WAFL Round 2 WrapMonday, April 17, 2023 - 1:46 PM - by Chris Pike

REIGNING premiers West Perth might have lost in Round 1 but hit back in record fashion on Saturday with Claremont continuing to impress, East Perth making a statement, East Fremantle getting on the board and Peel Thunder winning again.

All five Round 2 WAFL matches took place on Saturday afternoon with West Perth and West Coast both attempting to bounce back from Round 1 losses.

What resulted at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium was West Perth winning 34.13 (217) to 7.6 (48) with the Falcons kicking the biggest WAFL score since 2010 and recording the biggest victory in nearly 13 years as well with Tyler Keitel kicking 10 goals and Mitch Dobson eight.

Swan Districts and East Fremantle were two more teams who both lost in Round 1 and it was the Sharks who got on the board in 2023 by winning a tight affair at Steel Blue Oval, 7.15 (57) to 7.11 (53).

On the other side of the equation, Claremont and South Fremantle both had strong Round 1 wins, and it was the Tigers who kept that momentum going with a 10.16 (76) to 4.4 (28) victory at Revo Fitness Stadium.

The battle of the Leederville Oval co-tenants then saw East Perth deliver its best ever first half at the venue against Subiaco on the way to the 17.10 (112) to 14.5 (89) victory.

Peel Thunder then held Perth to just one goal for the entire game at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium with the home team prevailing 10.17 (77) to 1.6 (12).

Meanwhile in Round 2 of the reserves competition, Swan Districts defeated East Fremantle 12.7 (79) to 8.6 (54). Jack Cox and Tyrell Metcalf kicked four goals each for Swans with Max Chipper picking up 26 disposals and Lawson Humphries 25. Cody Leggett kicked three goals for the Sharks with Jackson McDonald collecting 27 disposals and Jack Walsh 24.

Claremont's reserves also beat South Fremantle 15.9 (99) to 6.3 (39) with Alex Manuel, Kendyll Blurton, Dylan Mulligan, Felix Rogers and Josh Sukuroski all kicking two goals for the Tigers. Caleb Stephens and Jake Hinder kicked two apiece for the Bulldogs.

Subiaco won the reserves clash with East Perth 14.10 (94) to 10.7 (67) with Jordan Faraone kicking four goals for Subiaco and Jack Mayo two while Connor Patterson collected 21 possessions. Tom Albertsen kicked three goals for the Royals with Adam Boules gathering 26 touches and Zach Raykos 25.

Perth's reserves claimed a big win over Peel Thunder 14.17 (101) to 5.14 (44) on Saturday evening in Mandurah with Jack Bodle kicking six goals for the Demons and Jaiden Hunter five with Zach Jackson racking up 40 touches, Jack Avery 36, Jye Clark 32 and Jack Cooley 31. Corey Tregenza-Cashell kicked three goals for Peel and Aidan Hare picked up 18 possessions.

And in the colts for Round 2, the action began on Friday night with Perth defeating Peel Thunder 9.8 (62) to 1.9 (15). Robert Warrell kicked three goals for the Demons with Noah Cachard gathering 21 touches, Aiden O'Driscoll 20 and Elijah Scoble 20. Toby Jenkins had 20 disposals for the Thunder and Jack Ilott 19.

Then on Saturday, East Fremantle beat Swan Districts 10.12 (72) to 3.7 (25). Griffin Vladich kicked three goals for the Sharks and Jack Cocking two with Presley Campbell amassing 37 touches, James Spadanuda 35, Sam Otto 33 and Phoenix Knight 24. Lewis Zolnier-Owens kicked two goals for Swans with Luke Kelly gathering 29 touches, Jack Saunders 27 and Evan Smith having 43 hit outs.

Claremont also scored a big win over South Fremantle 13.15 (93) to 5.6 (36) with Kai Dehavilland, Sam Van Rooyen, Riley Disisto and Ryley Valli kicking two goals each for the Tigers. Dehavilland also gathered 24 possessions, Ed Greenaway 20, Jett Sibosado 17 and Zane Zakostelsky 17 with 24 hit outs. Jacob Whan picked up 25 touches for the Bulldogs and Ed Graham 24.

The last game of the round took place on Sunday with Subiaco beating East Perth 13.12 (90) to 4.15 (39) at Leederville Oval. Lance Collard and Ben Steinmann kicked three goals each for the Lions with Oscar Dees racking up 28 possessions. Will Cassidy gathered 18 disposals for the Royals.

 

WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 2

WEST PERTH 34.13 (217) defeated WEST COAST EAGLES 7.6 (48)

West Perth might have been disappointed with how its premiership defence started and took that out on the hapless West Coast Eagles on Saturday to end up winning by 169 points.

West Perth lost to Claremont to open the season on Good Friday, but hit back on Saturday in the most emphatic fashion possible to hammer the Eagles 34.13 (217) to 7.6 (48) at Pentanet Stadium.

It was a record setting performance with West Perth kicking the highest WAFL score since Round 23, 2010 while the winning margin was the biggest since Round 10, 2010.

It was an afternoon for career-best performances for West Perth with Tyler Keitel kicking 10 goals for the first time in his 145-game career from 18 kicks and 11 marks. He is the first player to reach double-figures in the WAFL since Ashley Hansen kicked 11 for Swan Districts in 2012.

It was a career-best eight goal haul for Mitch Dobson as well from 13 kicks and nine marks while premiership small forward Sasha Kernutt came back in to kick five goals for the first time in his career as well.

Aaron Black, Keegan Knott, Zac Langdon and Joe Hinder all kicked two goals as well for the Falcons.

Five-time fairest and best winner Shane Nelson racked up 38 possessions for West Perth with Simpson Medallist Luke Meadows picking up 29 disposals, Black 25, Mitch Peirce 25, Ben Johnson 24, Aidan Lynch 24, Tristan Hobley 23, Conal Lynch 20 and Hinder 20.

Shannon Lucassen kicked two goals from seven kicks for West Coast while captain Jackson Nelson fought hard for 29 possessions. Joey Deegan also gathered 23 disposals, Josh Browne 22, Zane Trew 20 and Coby Burgiel 20.

Nobody could have quite predicted just how emphatic West Perth's response would have been to a Round 1 loss to their premiership defence and it only took a minute for the Falcons to get a goal on the board through Mitch Dobson.

All of a sudden by quarter-time, West Perth had seven goals on the board to West Coast going scoreless with Dobson and Tyler Keitel kicking two of them.

It was even more of a demolition job in the second quarter with Keitel kicking his third after just 40 seconds. He added a fourth soon after before also a fifth and a sixth.

Dobson also kicked his third and fourth with West Perth kicking 10 goals in the quarter to go into half-time with a remarkable 87-point lead even though the Eagles added goals to Tyrell Dewar, Jack Eastough and Harry Barnett.

There would be no let up in the second half with West Perth kicking another six goals to two in the third quarter, and then a stunning 11 to two in the last to go on and score the record setting 169-point annihilation.

 

SWAN DISTRICTS 7.11 (53) lost to EAST FREMANTLE 7.15 (57)

East Fremantle held out Swan Districts in a tight affair at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday with the Sharks opening their account for 2023 with the four-point victory.

Both Swan Districts and East Fremantle lost narrowly in the opening round leaving them determined to bounce back when they locked horns on Saturday afternoon at Steel Blue Oval.

Little separated the two teams most of the way but the Sharks did do enough to be on top for a lot of the afternoon without being able to take full advantage of having 72 extra possessions and 15 more inside-50 entries with some inaccurate kicking.

However, the Sharks still did enough to secure the 7.15 (57) to 7.11 (53) win to improve to 1-1 on the season and leave Swans 0-2.

Dillon O'Reilly kicked two goals for East Fremantle from 13 possessions and seven marks to be the only multiple goalkicker in the win for the Sharks.

Reigning fairest and best winner Milan Murdock was terrific again for East Fremantle with 34 possessions and 11 tackles while Harry Marsh racked up 30 disposals, Fraser Turner 29, Tom Joyce 28, Cam Eardley 25, Tom Bennett 22, Josh Schoenfeld 22 and Kyle Baskerville 20.

Captain Matthew Jupp was terrific down back holding Chris Jones scoreless and having 16 touches and eight marks himself while Reuben McGuire had 14 touches and 19 hit outs in the ruck.

Ryan Kemp was lively across half-forward Swan Districts kicking two skilful goals from 14 possessions, four marks, four inside 50s and three tackles.

Sandover Medallist Sam Fisher had a strong showing for Swan Districts with 32 possessions and seven tackles with reigning Swan Medallist Jesse Turner gathering 26 disposals, seven tackles and six inside-50 entries.

Co-captain Brandon Erceg was terrific down back once again and had 23 disposals and five tackles with Aidan Clarke finishing with 19 possessions, Jehb O'Donohue 16 and Brayden Noble 15 to go with 16 hit outs as the back up ruckman to Jesse Glass-McCasker who had 41 hit outs.

East Fremantle dominated the start to the contest going to the scoring end at Bassendean. The Sharks had the first seven scores of the contest but could only convert one of those into goals and that was thanks to Fraser Turner at the 10-minute mark.

Eventually Swan Districts got on the board just before quarter-time with a goal from Ben Hewett and that cut the East Fremantle lead to just five points at the first break despite the Sharks having seven scoring shots to two.

A brilliant goal at the eight-minute mark of the second quarter from Ryan Kemp then brought Swans level. He swooped on the ball in congestion inside the forward 50, went on a run outside the arc to get some space, and then slotted the long goal from outside 50.

That brought the Swans faithful to their feet but the Sharks steadied and were back in front with a goal to Tom Joyce after a 50m penalty.

Dillon O'Reilly then kicked impressively to stretch the East Fremantle lead before Alex Montauban and Hugh Dixon also kicked truly to put the Sharks 23 points up heading towards half-time.

Swan Districts needed to respond and did get a late goal with a clever snap from Jesse Palmer but the Sharks were still leading by 16 points at the main break.

It took almost 22 minutes for a goal to come in the third quarter with the breeze making life tricky at Bassendean. Eventually it was new Shark Brayden Lawler that got a goal to put the Sharks back up by 20 points, but Swans stayed in touch with a goal to Jarrod Cameron just before three quarter-time.

Tom Edwards and O'Reilly traded goals for either team to start the final term before a second for the day to Kemp kept Swan Districts in touch with just a 10-point deficit.

There wouldn’t be another goal in the game until Mitch Bain kicked truly for Swans at the 25-minute mark. That set up a grandstand finish with a four-point margin, but the Sharks held firm over the next couple of minutes for the four-point win.

 

CLAREMONT 10.16 (76) defeated SOUTH FREMANTLE 4.4 (28)

Claremont continued its impressive start to the 2023 WAFL season with a 48-point win at Revo Fitness Stadium against South Fremantle on Saturday afternoon.

Both teams were coming off Round 1 wins with the Tigers beating West Perth and the Bulldogs having beaten West Coast as they resumed their fascinating recent rivalry on Saturday at Revo Fitness Stadium.

But Claremont didn’t take long to assert its authority on the contest and with Jack Buller kicking four goals up to the midway point of the second quarter, the Tigers kicked eight goals to two in the first half on the way to the 10.16 (76) to 4.4 (28) victory.

Buller was a dominant presence in attack for Claremont and already had four goals on the board up to midway through the second quarter and finished with 22 possessions and 14 marks. 

Talon Delacey and Joel Western kicked two goals each for the Tigers with Western also finishing with 23 disposals and eight marks.

The run Claremont got off the back-line again was terrific with Teia Miles finishing with 29 possessions, Lachlan Martinis 31 and Jye Bolton 24 while Anthony Davis was superb as a key defender with 21 disposals and nine marks.

Then through the middle, Bailey Rogers picked up 28 touches, Callan England 26, Ronin O'Connor 19 and Ben Elliott 19 with ruckman Oliver Eastland finishing with 16 touches and 38 hit outs.

Caleb Datson was lively in the South Fremantle forward-line kicking two goals from 16 possessions and seven marks with the other two goals kicked by Manfred Kelly and Tom Blechynden.

Blechynden picked up another 25 possessions for South Fremantle while defenders Toby McQuilkin (20 disposals) and Chad Pearson (18) did what they could down back once again.

Dylan Main also collected 16 touches for the Bulldogs, Jimmy Miller 16, Kelly 15, Aiden Hall 15, Jordan Gallucci 15 and Jarrod Salmeri 15.

Claremont hasn’t enjoyed life against South Fremantle for the most part in recent times, but that changed on Saturday with the Tigers stamping their authority quickly with Jack Buller providing a dominant presence in attack.

He kicked the game's first goal at the eight-minute mark before Jason Carter kicked another soon after. South Fremantle did get on the board thank to Caleb Datson, but it was still all the Tigers with two more goals to Buller before quarter-time.

The Bulldogs did manage a late goal courtesy of Manfred Kelly, but still at the last change it was Claremont in control leading by 17 points.

Claremont then dominated the start of the second quarter as well with two goals in the first six minutes thanks to Talon Delacy and Oliver Eastland to stretch the lead out to five goals.

When Buller kicked his fourth goal at the 15-minute mark, the Tigers were on their way to a huge win up by 37 points. They would hold the Bulldogs to just one behind in the second quarter and a late goal to Delacey saw Claremont in command by 43 points at the long break.

South Fremantle needed to start the second half strongly to be a chance, but it wasn’t to be with Claremont getting the first goal with Joel Western kicking a beauty with a snap from the boundary to push the lead out to 50 points.

The Bulldogs did manage the only other goal of the third quarter thanks to Tom Blechynden, but that only cut the three quarter-time deficit to 45 points.

South Fremantle made it consecutive goals thanks to Datson to open the last term, but they couldn’t build any momentum from there with Claremont kicking the last goal of the contest through Western to run out 48-point victors.

 

PEEL THUNDER 10.17 (77) defeated PERTH 1.6 (12)

Perth set an unwanted record in Mandurah on Saturday with Peel Thunder proving too strong to claim the eventual 65-point win on home soil.

The Thunder were coming off kicking the last five goals of the game to storm home and beat East Fremantle on Good Friday, and backed that up with a dominant showing against the Demons at Lane Group Stadium.

Perth kicked just the one goal for the entire game to record the lowest ever score against the Thunder since they entered the WAFL in 1997 with Peel claiming the emphatic 10.17 (77) to 1.6 (12) victory.

Sebit Kuek pressed his claims for a call up into Fremantle's AFL forward-line with a strong showing in attack for the Thunder kicking four goals from 14 touches and seven marks as the only multiple goal scorer in the game.

Karl Worner produced a second straight impressive performance coming off half-back for Peel to also put his hand up for the Dockers AFL team with 30 possessions and eight marks.

Traye Bennell also collected 21 disposals for the Thunder, Ben Hancock 21, Nathan Wilson 20, Liam Henry 17 and Josh Treacy 17 to go with 11 hit outs, nine marks and a goal.

Perth's lone goal came from Sam Stubbs in the second quarter and he finished the game with eight kicks, five marks and three tackles.

Matt Taylor did what he could to try and lift Perth with 34 possessions down back while Trent Manzone had 33 disposals and took 11 marks in his second game for the Demons after 153 with West Perth previously.

Jacob Coniglio also finished with 28 disposals (13 marks) for Perth, Michael Sinclair 28 (14 marks), Charlie Thompson 25, Corey Byrne 24, Regan Clarke 21, Tarkyn Brogan-Henry 21 and Austin Davis 21.

Perth did start well enough hunting a first win of the season under Peter German at a venue where he started his WAFL coaching journey. But the Demons only managed two early behinds and Peel got the game's first goal soon after thanks to Nathan Wilson.

Sebit Kuek added a second goal in the opening term for the Thunder and that saw them take a 10-point advantage into quarter-time.

Matthew Payne was on debut for Peel and made an impact with a goal to start the second quarter before Perth did hit back thanks to Sam Stubbs. Unfortunately for the Demons, that would be their one and only goal of the afternoon in Mandurah.

Kuek kicked a second goal of the first half to ensure Peel remained in control leading by 21 points at the major break.

Neither team enjoyed any success in front of goal in the third quarter with the Thunder adding six behinds, and the Demons just the one with Peel up by 26 points by three quarter-time.

Then in the last quarter, Kuek opened proceedings with his third goal of the contest and by the time he added a fourth the Thunder's lead was out to 41 points. 

Josh Treacy kicked truly to stretch it to 47 and further goals to Ty Anderson, Josh Corbett and Clay Hall saw Peel improve to 2-0 on the season with the 65-point win.

 

SUBIACO 14.5 (89) lost to EAST PERTH 17.10 (112)

East Perth produced its best ever first half at Leederville Oval against Subiaco on the way to Saturday's impressive 23-point win to continue the Royals' impressive start to the season.

Even though Subiaco had won 16 of the last 17 meetings between the Leederville Oval co-tenants, it was East Perth who came out firing on Saturday with the Royals piling on 12 goals to four in the opening half.

That 12.6 scoreline at half-time was East Perth's best ever at Leederville Oval since the Royals and Lions began sharing the venue in 2004. 

While Subiaco did kick 10 goals to five in the second half, East Perth still won 17.10 (112) to 14.5 (89) to remain undefeated to start this season under new coach Ross McQueen.

Just like he did for his debut for East Perth last year when he also kicked four goals, Nick Bonomelli matched that with another four-goal haul for the Royals from his eight kicks and six marks.

Hamish Brayshaw kicked three first quarter goals for East Perth and ended up with 23 possessions while Angus Schumacher was dominant with 33 disposals and two goals. Mitch Crowden also kicked two goals to go with 29 possessions and 11 tackles.

Stan Wright also finished the afternoon with 27 disposals for East Perth, Kye Willcocks 23, Tom North 22, Sam Van Diemen 19, Angus Scott 19, Christian Ameduri 18, Alex Pearce 18 and Liam Tedesco 18.

Ben Sokol kicked three goals from five kicks for Subiaco in a fascinating battle with East Perth hard man Nick Robertson while Taj Schofield and Stefan Giro kicked two goals each for the Lions.

Giro also racked up 30 possessions in another strong showing for Subiaco with Liam Hickmott gathering 22, Jaxon McGowan 21, Galen Savigni 20 and Noah Ash 20 while ruckman Zac Clarke had 21 touches and 42 hit outs.

Both Leederville Oval co-tenants were fresh off Round 1 wins and Subiaco did start well with the game's first goal to Jacob Wagenknecht, but East Perth soon took over and would deliver their best first half performance against the Lions since they started sharing the venue back in 2004.

Jayden Peak got things rolling with a goal for East Perth and started a landslide with Hamish Brayshaw, Peak again, Brayshaw again, and then Nick Bonomelli and Brayshaw with his third all combining for the Royals to kick seven consecutive goals to be up by 34 points.

Subiaco needed to respond and did get a good goal from a tight angle from Taj Schofield to start the second quarter, but East Perth immediately responded thanks to Bonomelli.

Two more late goals heading into half-time from Bonomelli then helped the Royals to the 52-point lead at the major change on the back of 12 goals to four in their best first half against their co-tenants in nearly 20 years.

You always knew Subiaco would make a charge at a fightback in the second half and that started just two minutes into the third quarter with a goal to Schofield. Ben Sokol and Ben Golding then also kicked truly.

When Sokol added another, the Lions had closed the deficit to 28 points in less than 10 minutes. It took another eight minutes for another goal, but it also went Subiaco's way through Golding and it was just a 24-point ball game by three quarter-time.

The Lions were close enough to pull off what would have been a monumental fightback, but the Royals put the game to bed with the first two goals of the fourth term through Angus Schumacher and Bonomelli on the way to the eventual 23-point win to go 2-0 to start the season.