Optus WAFLW Round 5 WrapTuesday, March 23, 2021 - 1:05 AM - by Chris Pike

EAST Fremantle opened Round 5 in the Optus WAFLW Premiership Season with a derby victory on Friday night before Claremont and Swan Districts continued their strong form across the weekend.

Friday night at Fremantle Community Bank Oval was the scene to open Round 5 in the WAFLW season with the second ever derby to take place in the competition.

South Fremantle was chasing its first ever victory but it wasn’t to be with East Fremantle proving too strong winning 10.12 (72) to 4.2 (26).

Next up in Round 5 was a tantalising match up between Claremont and Peel Thunder, and that's how it played out at Claremont's Revo Fitness Stadium. The Tigers ended beating the reigning premiers in a thriller 5.6 (36) to 5.3 (33).

The round then concluded with Swan Districts maintaining its undefeated start to the season beating Subiaco 7.12 (54) to 2.6 (18) at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval.

The Round 5 results leave Swan Districts out on top of the WAFLW ladder with a perfect 5-0 record.

Claremont sits second at 4-1 just ahead of Peel Thunder (3-2) with East Fremantle (2-3) rounding out the top four.

Subiaco (1-4) and South Fremantle (0-5) round out the standings after the opening five rounds and appear to have their work cut out to find a way back into finals calculations.

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Meanwhile in the WAFLW Reserves matches in Round 5, South Fremantle defeated East Fremantle 6.5 (41) to 4.8 (32), Swan Districts kept Subiaco scoreless to win 17.9 (111) to 0.0 (0) and Peel Thunder defeated West Perth 5.5 (35) to 3.5 (23) at Joondalup's Provident Financial Oval.

And then in Youth Girls Rogers Cup action, East Fremantle defeated reigning premiers South Fremantle 9.7 (61) to 4.8 (32) on Saturday morning.

The other three matches took place on Sunday with Swan Districts beating Subiaco 9.9 (63) to 1.2 (8) with Claremont defeating East Perth 17.12 (114) to 0.1 (1) at Leederville Oval and West Perth downing Peel Thunder 5.6 (36) to 5.2 (32) at Provident Financial Oval.

OPTUS WAFLW PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 5

SOUTH FREMANTLE 4.2 (26) lost to EAST FREMANTLE 10.12 (72)

The opening game of Round 5 of the 2021 Optus WAFLW Premiership Season took place on Friday night at Fremantle Community Bank Oval in the second ever derby to take place in the competition.

The Bulldogs and Sharks are beginning their own rivalry in the WAFLW competition and the second instalment of it took place on Friday night with the Bulldogs looking to deliver a much more competitive effort than in Round 1 last year.

On that occasion that was South Fremantle's first ever WAFLW appearance, East Fremantle proved too good at the same venue winning by 88 points on the back of holding the Bulldogs scoreless.

South Fremantle has become much more competitive since that occasion, though, and with a host of their key players in the AFLW right now, East Fremantle might not quite be as strong setting up an interesting battle on Friday night down at the port.

South Fremantle might not have won a game still yet in the competition but they have put in some good showings while East Fremantle also just had the one win on the board from their four matches in 2021 heading into Friday night.

It was a tight opening to the game too with a goal apiece in the first quarter with East Fremantle taking a one-point advantage into quarter-time.

The Sharks, however, were able to kick away further in the second term by holding the Bulldogs scoreless and kicking four goals themselves to head into half-time leading by 29 points.

South Fremantle showed some fight again in the third quarter by kicking a couple of goals themselves but East Fremantle was able to extend its lead with three more goals of its own to open up a 41-point edge by the last change.

Then in the final quarter, East Fremantle kicked another two goals to one from South Fremantle to end up winning 10.12 (72) to 4.2 (26).

Gabby Radojkovich and Paisley Prentice kicked two goals apiece for the Sharks with Chloe Reilly, Sharon Wong, Madeline Ross, Ann McMahon, Anjelique Raison and Ashleigh Gomes kicking singles.

Alex Williams, Sharon Wong, Elle Sanders, Ann McMahon and Kahra Sprylan were among the standout performers for East Fremantle.

Zoe Huggett kicked two goals for South Fremantle with Makaela Tuhakaraina and Makayla Cocking adding one each.

Pia Durk, Casey Byrne, Lauren Wafker and Lauren Vecchio were among the best performers for the Bulldogs.
 

CLAREMONT 5.6 (36) defeated PEEL THUNDER 5.3 (33)

Now this game had all the makings of being a tremendous contest coming into it and it certainly didn’t fail to deliver as Claremont continued to show what it's capable of in 2021.

The Tigers were at home to the Thunder at Revo Fitness Stadium with Claremont coming into the game on a three-game winning streak having lost narrowly to Swan Districts in Round 1.

Meanwhile, Peel won the premiership last year and had also won three of the four matches so far in 2021 setting the stage for what shaped as a tremendous contest.

It was the Thunder that got the better of the start as well and they held the Tigers scoreless in the first quarter while kicking the only goal themselves to be seven points in front by quarter-time.

Claremont was able to create some opportunities in the second term and did end up having five scoring shots. But the Tigers could only convert one of those into a goal while the Thunder also added their second goal still lead by four points at the half-time interval.

Peel maintained its slight edge during the third quarter as well. Both teams kicked two goals apiece so by three quarter-time that saw the Thunder still managing to hold a four-point lead against the Tigers.

However, Claremont finished the stronger and kicked two goals to one in the last quarter to end up winning 5.6 (36) to 5.3 (33).

That sees the Tigers improve to a 4-1 record on the season after five games while the Thunder are 3-2.

Katherine Bennett kicked two goals for Claremont while Sasha Goranova, Ella Smith and Madeleine Scanlon kicking one apiece.

Matilda Dyke, Jessica Low, Katherine Bennett, Mackenzie Webb and Jacinta Valentini were the strong performers for Claremont.

Kate Bartlett and Kira Phillips kicked two goals each for Peel with Ella Roberts kicking one.

Chloe Wrigley, Cassie Davidson, Courtney Rowley, Bella Mann and Abby Barnden all fought hard for the Thunder.
 

SWAN DISTRICTS 7.12 (54) defeated SUBIACO 2.6 (18)

Swan Districts and Subiaco have played off in one of the first two Grand Finals in the opening two seasons of the WAFLW competition, but they appear to be heading in different directions in 2021 and that was on display on Sunday.

Swans played host to the Lions at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval with the black-and-whites coming into the game with a perfect 4-0 record in 2021 so far while the Lions have lost their three matches since a three-point Round 1 victory against South Fremantle.

Swan Districts had delivered some pretty imposing form over those opening four matches beating Claremont by six points, South Fremantle by 53 points, Peel Thunder by 28 points and East Fremantle by 28 points, and they were able to keep that momentum going on Sunday.

Swans made a flying start on their home ground with six scoring shots to one in the first quarter. They converted three of those attempts to goals and held the Lions to a point to take a 20-point advantage into quarter-time.

Subiaco then went scoreless in the second term with Swan Districts adding another three goals and that saw the home team head into half-time leading by a commanding 43 points.

Things dried up for Swans in the third term and they actually went scoreless. Subiaco couldn’t fully take advantage but they did improve enough to kick their first goal of the game close their deficit to 34 points by three quarter-time.

It was then a goal apiece in the fourth quarter so Subiaco had done well to keep pace in the second half kicking 2.5 and actually outscoring Swan Districts who delivered just 1.4. 

But still Swans won comfortably 7.12 (54) to 2.6 (18) to remain undefeated this season while Subiaco slips to a 1-4 record.

Dana East and Mikayla Morrison kicked two goals each for Swan Districts with Morrison continuing to put her hand up for a call up into the West Coast Eagles AFLW side late in the 2021 season.

Bella Edgley, Nyra Anderson and Aimee Ralph were the other goal scorers for Swans.

Aimee Ralph, Jessica Cox, Dana East, Eliza Gelmi and Jaime Henry were all outstanding for the black-and-whites.

Subiaco's two goals came from Taylisha Brown and Hayley Corlett.

The best performers for Subiaco included Tarnica Golisano, Jayme Harken, Tayla Thorogood, Lara Filocamo and Caitlin Walker.