WAFLW Round 10 WrapMonday, May 15, 2023 - 9:33 AM - by Chris Pike

BIG wins for Claremont and South Fremantle saw them shoot further clear on top of the WAFLW following Round 10 which also saw Subiaco and Swan Districts win to consolidate third and fourth place.

Things are starting to take shape as the race to the WAFLW finals continues and after Round 10, Claremont is a game clear on top of the ladder, South Fremantle two games clear in second and Subiaco and Swan Districts are strengthening their finals claims after the weekend victories.

The round's action got underway on Saturday afternoon with Claremont responding to last week's draw by beating Peel Thunder 10.9 (69) to 2.1 (13) at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium to remain a game clear on top of the ladder.

South Fremantle then remained locked into second position with a record 17.8 (110) to 1.0 (6) victory against East Perth at Leederville Oval.

The battle over third position took place at the WACA Ground and it was Subiaco who prevailed 5.4 (34) to 3.6 (24) against East Fremantle with the Sharks slipping outside the top four altogether as a result.

The round wrapped up on Sunday afternoon at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium and Swan Districts made it five consecutive wins to rise to fourth position on the WAFLW ladder with the 10.6 (66) to 2.4 (16) win against West Perth.

Meanwhile in Round 10 of the Rogers Cup, things got underway on Friday evening at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with South Fremantle beating East Perth 4.4 (28) to 2.2 (14).

Rosie Anderson kicked three goals for South Fremantle and Nicole Taylor-Thorpe the other goal. Makayla Rogers and Fatoumata Toure kicked the goals for the Royals.

There was just the one game on Saturday with Claremont defeating Peel Thunder 8.9 (57) to 3.1 (19). Georgia Webb kicked four goals for Claremont and Savannah Muir three while Nakia Jiley kicked two of Peel's three goals.

The other two matches took place on Sunday beginning with East Fremantle beating Subiaco 5.7 (37) to 3.1 (19) at Leederville Oval. Lexi Lafrey kicked three goals for the Sharks and Elsie Simpson two while Abbey Patridge kicked two for the Lions.

Then at Pentanet Stadium, West Perth downed Swan Districts 9.13 (67) to 1.3 (9) with Chloe Shearing kicking three goals for the Falcons and Molly Conroy two. Swans' lone goal was kicked by Olivia Rasenberg.

WAFLW PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 10

PEEL THUNDER 2.1 (13) lost to CLAREMONT 10.9 (69)

Claremont remains clear on top of the WAFLW after another dominant showing to beat Peel Thunder 10.9 (69) to 2.1 (13) in Mandurah.

The Thunder and Tigers have combined to win the last three WAFLW premierships, but it was Claremont who didn’t take long to take charge on Saturday at Lane Group Stadium.

Peel only kicked one goal in the first quarter and one in the last while Claremont piled on 10 of its own to end up winning 10.9 (69) to 2.1 (13).

The victory means the Tigers remain undefeated this season with eight wins and a draw to be clear still on top of the ladder while the Thunder slipped further from finals contention at 2-7.

Ella Slocombe kicked another two goals in the win for Claremont from 17 possessions while Brooke Whyte and Amalie Moe also kicked two goals apiece.

Matilda Sergeant was terrific for the Tigers finishing with 29 possessions, seven marks and four tackles with Jayme Harken collecting 29 disposals, Sarah Garstone 22, Kate Orme 20, Sarah Viney 18, Rachel Ortlepp 17 and Whyte 17.

Matilda Dyke also delivered 17 touches, 29 hit outs, four tackles and a goal in the ruck.

Kira Phillips kicked both of Peel's goals for the game from her five kicks and three marks.

Thunder captain Ebony Dowson was terrific again with 27 possessions, four marks and three tackles with Evie Cowcher racking up 22 disposals and Kaitlyn Srhoj 15 along with six tackles.

Peel made the perfect start to try and hand Claremont its first loss of the season with an early goal in under a minute to Kira Phillips.

However, the Tigers soon took charge and Peel wouldn’t score again in the last quarter. Claremont managed five goals for the rest of the opening quarter with two of those coming from Brooke Whyte and the others to Matilda Dyke, Amalie Moe and Jayde Musika.

The Tigers then kicked two more goals in the second quarter from Adele Arnup and Ella Slocombe to be leading by 38 points at the half-time break.

Claremont peppered the goals in the third quarter but kicked five behinds and just the one goal which was from Jacinta Valentini before the Tigers went on to lead by 49 points at three quarter-time.

Claremont also kicked the first two goals of the final term through Slocombe and Moe to see the lead out to 63 points before the Thunder did finish the afternoon with a second goal to Phillips.
 

EAST PERTH 1.0 (6) lost to SOUTH FREMANTLE 17.8 (110)

South Fremantle produced another dominant WAFLW performance at Leederville Oval on Saturday to beat East Perth by 104 points to further consolidate a top two position.

While East Perth did manage its lone goal of the contest in the opening quarter at Leederville Oval on Saturday, South Fremantle dominated the match from there and held the Royals scoreless the rest of the afternoon.

South Fremantle ended up piling on 17 goals for the game to end up winning 17.8 (110) to 1.0 (6).

The victory improves the Bulldogs to seven wins, a loss and a draw for the season to be just a game behind the league-leading Claremont but two games and a huge percentage now ahead of the third placed Subiaco.

East Perth has lost all nine matches in its first season in the WAFLW competition now by an average of 65.1 points.

Casey Byrne has spent time both forward and back this season, and she enjoyed her time at the attacking end on Saturday afternoon by kicking five goals for South Fremantle from eight kicks, four marks and three tackles.

Bethany Bond continued her standout form with another three goals from 12 kicks, six inside 50s, five marks and three tackles with Trinity Brown and Leila Fotu also kicking two goals.

Charli Wicksteed racked up 19 possessions through the middle for the Bulldogs while Molly O'Hehir had 17 disposals, Lauren Vecchio 16, Kiara Templeman 13 and Ariana Hetherington another 13 in the ruck along with 28 hit outs, five tackles and five inside-50 entries.

East Perth's lone goal was kicked by Kelsey Lang from her five kicks for the afternoon.

Madeleine Goodman also collected 12 possessions for the Royals, Julia Uhe 12 and Jorja Elisseou 11 while Matilda Bennett had 18 hit outs in the ruck.

It took only a minute for South Fremantle to make the perfect start at Leederville Oval with a goal to Leila Fotu. Less than two minutes later and the Bulldogs had a second on the board courtesy of Bethany Bond.

The Royals weren’t deterred, though, and did get on the board at the four-minute mark thanks to Kelsey Lang and in just four minutes to start the game, already three goals had been kicked.

South Fremantle continued with the blistering start added four more goals before quarter-time with two of those kicked by Casey Byrne with a second to Bond and another to Molly O'Hehir.

The Bulldogs added another couple of goals through the middle period of the second term thanks to Charli Wicksteed and Hunter Cronin, and by half-time they were well in control leading by 46 points.

South Fremantle continued to dominate throughout the second half and would hold East Perth scoreless while adding another five goals themselves in the third quarter to have opened up a 78-point edge by three quarter-time.

There was no let up from the Bulldogs with another four goals in the last quarter including a fifth to Byrne for the afternoon and then another to Trinity Brown just before the siren to push the margin into triple figures.

 

EAST FREMANTLE 3.6 (24) lost to SUBIACO 5.4 (34)

Third place in the WAFLW went on the line at the WACA Ground on Saturday afternoon and a three-goal to nil opening quarter from Subiaco set up the eventual 10-point win against East Fremantle.

With precious separating the Sharks and Lions coming into the Round 10 match up, the winner was always going to take a hold on third position while the loser likely to end the weekend outside of the top four altogether.

That's how it panned out and it was the Lions who prevailed on the back of setting up the victory with the only three goals of the opening quarter.

From there, Subiaco went on to prevail 5.4 (34) to 3.6 (24) which sees the Lions wit in third place with five wins, three losses and a draw while East Fremantle slips to fifth spot with four wins, four losses and a draw.

While Subiaco's goals all came from five different players, the Lions had a host of strong contributors to the win including captain Tarni Golisano racking up another 18 possessions, seven tackles and six inside-50 entries.

Olivia Crane also collected 17 disposals, Meg Brown 14, Olivia Wolmarans 14 and Madison Dodd 13 to go with three marks and three tackles.

Tess Lyons also finished with 35 hit outs in the ruck for Subiaco along with eight possessions and four marks.

Anjelique Raison kicked all three of East Fremantle's goals for the game from her eight kicks and four marks.

Ashleigh Gomes also picked up 16 possessions for the Sharks, Roxanne Roux 13, Zipporah Fish 11 and Georgie Cleaver nine in the ruck along with 23 hit outs and six tackles.

With third position on the line at the WACA Ground for the clash, it was Subiaco who made a flying start with goals inside the first five minutes to Tiah Toth and Olivia Wolmarans.

The Lions also closed the opening term with a goal to Hanna Dethlefsen to see them lead by 17 points at the first break.

East Fremantle turned the tide in the second quarter and the Sharks had the only four scores of the term. However, they could only turn one of those into goals which was kicked by Anjelique Raison to cut the Subiaco lead to eight points by half-time.

The Sharks closed to just two points with the first goal of the third quarter at the 10-minute mark. It was kicked again by Raison and the Lions were challenged to respond, and they did before three quarter-time with Meadhbh Moloney managing to kick truly.

Subiaco was leading by nine points at three quarter-time and then it was a goal apiece in the final term to see the Lions claim the 10-point victory on the back of the sealer coming from Liana Burchell at the 10-minute mark.

 

WEST PERTH 2.4 (16) lost to SWAN DISTRICTS 10.6 (66)

Swan Districts was able to keep its breathtaking WAFLW form going with a fifth straight win on Sunday on the back of six goals from Courtney Zappara to beat West Perth by 50 points.

Swans rocketed into a top four position on the back of beating West Perth at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium on Sunday afternoon as they kept their stunning form reversal going.

After losing the first four games of the WAFLW season, Swans had won four straight coming into Sunday's contest where they dominated the Falcons to end up winning 10.6 (66) to 2.4 (16).

The fifth consecutive victory improves Swan Districts to a 5-4 record on the season and to improve to fourth position on the ladder to be half a game ahead of the fifth placed East Fremantle, and just half a game now behind the third placed Subiaco.

The loss was a blow to the finals prospects of West Perth with the Falcons slipping to a 3-6 record to be two games and a huge percentage behind Swan Districts.

Courtney Zappara had an afternoon to savour for Swan Districts in the win at Joondalup by kicking six goals from 16 kicks and four marks.

Cassie McWilliam also kicked two goals for Swans from 19 possessions and five marks.

Ruby Mahony continued her rich vein of form for Swan Districts as she racked up another 28 possessions while Jaime Henry amassed 23 disposals, Kayley King 20 and Emma Nanut 17.

Emily Bennett battled hard all afternoon for West Perth to finish with 21 possessions while Megan Norbury produced 20 touches, five marks and five tackles.

Taylor Ferguson also gathered 18 disposals for the Falcons, Grace Betti 17 and Jess Roper 17 to go with nine tackles. Karry Plummer had 13 possessions and 12 hit outs in the ruck as well.

There was just the two scoring shots in the opening quarter and both went the way of Swan Districts with a goal to Cassie McWilliam and then a behind to her as well with the Swans up by seven points at quarter-time.

It took less than four minutes for the first goal of the second term to be kicked and again that went the way of Swan Districts courtesy of Indiana West to stretch the lead to 13 points.

McWilliam added her second of the deal heading towards half-time but West Perth did manage its first goal of the contest shortly before the break thanks to Elissa Price to cut the Swan Districts lead to 12 points.

Swan Districts then blew the game wide open to start the third quarter with three goals inside four minutes with two of them from Courtney Zappara, and the other to Lily Paterson.

Swans also finished the third quarter with another goal to Zappara but West Perth did get one back just before three quarter-time to bring the margin back to 37 points.

Zappara continued her huge afternoon by adding her fifth and sixth goals for the game in the last quarter and that helped Swan Districts to secure the 50-point victory to make it five wins on the trot and break into fourth position.