilliant start to the season for Subiaco with 29 possessions, five marks and five tackles with Josh Deluca adding 25 disposals, Leigh Kitchin 24, Angus Litherland 23, Lachlan Delahunty 21 and Rowen Powell 20.

Jarrod Brander put his hand up for an Eagles AFL recall with two goals to go with 23 possessions and six marks.

Kurt Mutimer finished up with 23 possessions for West Coast, Brendon Ah Chee 22, Andrew Fisher 22, Matthew Allen 21, Jackson Nelson 20 and Brayden Ainsworth 20.

Keegan Brooksby was tremendous in the ruck finishing with 21 touches, 42 hit outs and six tackles.

 

PEEL THUNDER 12.13 (85) defeated EAST FREMANTLE 11.7 (73)

Peel and East Fremantle have now cemented their annual Good Friday clash as a traditional fixture and the Sharks went ever so close to breaking their losing run but the Thunder finished the better to win by 12 points at David Grays Arena.

Peel and East Fremantle now meet in Mandurah on Good Friday on an annual basis and with the wet and windy conditions in tow, it was always going to make for a fascinating afternoon.

The Thunder did kick the opening goal of the game thanks to former captain Gerald Ugle and they remained on top when Blair Bell kicked his first goal.

But East Fremantle then took over with the next five goals of the first quarter to lead by 18 points at quarter-time.

Peel clawed its way back to within four points just before half-time but East Fremantle was 11 points up at the long break with a late goal to Jarrad Jansen.

Corey Holmes goaled for the Sharks to start the second half too to put them 17 points up but the Thunder hit back and when Bell kicked another before three quarter-time, the margin was just three points at the last change.

The teams then exchanged the lead through the opening 24 minutes of the last term until the Thunder kicked the last two goals through Bell and Bailey Banfield to come away with the 12.13 (85) to 11.7 (73) victory.

Blair Bell ended up kicking five goals for Peel with Jackson Merrett and Bailey Banfield adding two apiece.

Banfield had a tremendous all-round game for the Thunder to put his hand up for a Dockers AFL call up. On top of his two goals he had 31 possessions, nine inside 50s and eight tackles.

Brett Bewley also picked up 29 disposals for Peel, Lachie Schultz 27, Tom North 27, Tobe Watson 24, Stefan Giro 22 and Merrett 20.

Sean Darcy had 51 hit outs in the ruck to go with 12 touches, four marks and three tackles.

Jayden Schofield, Jarrad Jansen and Corey Holmes all kicked two goals each for East Fremantle.

On top of kicking his two goals, Schofield collected 27 possessions to go with six marks and four tackles.

Cameron Eardley collected 29 disposals for the Sharks, Blaine Boekhorst 25, Milan Murdock 24, Kody Manning 23, Alex Bray 22, Jansen 20, Morgan Davies 19 and Matthew Jupp 19 to go with six marks and six tackles.

 

EAST PERTH 5.5 (35) lost to CLAREMONT 11.9 (75)

Claremont continued its impressive and dominant start to the season with a 40-point victory over East Perth at Leederville Oval on Saturday.

The Tigers had started the season impressively beating East Fremantle by 78 points and then West Perth by 56 points so they had plenty of momentum coming into Saturday's clash with the Royals.

However, East Perth was also coming off a win against Swan Districts the previous Saturday so t hey were looking to back that up again on home soil.

Claremont continued its momentum from the first two weeks of the season to start strongly and kick four goals to one from East Perth in the opening quarter.

East Perth then managed just the one behind in the second term while Claremont added another goal to head into half-time leading by 28 points.

The Tigers roared further ahead in the third quarter with another four goals to one before the Royals kicked three of their four goals for the game in the last term. But Claremont still cruised to the 11.9 (75) to 5.5 (35) win to remain unbeaten on the season.

Ian Richardson and Alec Waterman kicked three goals each for Claremont with Jack Bradshaw booting two.

Declan Mountford was terrific for the Tigers finishing with 30 possessions, seven marks and a goal.

Ryan Murphy also gathered 30 disposals, Jye Bolton 29, Bailey Rogers 28, Kane Mitchell 26, Lachlan Martinis 24, Ryan Lim 18 and Jack Beeck 18.

Jackson Ramsay continued his strong form for East Perth coming off a knee reconstruction with 29 possessions while Patrick McGinnity picked up 28 touches, Nathan Blee 28, Shaquille McKenzie 27, Rohan Kerr 26, Angus Scott 26, Jaxon Cahill 24 and Will Maginness 22.

 

SWAN DISTRICTS 8.17 (65) lost to PERTH 11.8 (74)

Perth started on fire and then held off Swan Districts late to win by nine points at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday to make it three straight wins to start the 2019 season.

Having not made the finals for 22 years, excitement was building at Perth after the opening two wins to start the season against West Coast and South Fremantle as they headed to Steel Blue Oval to take on a Swan Districts team fresh off narrow defeats to South Fremantle and East Perth.

Perth came out on fire taking less than two minutes for Cody Ninyette to kick the first goal of the game. Added another seven minutes later in his first league appearance of the season before he added a third nearing time-on of the first term.

Shaun Smith and Michael Bennell then kicked goals also for Perth before quarter-time and the Demons were 30 points to the good at the first change.

Perth's lead then continued to balloon to start the second quarter with goals to Lachlan Dennis and former Swan Matthew Rogers. The demons were up by as much as 40 points before Swans finally got their first goal of the game at the 18-minute mark thanks to Josh Cipro.

Cipro added another before half-time to keep the Black Ducks in touch to a degree, with the Demons still leading by 26 points.

Perth restored its 31-point lead to start the third quarter thanks to a goal to Kristian Cary, but Swan Districts was turning around momentum in general play and was looking more dangerous.

Swans just couldn’t convert in front of goal but third quarter goals to Warrick Wilson and Leigh Kohlmann saw the home side only behind 16 points at three quarter-time despite having 18 scoring shots to just 14 from the Demons.

Swans were peppering the goals to start the final term but could only manage three behinds until Kohlmann marked and converted his second goal of the day and suddenly it was a seven-point ball game.

Rogers stepped up to goal for Perth in response to put the Demons back up by 14, but Swans weren’t going away. Kohlmann booted his third and then Cipro did the same and all of a sudden at the 16-minute mark, the Black Ducks were within three points.

Swans had all the momentum which continued when Corey Gault kicked truly at the 23-minute mark to give them the lead.

But Perth would have the final say with the last two goals of the contest from Brent Edmonds and Sam Garstone to secure the nine-point victory.

That keeps the Demons unbeaten after three games this season and Swans winless following the opening three rounds.

Cody Ninyette kicked all three of his goals for Perth in the opening quarter but he did finish the game with 16 possessions, seven marks and four tackles. Matthew Rogers kicked two goals against his old side.

Clint Jones played most of the game on the wing for Perth and racked up 32 possessions while captain Corey Yeo collected 27 disposals, Brant Colledge 26, Corey Byrne 24, Matthew Taylor 24, Michael Sinclair 23 and Cody Leggett 19 to go with 12 tackles.

Christian Eyres battled hard against both Corey Gault and Nathan Blakely in the ruck ending up with 18 touches, 28 hit outs and four tackles.

Leigh Kohlmann was impressive up forward for Swan Districts kicking three goals from 15 disposals and seven marks. Josh Cipro also kicked three goals to go with 21 possessions.

George Hampson fought valiantly in the midfield for Swan Districts and ended up with 27 possessions and seven marks while Jesse Turner racked up 26 disposals to go with nine inside-50 entries and six tackles.

Steven Payne finished with 20 possessions, Matt Riggio 20, David Ellard 19 and Ethan Maguire 17.

Swans back-line held up strongly again led by the job Tony Stephens did holding Michael Bennell to just four kicks, one goal and a mighty spectacular mark. Alex Howard was strong too and had 21 possessions and seven marks.

 

SOUTH FREMANTLE 11.12 (78) defeated WEST PERTH 10.2 (62)

South Fremantle made it 10 wins from the last 11 against West Perth controlling most of its Easter Sunday contest at Fremantle Community Bank Oval to win by 16 points.

The Bulldogs have had the wood over the Falcons in recent years including a run of nine straight matches heading into the preliminary final last year.

South Fremantle had won just two weeks earlier by 98 points in the qualifying final, but West Perth turned the tide to win in stunning fashion and book a berth in the Grand Final against Subiaco.

But the Bulldogs returned to their recent good run against the Falcons on Sunday dominating especially through the second and third quarters on the way to the eventual 11.12 (78) to 10.2 (62).

The win improves South Fremantle to a 2-1 record on the season while West Perth remains winless  under new coach Geoff Valentine.

West Perth took less than two minutes to kick the first goal of the game thanks to Trent Manzone before South Fremantle responded through second-game excitement machine from the Tiwi Island, Dion Munkara.

Corey Chalmers and Tyler Keitel combined to give the Falcons a two-goal lead before the Bulldogs responded with consecutive goals to Kade Stewart before Munkara booted a second to put South Fremantle on top.

Keitel's second goal for West Perth saw scores level at quarter-time but the Bulldogs then dominated the second quarter with the only four goals courtesy of Dylan Main, Munkara, Haiden Schloithe and then a beauty from Shaun Bewick.

South Fremantle's running game off half-back was taking full effect and best illustrated with the terrific ball movement that led to Schloithe delivering a perfect pass to Bewick who finished on the run in style against his former side.

That saw the Bulldogs lead by 25 points at half-time before both teams kicked three goals apiece in the third term with South Fremantle still in front by 27 points at three quarter-time.

The Bulldogs peppered the goals in the last quarter but could only manage seven behinds. There was a brief flutter of a Falcons fightback when they kicked three goals but South Fremantle still won comfortably 11.12 (78) to 10.2 (62).

Dion Munkara kicked three goals in just his second game of WAFL football for South Fremantle with Haiden Schloithe, Kade Stewart and Dylan Main all kicked two goals as well.

South Fremantle's midfielders had big afternoons benefitting from the work of ruckman Brock Higgins who finished with 19 possessions, 53 hit outs and four marks.

Jake Florenca racked up 29 disposals for the Bulldogs, Schloithe 27, Jacob Dragovich 26 (13 tackles), Brendan Verrier 24, Main 23, Stewart 21, Steve Verrier 20 (nine tackles), Chad Pearson 20 and Andrew Haydon 20.

Tyler Keitel kicked four goals for West Perth in his first game of the season after a two-game suspension but his return coincided with fellow Bernie Naylor Medallist going out of the side through injury.

Corey Chalmers and Keegan Knott kicked two goals each for West Perth as well.

Captain Aaron Black finished with 27 possessions for the Falcons, Shane Nelson 26, Mitch Peirce 23, Manzone 20, Blake Wilhelm 18 and Laine Rasmussen 18.