Optus WAFL Round 3 WrapMonday, August 3, 2020 - 3:15 AM - by Chris Pike

THINGS are starting to take shape just three rounds into the 2020 Optus WAFL Premiership Season and all of a sudden wins on Saturday for South Fremantle and Subiaco sets the stage for a tantalising Grand Final rematch.

Round 3 in the WAFL got underway on Saturday afternoon with the early starting game between Swan Districts and Subiaco at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval.

In the end it was the Lions winning a 11th straight match against Swans to open their account for 2020 with the 11.13 (79) to 6.4 (40) victory.

Then it was East Perth's turn to win its first match of the 2020 season coinciding with the Royals' first home appearance at Leederville Oval. They proved too strong for East Fremantle to record the 15.9 (99) to 8.8 (56) win.

Peel Thunder was back at home to West Perth at David Grays Arena chasing their first win of the season, but it wasn’t to be in premiership defender Ben Hancock's 100th game. The Falcons were on fire and went on to cruise to the 20.11 (131) to 5.9 (39) triumph.

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With Perth having the bye after two stirring victories to start the 2020 season as the Demons chase that first finals berth since 1997, the other two remaining undefeated sides locked horns on Saturday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval to close Round 3.

It proved an arm-wrestle all afternoon but it was South Fremantle who prevailed 7.6 (48) to 5.10 (40) to maintain their hold on top spot ahead of next Saturday's Grand Final rematch at Leederville Oval with Subiaco.

The other Round 4 matches see West Perth take on East Perth at Joondalup's Provident Financial Oval in the only Perth Derby of 2020 with East Fremantle hosting Perth and Claremont taking on Peel Thunder.

The winless Swan Districts has the bye.

OPTUS WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 3

SWAN DISTRICTS 6.4 (40) lost to SUBIACO 11.13 (79)

Swan Districts and Subiaco went into Saturday's early starting fixture looking for their first wins of 2020, and in the end it was the Lions opening their account with the 39-point victory.

The win means that Subiaco has now won 11 consecutive matches against Swan Districts with the reigning premiers of the past two years now sitting on a 1-1 record in 2020 while last year's wooden spooners Swans are now 0-3 heading into a bye.

Subiaco took only a minute to get the first goal of the contest thanks to all-time great Kyal Horsley as he nears his 200-game WAFL milestone.

Jiah Reidy got Swan Districts on the board soon after, though, before the Lions ended the opening term with a second goal to Horsley and another from Ben Newton to be on top by 14 points.

Subiaco then dominated the opening 15 minutes of the second quarter but only came away with five behinds to show for it. Eventually Nick Martin did kick accurately and that was enough to give the Lions a 24-point half-time edge.

Reidy kicked his second to open the first half promisingly for Swan Districts but that would be as close as the home team would get. 

Subiaco still went into three quarter-time with a 23-point advantage and then kicked four goals to one in the last term to come away with the 11.13 (79) to 6.4 (40) win.

Remarkably it was the Lions' first WAFL win since their 96-point thumping of South Fremantle in last year's WAFL Grand Final 10 months ago at Optus Stadium.

Reigning Bernie Naylor and Grand Final Simpson Medallist Ben Sokol took his chances for three goals from four kicks for Subiaco while Kyal Horsley and Nick Martin also booted two apiece.

Sandover Medallist Lachlan Delahunty had 24 possessions, eight marks, six tackles and 12 hit outs for Subiaco with Hayden Kennedy collecting 22 disposals, Ben Newton 19, Greg Clark 19, Horsley 19, Leigh Kitchin 17 and Martin 16.

Jiah Reidy kicked two goals for Swan Districts to go with 15 possessions and six marks with Leigh Kohlmann also providing a tall target and kicking two goals.

Victorian recruit Frank Anderson racked up 23 possessions for Swans while Jesse Turner finished with 22 disposals, Aidan Clarke 21, reigning fairest and best winner George Hampson 18 and Sam Fisher 18.

Corey Gault had a fascinating ruck battle with Delahunty and had another 14 possessions and 30 hit outs. Nathan Blakely came in to help him for the first time in 2020 for 16 disposals, four marks and three hit outs.
 

EAST PERTH 15.9 (99) defeated EAST FREMANTLE 8.8 (56)

It was a difficult game to judge coming into it and then at quarter-time we had few more answers, but East Perth then dominated East Fremantle over the final three quarters to end up with a commanding 43-point victory.

East Perth had the bye in Round 1 and then went down to Perth in its opening appearance of the new season while East Fremantle had a horror show in Round 1 against South Fremantle but bounced back impressively last week to beat Peel Thunder.

So the stage was set for a tantalising clash on Saturday at Leederville Oval with the Sharks making a flying start thanks to big man Luke Strnadica who kicked two goals in the opening six minutes.

Jordan Snadden then gave East Fremantle the first three goals of the game but East Perth responded with three of their own through Eddie Simpson, Sebit Kuek and Matthew Young to lead by a point at quarter-time.

Again Strnadica started the second term strongly with his third goal but it was all East Perth from there.

The Royals kicked the last five goals of the first half including a second to Young as the home side turned at half-time 24 points on top.

Nick Robertson then kicked three goals in the third quarter, Young added a third and the Royals continued to pull away with six more goals to three from the Sharks to be 44 points to the good by three quarter-time.

Things shut up in the last term with just a goal apiece but East Perth cruised to an impressive 15.9 (99) to 8.8 (56) win.

Nick Robertson kicked those three goals for East Perth which all came in the third quarter while Matthew Young kicked three majors too from 18 possessions and eight marks.

Ruckman Scott Jones kicked another two goals to go with 11 disposals, five marks, five tackles and 22 hit outs while Eddie Simpson contributed a pair of goals as well.

Angus Scott had a strong first season with East Perth in 2019 and put on a brilliant performance on Saturday with 31 possessions while Rohan Kerr delivered 29 disposals in his 100th WAFL appearance.

Jackson Ramsay also had 28 possessions, Aidan Lynch 28, Shayne Hille 22, Jaxon Cahill 17 and Kye Willcocks 17.

Luke Strnadica kicked three goals for East Fremantle from just four kicks and two marks.

Jordan Snadden continued his brilliant start to the season on return for the Sharks with 27 possessions while Blaine Boekhorst also had 25 disposals, nine marks and seven inside-50 entries.

Cody Leggett racked up 21 touches, Cam Eardley 20, Morgan Davies 20, Tom Bennett 19, Michael Tassone 15 and Milan Murdock 14 to go with seven tackles.
 

PEEL THUNDER 5.9 (39) lost to WEST PERTH 20.11 (131)

Peel Thunder deserved to think they were a chance of a first win for 2020 at home to West Perth on Saturday, but the Falcons would have none of it putting on a blistering opening and then cruising to a 92-point win.

Peel are the great underdogs of the 2020 WAFL season having lost the availability of Fremantle-listed players and then having precious little time to scramble to top up their playing squad where they could put together a group of 22 week after week to be a chance of winning games.

They had shown some good signs over the first two rounds despite losses to Perth and East Fremantle while West Perth started off with a hard fought win against Swan Districts before losing a low-scoring tussle with South Fremantle.

It took only nine minutes of the game for West Perth to already have three goals on the board courtesy of Shane Nelson, Trent Manzone and Luke Meadows. 

Tyler Keitel then added a couple, Manzone booted a second as did Lourey and all of a sudden by quarter-time West Perth had eight majors on the board with Peel managing one behind.

West Perth again held Peel goalless in the second quarter with Thomas Medhat kicking a goal for the Falcons while Lourey kicked a third and Meadows a second as they went into half-time on top by 69 points.

There was no let up by the Falcons as they opened the second half with the opening three goals from Mitch Peirce, Keegan Knott and Keitel before eventually Peel got on the board courtesy of Tyrone Thorne.

Lourey responded with his fourth, though, before Brad Holmes did manage Peel's second just before quarter-time.

Things opened up a bit in the last quarter and West Perth kicked four more goals to three from Peel with the Falcons going on to win 20.11 (131) to 5.9 (39).

After a quiet first two weeks of the season, reigning West Perth fairest and best Tyler Keitel found some form kicking five goals from 16 possessions and five marks with Michael Lourey also booting four majors, Keegan Knott two, Trent Manzone two and Luke Meadows two to go with 27 possessions, six marks, six tackles and four inside 50s.

Shane Nelson racked up another 30 disposals for the Falcons, Aaron Black 28, Connor West 24, Conal Lynch 20, Mitch Peirce 20, Manzone 19, Blake Wilhelm 18, Tyson Moulton 18 and Kris Shannon 17.

Blair Bell kicked two goals for Peel from 19 possessions and six marks with Hayden Ballantyne, Tyrone Thorne and Brad Holmes their other goal scorers.

Jackson Merrett won Peel's fairest and best last year and he might well be leading it again in 2020 after 31 possessions and 11 marks. Michael Randall finished with 19 possessions, Ben Howlett 18 and Ben Hancock 18 in his 100th game for the Thunder.
 

SOUTH FREMANTLE 7.6 (48) defeated CLAREMONT 5.10 (40)

South Fremantle found themselves locked in an arm wrestle for the second straight week but they once again prevailed against Claremont by eight points at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The Bulldogs and Tigers both came into the match having won their opening two matches of the season on the back of having done battle in last year's preliminary final so there was plenty on the line for Saturday's Round 3 encounter.

Clearly opposition teams have decided they can't afford to risk South Fremantle's attacking game getting up and going where when they are able to control the ball across half-back, and then move it quickly forward from the midfield.

So for the second straight week their opponents got numbers behind the ball and closed the game right up which might not have helped the spectacle, but it did create for a hard-fought battle where every score was going to be well deserved.

It was a grind early in the contest with neither team willing to give an inch but eventually it was returning Sandover Medallist and 150-game player Haiden Schloithe that gave South Fremantle the only goal of the first quarter, and a five-point quarter-time edge.

Claremont then made a flying start to the second term. After managing just the four behinds in the first quarter, the Tigers kicked two goals in five minutes to start the second quarter thanks to Anton Hamp and Alex Manuel.

That gave Claremont a seven-point advantage briefly before South Fremantle got back within a point thanks to a responding goal from emerging Bulldogs forward Travis Abbott.

Mason Shaw then added another to give back South Fremantle the lead and the advantage was out to 10 points by half-time as well thanks to a goal from Kyle Russell who made the most of his reprieve in the team as a late replacement for Brandon Donaldson.

Goals certainly didn’t become any easier to come by in the second half as the tough grind continued, bt South Fremantle did move further in front when Kade Stewart earned a free-kick for being held without the ball, and then kicking truly.

Returning captain Dylan Main then also kicked a goal from the square following a 50m penalty to put South Fremantle on top by a game-high 21 points.

Claremont got one back to stay in touch just before three quarter-time through Hamp, and then suddenly it was a 10-point game early in the fourth quarter when Callan England snapped truly from the top of the goal square.

Alec Waterman then converted another chance and the Tigers were within four points and had the momentum, but South Fremantle was able to steady and then kicked the game winning goal thanks to Jake Florenca.

It was a beautiful piece of forward 50 ruck work. Shaw tapped it down to Florenca who snapped truly and that was enough for South Fremantle to secure the 7.6 (48) to 5.10 (40) victory.

South Fremantle didn’t have a multiple goal kicker on the day with Haiden Schloithe, Jake Florenca, Kyle Russell, Kade Stewart, Dylan Main, Mason Shaw and Travis Abbott managing one apiece.

Brock Higgins was again the best ruckman on the ground and had 10 possessions and 31 hit outs for South Fremantle which gave good use to his midfield led by Jacob Dragovich who had 25 disposals, seven tackles, five inside 50s and three marks.

Florenca continued his outstanding start to the season for South Fremantle with another 21 possessions, six tackles and the match-sealing goal.

South Fremantle's defence was again outstanding conceding only five goals with Nick Suban (22 possessions, five tackles), Blayne Wilson (18 disposals), Ben Rioli (16 possessions, three tackles), Chad Pearson (16 touches), Zac Dent (16 disposals), Jason Maskos and Noah Strom tremendous.

Zac Strom worked hard again in a variety of roles for 21 possessions and seven marks while Haiden Schloithe was clean with everything he did from 16 disposals, eight tackles, six inside 50s and a goal.

Anton Hamp remains Claremont's main target in attack and kicked another two goals while Alec Waterman was dangerous with 20 possessions, nine marks and eight inside 50s despite managing just 1.3.

Declan Mountford amassed 30 possessions for the Tigers, Jack Lewsey 27, Jye Bolton 24, Kane Mitchell 20, Bailey Rogers 19, Ryan Lim 15, Jared Hardisty 15 and Callan England 15 while Haydn Busher was strong holding Mason Shaw to one goal and five kicks.