WAFL Round 16 WrapMonday, August 8, 2022 - 12:01 PM - by Chris Pike

WEST Perth went a long way to securing their first minor premiership since 1993 with a strong win at home over East Fremantle in Saturday's Round 16 WAFL action while Subiaco earlier returned to the winner's list.

There were just the two matches in Round 16 of the 2022 WAFL season with Claremont, East Perth, Peel Thunder, Perth, South Fremantle and Swan Districts sitting out the action with the bye before they prepare for the final stretch of the campaign.

The Round 16 action got underway on neutral turf at New Choice Homes Park with Subiaco proving too strong for the West Coast Eagles to win 14.6 (90) to 9.13 (67).

The Lions snapped a four-game losing streak in the process and handed the Eagles a fourth successive loss.

Ben Sokol and Brandon Matera kicked three goals each for Subiaco while Stefan Giro was best afield with 30 possessions, seven tackles and two goals. Josh Burke kicked three goals for the Eagles with Isiah Winder gathering 33 touches.

Top spot in the WAFL then went on the line at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium and outside of a strong second quarter from East Fremantle, West Perth proved too strong to win 11.10 (76) to 5.10 (40) and move further clear on top spot.

Rudy Riddoch turned match-winner for West Perth kicking four goals with Luke Meadows gathering 29 touches while co-captain Dean Munns celebrated his 100th game with the win. Kyle Baskerville led the charge for the Sharks with 29 possessions.

Following Round 16 of the WAFL season, it's West Perth clear on top of the WAFL ladder with 11 wins, a draw and three losses to be a game and-a-half ahead of the 10-5 East Fremantle.

Claremont (10-4) is third with South Fremantle (9-1-4) and Peel Thunder (8-6) rounding out the top five with Swan Districts (8-6) just percentage outside.

East Perth (6-8), Subiaco (5-9), Perth (2-12) and West Coast Eagles (1-13) then round out the ladder after 16 rounds.

It's another split round in Round 17 this coming Saturday with four matches all starting at 2.10pm with Subiaco playing East Perth, Perth taking on Claremont, Peel Thunder hosting South Fremantle, and Swan Districts facing the West Coast Eagles.

East Fremantle and West Perth have the bye.

WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 16

SUBIACO 14.6 (90) defeated WEST COAST EAGLES 9.13 (67)

Subiaco regained some form and confidence with a 23-point win against Subiaco at New Choice Homes Park on Saturday.

Both the Lions and Eagles were coming off the bye in Round 15 and were on losing runs as they did battle on neutral turf at East Fremantle Oval with the unavailability of Leederville Oval.

Despite West Coast kicking the first two and three of the last four goals of the game, Subiaco dominated through the middle periods on the way to the 14.6 (90) to 9.13 (67) victory.

The win snapped a four-game losing run for the reigning premiers with Subiaco improving to a 5-9 record as a result while the Eagles have now lost four in-a-row to remain in bottom place at 1-13.

Both teams came into the clash on neutral turf desperate for a win and it was West Coast who got the first goal of the contest thanks to big man Hugh Dixon who was on familiar territory at Shark Park.

Isiah Winder then kicked a beauty from outside 50 on a tight angle at the 17-minute mark to give the Eagles the perfect start before eventually usual defender Angus Dewar kicked Subiaco's first when he capitalised on a poor fumble from West Coast's Harry Creasey.

The Lions then built on that with goals to Max Walters and Brandon Matera just before quarter-time to put the reigning premiers on top by nine points.

Subiaco then continued that momentum in the second term started with an early goal to Matera to give him two for the afternoon.

Sokol added a second soon after and then a third to blow the lead out to 26 points.

Stefan Giro then had a purple patch with two quick goals both from tight angles in opposite pockets at the southern end of East Fremantle Oval showing his quality.

Another player who knows the ground well, Jordan Snadden then kicked another for Subiaco from outside 50 to give them six goals to nil for the second term to head into half-time in control leading by 44 points.

That lead grew to 50 points to start the second half with Harry Marsh kicking truly.

It took 10 minutes for another goal to come and that was courtesy of Jackson Nelson for the Eagles. Jack Eastough and Josh Burke then also kicked goals to close the third term to bring the Eagles back within 28 points.

There was some attacking football on display from both sides in the last term and they were able to kick four goals apiece with Subiaco going on to win 14.6 (90) to 9.13 (67) to snap their four-game losing slide.

Ben Sokol extended his lead in the Bernie Naylor Medal race by kicking another three goals for Subiaco from 16 possessions and nine marks.

Brandon Matera also kicked three goals for the Lions from six kicks while Stefan Giro delivered a best on ground performance made up of 30 possessions, seven tackles, five marks, five inside-50 entries and two goals.

Drew Rohde also gathered 27 disposals for the Lions, Liam Hickmott 26 (11 tackles), Jordan Snadden 21, Rylie Morgan 21, Max Walters 20, Chad Harris 20, Harry Marsh 19 and captain Leigh Kitchin 19 (eight tackles).

Josh Burke kicked another three goals for West Coast to give him 14 for the season while Hugh Dixon kicked two to go with 19 touches, nine tackles, four marks and 20 hit outs.

Isiah Winder put his hand up for a West Coast AFL call up by his best performance of the WAFL season for the Eagles with 33 possessions. 

Patrick Naish also picked up 27 touches for West Coast, Alex Witherden 24 and Greg Clark 23 to go with 10 tackles against his former team he played 93 of his 99 WAFL games with.

WEST PERTH 11.10 (76) defeated EAST FREMANTLE 5.10 (40)

West Perth went a long way to finishing on top of the WAFL ladder for the first time in 29 years with a 36-point win at home over the second placed East Fremantle on Saturday.

West Perth has won premierships in 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2013, but has never finished as minor premiers at the end of the home and away season since 1993, but it's now their spot to lose following Saturday's victory.

Even though East Fremantle kicked the only four goals of the second quarter, West Perth controlled the rest of the contest including five goals to nil in the last term to end up winning 11.10 (76) to 5.10 (40).

West Perth moves a game and-a-half clear on top of the ladder as a result of the win before finishing the season against East Perth, Swan Districts and Subiaco following the Round 17 bye.

East Fremantle remains in second spot at 10-5 but will be sweating on the scans following a knee injury to Blaine Boekhorst. The Sharks also have the Round 17 bye before finishing their season against Swan Districts, Claremont and East Perth.

The stage was set for a season-defining contest for both clubs and it took almost eight minutes for the first goal of the game which went the way of West Perth thanks to hard nut forward Mitch Dobson.

He soon added a second for the Falcons before Rudy Riddoch joined in for his first of the day and West Perth went into quarter-time on top by 19 points to bring back memories for the Sharks of their slow start three weeks ago against another contender, South Fremantle.

However, this time around East Fremantle was going to the scoring end at Pentanet Stadium despite the breeze not being as significant as it can be at times at Joondalup. 

As a result, the Sharks took just a minute to get its first goal of the game thanks to Cody Smith. The Falcons did respond thanks to small forward Sasha Kernutt, but then East Fremantle was able to build some momentum.

Without Jonathon Marsh in attack, Jarrad Jansen assumed that role as a key target and he kicked a goal before Luke English and Corey Holmes also added majors heading into half-time and suddenly the Sharks took a two-point edge into the main break.

It was then a grind as the teams jostled for superiority in the third quarter and it took 16 minutes for the first goal and it went the way of the home team thanks to Anton Hamp.

Riddoch then added his second but East Fremantle stayed in touch with a strong contested mark to Jeremy Goddard before he then kicked his second goal for the Sharks after the siren to make it a seven-point game.

Going to the scoring end, East Fremantle deserved to think they had a sniff at three quarter-time but it wouldn’t prove to be the case with a quick goal in the last term to Kernutt.

It was then the turn of Riddoch to play match-winner as he showed his experience and size advantage over East Fremantle debutant Jack Cleaver to win two one-on-one battles and kick two goals to push the lead out to 25 points.

West Perth forwards Hamp and Keegan Knott then pushed the lead out further for West Perth to win 11.10 (76) to 5.10 (40) and move further clear on top of the WAFL ladder.

Rudy Riddoch turned match-winner for West Perth in what turned out to be a fascinating match up with East Fremantle debutant Jack Cleaver.

The young Shark did some nice things with 18 possessions and six marks, but he was no match for Riddoch in one-on-one contests and as a result Riddoch kicked four of West Perth's 11 goals for the day from 11 kicks, four marks and three strong tackles, including one that earned a holding the ball free-kick in the last term on Cleaver.

Mitch Dobson, Anton Hamp and Sasha Kernutt all kicked two goals each for the Falcons as well as they won by 36 points on a day where they only got a combined one goal from leading goalkickers Keegan Knott and Tyler Keitel.

Not only did Knott and Keitel have quiet days for West Perth, but prime midfielders Shane Nelson (22 touches) and Aaron Black (18) were down on their usual output too even though they still made valuable contributions.

Instead, Luke Meadows racked up 29 possessions and six tackles while Mitch Peirce finished with 25 touches and 10 tackles, Aidan Lynch 22 disposals and seven marks, and Tristan Hobley 22 possessions, four marks and four tackles.

Without Jonathon Marsh, Dillon O'Reilly, Cody Leggett and then losing Blaine Boekhorst through the game, East Fremantle was without four of their top seven leading goalkickers for the season.

As a result, they didn’t have a multiple goal scorer with Luke English, Cody Smith, Jarrad Jansen, Jeremy Goddard and Corey Holmes kicking one each.

Kyle Baskerville was back to his standout form on the ball for the Sharks with 29 possessions to go with seven inside 50s, five tackles and four marks.

Cam Eardley also had another 26 touches for East Fremantle, English 22, Milan Murdock 21, Jackson McDonald 19, Ryan Lester-Smith 18 and captain Matthew Jupp 17 to go with seven marks and keeping Keitel goalless.