WAFLW Round 7 WrapSunday, April 23, 2023 - 10:03 PM - by Chris Pike

CLAREMONT remains undefeated this WAFLW season with another big win on Sunday while South Fremantle made history with a derby win on Saturday with Swan Districts and Subiaco the other Round 7 winners.

Round 7 of the WAFLW season got underway on Friday night with Swan Districts making it back-to-back wins by defeating East Perth 15.11 (101) to 2.0 (12) at Leederville Oval.

Then on Saturday afternoon, Subiaco won to return to the top four beating Peel Thunder 8.12 (60) to 2.1 (13) at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium.

Saturday evening then saw South Fremantle make history by beating East Fremantle for the first time with the 5.4 (34) to 4.5 (29) victory at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The round wrapped up on Sunday at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium with Claremont remaining unbeaten in its premiership defence defeating West Perth 6.7 (43) to 1.1 (7),

Those results mean that after Round 7 of the WAFLW season, Claremont is two games and percentage clear on top of the ladder with a perfect 6-0 record and 272.0 percentage.

South Fremantle now sits in second position with four wins, a loss and a draw while East Fremantle is third at 4-2 with Subiaco rounding out the top four with three wins, two defeats and a draw.

Swan Districts is just outside the top four now with a 2-4 record to sit ahead of West Perth (2-4), Peel Thunder (2-4) and East Perth (0-6).

Meanwhile, Round 7 of the Rogers Cup season began on Friday night at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with South Fremantle beating East Fremantle 9.12 (66) to 2.2 (14).

Madison Hadley kicked four goals for the Bulldogs and Nicole Taylor-Thorpe three. East Fremantle's goals came from Taylah York and Maddison Kelly.

Then on Saturday at Mineral Resources Park, Swan Districts kept Perth winless in the Rogers Cup competition with a 13.4 (82) to 5.7 (37) victory.

Sienna Pollard and Sarah Burke kicked three goals apiece for Swans with Megan Carron and Olivia Rasenberg adding two each. Bindi Pickett kicked four goals for the Demons.

Later on Saturday afternoon, Peel Thunder defeated Subiaco 8.2 (50) to 2.7 (19) at Lane Group Stadium with Ashlee Norwood kicking four goals for Peel. Both of the Lions' goals came from Taya Strickland.

Then on Sunday at Pentanet Stadium, West Perth defeated Claremont 5.8 (38) to 3.3 (21). Paige Dodunski and Chloe Shearing kicked two goals each for West Perth with the goals for Swans coming from Jessica Rava, Amalie Moe and Mackenzie Thompson.

WAFLW PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 7

EAST PERTH 2.0 (12) lost to SWAN DISTRICTS 15.11 (101)

Swan Districts made it consecutive WAFLW wins with an emphatic display to beat East Perth by 89 points at Leederville Oval on Friday night.

Coming off a first win of the season last week against West Perth following four defeats to open the 2023 campaign, Swans built some momentum in their first ever clash with East Perth on Friday evening under lights at Leederville Oval.

It was an impressive showing from Swans to end up winning 15.11 (101) to 2.0 (12) but the two goals from the Royals at least saw them kick a goal for the first time since Round 3.

On the back of their first win of the season last week, Swans kept the momentum going with the emphatic performance on Friday with Courtney Zappara kicking three goals from 17 possessions. 

Taylah Edwards continued her impressive form with another two goals while Abbygail Bushby also kicked two goals from 13 touches, three marks and two tackles.

Sarah Wielstra produced a dominant showing in the ruck for Swan Districts finishing with 18 possessions, 22 hit outs, five inside-50 entries and a goal.

Tyla Fitzgerald also gathered 18 disposals for Swans to go with six tackles and six inside 50s while Kayley King had 17 touches, Jess Cox 17 and Ruby Mahony 15 while Hope Ugle-Hayward laid 12 tackles.

East Perth's goals for the day were kicked by Shannon De Bari and Taylah Suda.

Emily Boothman battled hard once against for the Royals finishing with 13 possessions, three inside 50s and three tackles while Sarah Madden gathered 13 disposals, Lillian Ninyett 12 and Jess Bolton 11 to go with laying five tackles.

Matilda Bennett finished with 19 hit outs in the ruck.

It took less than two minutes into the game for Swan Districts to kick the first goal courtesy of Lauren Quaife. The black-and-whites continued to pepper the goals and eventually got a second on the board just before quarter-time thanks to Indiana West.

Less than three minutes into the second term and Swans had their third goal on the board when Courtney Zappara kicked truly. She added her second soon after before East Perth did respond with their first goal in several weeks from Taylah Suda.

Swan Districts responded with quick goals to captain Jess Cox and then another to Zappara before the Royals did reply once more through Shannon De Bari.

However, Swans finished the half with another goal thanks to Hope Ugle-Hayward and that saw them in command by 36 points at the main break.

It was more of the same to start the second half with Swans adding a further three goals in the opening eight minutes from Lily Paterson, Abbygail Bushby and Naomi Baker to push the lead out to 55 points.

That advantage was 64 points by three quarter-time after a goal to Taylah Edwards before Swans added four more in the final term including one shortly before the siren to Sarah Wielstra to secure the eventual 89-point win.
 

PEEL THUNDER 2.1 (13) lost to SUBIACO 8.12 (60)

Subiaco is back in the WAFLW top four on the back of a 47-point win in Mandurah against Peel Thunder on Saturday.

The Lions backed up their big win last Saturday over their Leederville Oval co-tenants by beating the Thunder 8.12 (60) to 2.1 (13) on Saturday at Lane Group Stadium including holding the home team scoreless for the entire second half.

Kelsey Patterson continued her impressive form as one of the best forwards in the competition this season with Subiaco kicking three goals from 11 kicks, three marks, three tackles and two inside-50 entries.

Fresh off celebrating her 150-game milestone in style last week, Subiaco captain Tarni Golisano was outstanding once again with 35 possessions and 10 tackles.

Tiah Toth also racked up 20 disposals for the Lions, Megan Brown 18, Lauren Bilaloski 17 and Grace Hahnel 13 to go with six marks, four tackles and four inside-50 entries.

Jess Ritchie also kicked two goals for Subiaco to go with 13 possessions, 19 hit outs and four tackles a with Fina Dethlefsen having a debut to remember with two goals with 16 possessions, seven marks and five inside-50 entries.

Peel's goals for the game were kicked by Aisha Wright and Tanisha Anderson.

Gracie Fenton ended up collecting 16 possessions for Peel, Ebony Bilcich 14, Greta McKinley 14 and Chelsea Hutchinson 13.

It was all Subiaco to begin the contest with the breeze behind them in the opening quarter in Mandurah. The Lions took full advantage with the only five scoring shots of the term including goals to Kelsey Patterson and Jess Ritchie to take a 15-point lead into the first change.

Peel had that breeze behind them in the second quarter and were able to take advantage as well. The Thunder had the only three scoring shots and converted those into goals thanks to Aisha Wright and Tanisha Anderson which cut the Subiaco lead to just two points at half-time.

Whether the breeze became less of a factor in the second half or if Subiaco's dominance made it not matter, either way the Lions were in complete control after the half-time break and kept the Thunder scoreless the entire second half.

Subiaco added three goals in the third quarter with two of them from Patterson and another to Tiah Toth.

The Lions opened the last term with a goal to debutant Fina Dethlefsen before Ritchie added her second of the game. Dethlefsen kicked her second and even though they didn’t add another with a string of behinds to close the contest, they still cruised to the 47-point away victory.

 

SOUTH FREMANTLE 5.4 (34) defeated EAST FREMANTLE 4.5 (29)

South Fremantle continues to make history throughout the 2023 season and that continued on Saturday night with their first ever WAFLW derby victory against East Fremantle.

Coming into the 2023 season and the Bulldogs had only recorded one win in three years against any of the original WAFLW clubs, but they are a vastly different team this year and the chance was there to show that against the Sharks at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday night.

East Fremantle had dominated the first six derbies over the last three years winning them all by an average margin of 53 points, and the Sharks stated well in the first clash this season between the rivals on Saturday night.

East Fremantle kicked three goals to one in the first half, but South Fremantle delivered a tremendous second half with four goals to one to claim the 5.4 (34) to 4.5 (29) victory.

The win sees the Bulldogs also improve to second spot on the ladder with four wins, a loss and a draw while the Sharks are just behind with four wins and two defeats.

South Fremantle's five goals in the win were kicked by Makaela Tuhakaraina, Luci Gilchrist, Ella Ward, Zoe Huggett and Kiara Templeman.

Ariana Hetherington continued her stunning start to her WAFLW career on the back of her basketball career where she was captain for the Rockingham Flames, playiing 140 games and is an NBL1 West championship winner.

She was tremendous on Saturday night finishing with 19 possessions, 24 hit outs, three tackles, two marks and two inside-50 entries.

Bethany Bond also collected 17 disposals for the Bulldogs to go with seven inside 50s, six tackles and four marks while Gilchrist finished with 14 possessions and eight tackles.

Kloe Bassett racked up 14 touches for South Fremantle, Charle Wicksteed 14, Lauren Vecchio 13 and Kahra Sprlyan 12 to go with six tackles.

Chloe Reilly kicked two goals for East Fremantle from her four kicks with Ashlee Atkins and Lauren O'Connor also kicking a goal apiece.

Beth Beckett racked up 20 possessions for East Fremantle with Sharon Wong gathering 20 disposals, Hayley O'Donnell 15, Larissa Versaci 15 and Fremantle Dockers AFLW draftee Jae Flynn 14.

South Fremantle was chasing its first ever derby win and made the perfect start with the first goal even if it took until the 12-minute mark of the first quarter through Ella Ward.

East Fremantle responded just on quarter-time thanks to Lauren O'Connor and the stage was set for a terrific contest with the Bulldogs a point up at the first change.

It again took 12 minutes of the second quarter for the first goal to come and that was thanks to Chloe Reilly for the Sharks. She added a second just before half-time and that saw East Fremantle take an 11-point edge into the main break having kicked three of the four goals of the first half.

If South Fremantle wanted to score that elusive first derby win then the Bulldogs needed a big second half and they made a perfect start with a quick goal to open the third quarter thanks to Kiara Templeman.

It took almost 10 minutes for another score and when that was a goal to South Fremantle as well from Zoe Huggett, the home team was back in front by a point.

Reigning fairest and best winner Luci Gilchrist then added another and three goals to nil in the third quarter saw South Fremantle turn an 11-point deficit into a six-point lead by three quarter-time.

Ashlee Atkins kicked East Fremantle's first goal of the second half to open the fourth term to bring scores back level, but when Makaela Tuhakaraina answered for South Fremantle, the Bulldogs were back in front and that's where they stayed with neither team managing another goal for the contest.

 

WEST PERTH 1.1 (7) lost to CLAREMONT 6.7 (43)

Claremont continued its perfect start to its premiership defence this WAFLW season with a 36-point win against West Perth at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium on Sunday.

The Tigers limited the Falcons to just the one goal in the second quarter for the game to end up winning 6.7 (43) to 1.1 (7) to improve to a perfect 6-0 record to start to the WAFLW season on the back of winning last year's premiership.

Adele Arnup continued to be among the most dangerous forwards in the competition by kicking another two goals in the win for Claremont from six kicks on Sunday. Jacinta Valentini, Jasmin Stewart, Sarah Viney and Georgia Webb all kicked a goal as well for the Tigers.

Stewart continued her tremendous form with the Tigers as she prepares to make a return to the AFLW with another 25 touches, eight inside 50s, five marks and two tackles.

Jayme Harken also gathered 20 disposals, Matilda Sergeant 19, Viney 19, Kate Orme 18, Valentini 16, Taylah Orzel 15 and Matilda Dyke 15 in the ruck to go with 20 hit outs.

West Perth's lone goal of the contest came courtesy of Natasha Spurr along with 12 touches and two inside-50 entries.

Brooke Hongell continued her terrific season for the Falcons with another 17 possessions, six marks and six tackles off half-back.

Ebony Jackson also had 12 disposals for the Falcons, Karla Stagg 12, Taylor Ferguson 11 and Katherine Bennett 11 to go with eight tackles.

West Perth was looking to put a halt to Claremont's domination so far of this WAFLW season but the Tigers came out hot with the only four scoring shots of the first term. Only one of those was a goal thanks to Adele Arnup but the Tigers already led by nine points at quarter-time.

There was just one score from either team the entire second quarter and that was a West Perth goal to Natasha Spurr which set up a fascinating second half with the undefeated Claremont only clinging to a three-point advantage.

If Claremont's undefeated run was in jeopardy at half-time, the Tigers quickly squashed that with a dominant second half beginning with the only two goals of the third term through Jasmin Stewart and Georgia Webb.

The Tigers then added goals to Jacinta Valentini, Arnup and Sarah Viney in the last quarter to run out 36-point winners and keep their undefeated record intact so far in 2023.