Optus WAFL Round 7 WrapMonday, May 27, 2019 - 2:10 AM - by Chris Pike

SOUTH Fremantle and West Perth both won on Saturday in Round 7 of the WAFL thanks to kicking the last goal of the game to take the lead while Subiaco bounced back, East Fremantle made it consecutive wins and Swan Districts returned to the winner's list.

It was a full day of fascinating WAFL action on Saturday afternoon in Round 7 of the 2019 Optus Premiership Season.

South Fremantle was coming off the high of beating Subiaco but it took until the last kick of the game to big man Zac Strom for them to get on top of East Perth, with the Bulldogs winning 15.13 (103) to 16.6 (102) at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

Subiaco was coming off its first defeat since the 2017 Grand Final and the Lions did enough to get the job done at Claremont Oval, beating Claremont 11.10 (76) to 8.4 (52).

East Fremantle was fresh off its first victory in almost 12 months and the Sharks made it two in-a-row by handing Perth its second straight loss in the process, winning 12.8 (80) to 9.8 (62) at East Fremantle's New Choice Homes Park.

Swan Districts was desperate to bounce back from that loss the previous week to East Fremantle and the Black Ducks got their wish, ending up with a 10.10 (70) to 7.14 (56) triumph over the West Coast Eagles at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval.

The round then concluded with another thriller at Joondalup's HBF Arena with West Perth winning on the back of the last two goals of the game from Andrew Strijk and Mitch Peirce to beat Peel Thunder 12.6 (78) to 11.7 (73).

ROUND 7 OPTUS WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON

SOUTH FREMANTLE 15.13 (103) defeated EAST PERTH 16.6 (102)

South Fremantle and East Perth both came into Saturday's clash at Fremantle Community Bank Oval in winning form and they went on to deliver a classic WAFL contest.

It always seemed destined that it would go down to the wire. Despite East Perth leading by 25 points late in the opening term, by half-time South Fremantle was back within a point.

The Bulldogs then looked capable of pulling away on a couple of occasions during the second half, including leading by as much as 17 points during the third term, but every time the Royals were showing encouraging fight and getting themselves within striking distance once more.

The Royals then kicked the first two goals of the last quarter to take the lead before Kade Stewart responded to put South Fremantle back up by five points. 

The Royals responded once more to get close thanks to Sharrod Wellingham. It took more than 10 minutes and not until the clock had move into time-on, but East Perth continued to press and eventually it was Wellingham tapping a goal in after an air shot from Shaquille McKenzie that put the visitors in front.

The ball was then anchored in South Fremantle's forward-line and eventually a scrambled kick found Zac Strom who was able to take a strong mark. He went back from about 30m and slotted the goal to put South Fremantle in front by a point.

The siren then sounded just after the ball was bounced back in the middle and South Fremantle came away with the stunning 15.13 (103) to 16.6 (102) win.

The win is a fifth straight for South Fremantle who improve to a 6-1 record on the season while the Royals are now 2-5 despite the improved form.

Mason Shaw continued his imposing form up forward for South Fremantle kicking another five goals from 14 possessions and six marks. He's now kicked 17 goals in the past four games.

Kade Stewart has been spending his time predominantly forward in recent weeks and kicked two goals for the Bulldogs to go with 14 touches, seven tackles and six marks while Andrew Haydon also kicked two goals.

Not only did Zac Strom kick the winning goal but he had two majors for the day to go with 15 possessions, seven hit outs and five marks.

Haiden Schloithe was superb for the Bulldogs with 30 possessions and six inside-50 entries while Jacob Dragovich racked up another 28 disposals, Jake Florenca 24, Shaun Bewick 23, Dylan Main 19, Nick Suban 17, Brandon Donaldson 17 and Haydon 17.

Ruckman Brock Higgins delivered another standout performance made up of 19 touches, 33 hit outs, four tackles, three marks and three inside-50 entries.

Sharrod Wellingham kicked three goals for East Perth as did Jayden Magro with Asher Samelko and Joel Houghton also booting two majors apiece.

Fresh off being the Round 6 Player of the Week, Rohan Kerr continued his fine form for East Perth with another 28 possessions and 11 marks.

Patrick McGinnity also gathered 27 disposals for the Royals, Jaxon Cahill 24, Shaquille McKenzie 22, Tom Gorter 21, Matthew Johnson 19, Angus Scott 19 and Jackson Ramsay 18.
 

CLAREMONT 8.4 (52) lost to SUBIACO 11.10 (76)

Subiaco was in unfamiliar territory having to bounce back from a rare defeat but the Lions managed to get the job done but they didn’t have it all their own way against Claremont at Claremont Oval.

Subiaco lost its first match since the 2017 Grand Final last Saturday at the hands of South Fremantle ending their run of winning 25 straight matches. So it was a new feeling for those regulars in the Lions team to deal with coming into a game following a loss.

That also opened the door for Claremont to end its eight-game losing run against Subiaco, but it wasn’t to be.

It was a tight opening with Subiaco only leading by a point at quarter-time but the Lions then kept the Tigers scoreless in the second term and kicked 4.6 themselves to hold a commanding 31-point advantage at half-time.

Claremont kept fighting throughout the second half and did even narrowly outscore Subiaco kicking six goals to five, but the Lions were neve seriously threatened going on to win 11.10 (76) to 8.4 (52).

The win improves Subiaco to a 6-1 record on the season to remain on top of the ladder while Claremont now slips to 4-3.

Ryan Borchet continued to provide Subiaco with a target in attack kicking three goals while Ben Sokol had an off kicking day in front of the sticks booting 1.4 from his opportunities. Rhys Waters took his chances with two goals from four kicks.

Captain Leigh Kitchin racked up 28 possessions for Subiaco with Rowen Powell gathering 24 disposals, Kyal Horsley 24, Hayden Kennedy 20, Ben Newton 19 and Harry Marsh 17 while Craig Hoskins did a tremendous tagging job holding dual Sandover Medallist Jye Bolton to eight touches.

Jack Bradshaw returned to add some bite to Claremont's forward-line still missing Tom Lee, Ian Richardson, Alex Manuel and Alec Waterman. Bradshaw kicked three goals from seven kicks and six marks while Anthony Treacy and CJ Oakley booted two goals apiece.

Kane Mitchell racked up 32 disposals for the Tigers while Ryan Lim amassed 24 touches, Lachlan Martinis 22, Tom Ledger 21, Declan Mountford 20, Bailey Rogers 20 and Anton Hamp 16 to go with eight marks.
 

EAST FREMANTLE 12.8 (80) defeated PERTH 9.8 (62)

East Fremantle and Perth have had total opposite seasons to date in 2019 but it was the Sharks who pulled off the surprise result on Saturday winning by 18 points to make it consecutive wins in 2019.

The Sharks had lost their opening five games of the season while the Demons had won their first five before East Fremantle got on the board in Round 6 beating Swan Districts while Perth lost for the first time at the hands of West Perth.

But East Fremantle came into Saturday's clash having won its last 12 games at New Choice Homes Park against Perth with the Demons having not run at the East Fremantle venue since Round 7, 2009.

That run continued on Saturday with East Fremantle in control virtually all day, starting with kicking four goals to two in the opening quarter to lead by 10 points at quarter-time.

The Sharks added another four goals to one in the second term to hold a commanding 28-point advantage by half-time.

While Perth did outscore East Fremantle in the second half with six goals to four, the Demons could never quite get close enough to seriously threaten with the Sharks coming away with the 12.8 (80) to 9.8 (62) victory.

The Sharks now improve to 2-5 on the season having won 13 straight home matches against Perth while the Demons are 5-2 with their two defeats coming against sides that just three weeks ago were winless.

Tom Monaghan was lively up forward for East Fremantle kicking three goals while big men Cameron Loersch and Luke Strnadica kicked two goals apiece.

Cameron Eardley was a dominant presence in the midfield for the Sharks racking up 37 possessions while Nick Kommer continued to show his value and importance with 30 disposals.

Blaine Boekhorst also had 23 touches for East Fremantle, Morgan Davies 22, Ambrose Ryan 18, Jarrad Jansen 18 and Kyle Baskerville 18.

Zareth Roe came into the team for Perth in the absence of Cody Ninyette and proved dangerous up forward kicking four goals from nine kicks. Michael Bennell kicked two goals but again struggled to only have three kicks for the afternoon.

Perth had some impressive ball winners on the afternoon with Matthew Taylor gathering 28 possessions, Cody Leggett 28, Michael Sinclair 27, Clint Jones 26, Jacob Payne 24, Corey Byrne 21 and Brant Colledge 21.
 

SWAN DISTRICTS 10.10 (70) defeated WEST COAST EAGLES 7.14 (56)

Swan Districts returned to Steel Blue Oval on Saturday looking to make up for its most disappointing performance of the season and the Black Ducks did do impressively with a 14-point win over the West Coast Eagles.

Swans and the Eagles met for the first ever time in the WAFL at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval on Saturday with the Black Ducks looking to bounce back from the previous week's loss to East Fremantle also on home soil.

While Swans had lost four of their five games prior to that this season, even in losses to South Fremantle, Perth, West Perth and Subiaco there had been plenty of positive signs that the black-and-whites weren’t too far away.

In fact, they had chances to win each of those games but it wasn’t the case against East Fremantle so the pressure was on to bounce back against an Eagles team who had struggled in their past two matches too against South Fremantle and East Perth, losing by a combined 93 points.

It was all Swan Districts for the majority of the game on Saturday, though, with the home team kicking the only three goals of the first quarter with West Coast managing just the five behinds.

Both teams kicked two goals apiece in the second term which means Swans were still in control by half-time leading the Eagles by 14 points.

It was again three goals apiece in the third stanza with Swan Districts heading into the three quarter-time break with an 18-point advantage.

Both sides booted two goals each in the last quarter and that meant Swan Districts went on to score the 10.10 (70) to 7.14 (56) victory.

The win improves Swans to a 2-5 record on the season after seven rounds heading into Saturday's clash with Perth at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park. It will be the first team Swan Districts has played twice this season.

The Eagles now slip to a 2-5 record on the season having lost three matches on the trot.

Matt Riggio delivered an outstanding performance for Swan Districts finishing the afternoon with 26 possessions, 11 tackles and two goals.

Corey Gault also kicked two goals for Swans to go with 15 disposals and 17 hit outs.

George Hampson compiled another 27 possessions for Swan Districts while Jesse Turner gathered 22 disposals, Josh Cipro 20, Steven Payne 16, Tony Notte 16 and Warrick Wilson 15.

Jarrod Cameron could have pushed his chances further for an AFL debut for West Coast by kicking four goals from seven kicks and four marks with Nick Reid also booting two goals for the Eagles.

Josh Smith amassed 28 possessions for West Coast, Brady Grey 27, Andrew Fisher 22, Xavier O'Neill 21, Josh Rotham 21, Brendon Ah Chee 19 and Kurt Mutimer 18.
 

WEST PERTH 12.6 (78) defeated PEEL THUNDER 11.7 (73)

For the second time already this season West Perth and Peel Thunder played out a thriller decided by under a goal, and this time it was the Falcons coming away with the five-point victory.

West Perth and Peel did battle back in Round 1 at Mandurah's David Grays Arena and after the Thunder dominated most of the game, it was a frantic Falcons fight back before the home side held on to win by three points.

They did it all again on Saturday albeit 100km apart at Joondalup's HBF Arena and it was another game that ended up being decided by under a goal.

Peel got off to a good start kicking three goals to one in the first quarter and then the Thunder pulled away further with another four goals to two in the second term to take a healthy 21-point advantage into half-time.

But just like they did back in Round 1, West Perth hit back hard after half-time and the Falcons kicked seven goals to one in the third quarter which saw them go from 21 points down at the main break to heading into three quarter-time with a 16-point lead.

It was Peel's turn to fire back then and by the time Gerald Ugle kicked truly at the 18-minute mark.

That gave the Thunder a seven-point lead and after the former dual premiership captain had a difficult week after unfortunate scenes the week before at Claremont Oval, it would have made a tremendous story had that been the winning goal it would have been a terrific story.

But West Perth wasn’t going to lie down and in the end the Falcons kicked the last two goals of the game courtesy of Andrew Strijk and Mitch Peirce to snatch the nail-biting 12.6 (78) to 11.7 (73) victory.

The win means the Falcons have won three straight matches after losing the opening five while Peel is now 3-4 after seven rounds.

Andrew Strijk was terrific again for West Perth deep in attack kicking three goals from 15 possessions and eight marks while Tyler Keitel found some form with two goals from 19 disposals and nine marks.

Keegan Knott was good at ground level too kicking two goals for the Falcons while Trent Manzone got forward on occasions to kick two goals to go with 26 possessions from the midfield.

On top of kicking the winning goal, Mitch Peirce had 36 possessions and 12 marks for West Perth with Shane Nelson gathering another 33 touches, Aaron Black 30, Blake Wilhelm 30, Corey Chalmers 29, Aidan Lynch 22 and Dean Munns 18.

Blair Bell continued his good form for Peel kicking three goals while Lachie Shultz and Lloyd Meek kicked two goals apiece.

All eyes were on Fremantle's Harley Bennell making his first appearance of the season after continued calf trouble and he was superb for the Thunder with 30 possessions, five marks and two goals.

Stefan Giro also had a standout performance for Peel racking up 32 possessions to go with eight tackles and seven inside-50 entries.

Mitch Crowden finished with 29 disposals for the Thunder, Travis Colyer 25, Schultz 23, Jackson Merrett 21, Tobe Watson 21, Keegan Power 20, Tom North 19 and Ben Hancock 18.