WAFL Round 7 WrapMonday, May 29, 2023 - 9:44 AM - by Chris Pike

PEEL Thunder shook off a slow start to make a statement by beating West Perth at Joondalup on Saturday to move a game clear on top of the WAFL after Round 7 while East Fremantle was impressive in Broome, and there were other wins for Perth, Subiaco and East Perth.

The WAFL season resumed on the weekend following last week's break for the State game in Adelaide and it always loomed as a chance for statements to be made, and that's exactly how it panned out.

In the end, Peel moved clear on top of the WAFL ladder while East Fremantle and Subiaco strengthened their respective top two pushes Perth kept in the finals hunt and East Perth returned to the winning list.

Round 7 of the WAFL got underway on Saturday afternoon in Broome and it was East Fremantle who proved too strong for Claremont going on to win 11.14 (80) to 9.8 (62) to improve to second position on the ladder by the end of the weekend.

Subiaco also delivered Swan Districts yet another heartbreaking defeat with the Lions beating the Swans by four points at Leederville Oval which also consolidated them inside the top five.

West Perth made a flying start at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium on Saturday but Peel Thunder took charge from there to come away with the 11.11 (77) to 9.14 (68) victory to remain a game clear on top of the WAFL ladder after seven rounds.

The final game on Saturday afternoon took place at Fremantle Community Bank Oval and Perth scored its best win under new coach Peter German by beating South Fremantle 12.5 (77) to 11.7 (73).

The round wrapped up on Sunday afternoon at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park and the good news was West Coast suffered its smallest defeat since Round 1. The bad news was it was still a 74-point win for the Royals who prevailed 22.8 (140) to 9.12 (66) to snap their three-game losing slide.

All four Round 7 Reserves matches took place on Saturday with Claremont beating East Fremantle 8.10 (58) to 6.10 (46) at Revo Fitness Stadium.

Alex Manuel kicked three goals for Claremont and Dylan Mulligan two while Sam Alvarez dominated with 40 disposals, 15 marks and a goal. Felix Visser and Ira Jetta kicked two goals each for the Sharks with Josh Ritchie picking up 29 possessions and Matt Williamson 25.

Swan Districts defeated Subiaco 12.7 (79) to 9.6 (60) at Leederville Oval. Jack Cox kicked four goals for Swan Districts and Frank Anderson and Ben Hewett two apiece. Max Chipper collected 26 disposals, Lawson Humphries 24, Mitch Bain 21, Tarir Bayok 21 and Ayden Cartwright 20.

Jordan Faraone kicked five goals for Subiaco from 10 kicks with Jake Stergiou gathering 29 touches, Corey Bellouard 24, Connor Faraone 22 and Connor Patterson 20.

West Perth also beat Peel Thunder 14.14 (98) to 6.7 (43) at Pentanet Stadium. Jasper Scaife and Jack Demarte kicked three goals for the Falcons while Blake Wilhelm had 21 possessions, Zac Langdon 19 and Mark Hutchings 16.

Haydn Matthews gathered 26 possessions for the Thunder, Taj Wyburd 21, Guy Barnes 18, Aidan Hare 18 and Charlie Harmelin 18.

South Fremantle proved too strong for Perth, winning 13.14 (92) to 5.8 (38) at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

Riley Colborne kicked another three goals for the Bulldogs as did Kaiden Harbour with Seth Connor picking up 27 touches, Jaren Carr 25, Jarrad Doney 24, Mitch Sinnott 23, Jacob Sax 23, Tom Regan 22, Kyle Russell 21 and Chase Bourne 21.

Brodie Gray racked up 32 disposals for the Demons, Ty Sears 23, Ned Shannon 21, Zach Moody 21 and Jack Evans 20.

And in Round 7 of the Colts, Subiaco beat Swan Districts 9.12 (66) to 10.5 (65) in a thriller at Leederville Oval.

Koopa Walsh kicked three goals for the Lions and Tahj Mibus two with Lachlan MacRae finishing with 25 touches, Tyler Senge 24, Riley Wills 23 and Nicholas Multari 22.

Anthony Hansen and Lewis Zolnier-Owens kicked three goals each for Swans while Jack Saunders picked up 25 touches, Josh McElwee 20 and James Sullivan 18 to go with seven tackles and two goals.

West Perth also beat Peel Thunder 14.8 (92) to 6.7 (43) at Pentanet Stadium.

Baylee Payne kicked three goals for the Falcons, Josh Grant two, Tom Rintoul two and Kani Kean two. Callum Smith collected 29 touches, Matt Galjaardt 22, Tjad Gianoncelli 19, Trent Hiscock 19 and Camden Pires 19.

Kyelan Sanders and Matt Thomson kicked two goals each for Peel with Joel Rush amassing 20 disposals, Sanders 16, Darcy Clarke 16 and Matthew Thomson 16.

Perth scored the 13.8 (86) to 6.8 (44) win against South Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

Cooper Moore, Brodie McLean, Michael Hall and Samuel Cameron kicked two goals each for the Demons with Jake Watson picking up 21 possessions, Cameron Hall 21, Kalib Dempster-Park 20 and Mitchell Keene 19.

South Fremantle's six goals came from individual sources with Callum Copeland finishing with 20 touches, Nick Campo 18 and Tamate Oakley 17.

Last up on Saturday afternoon was Claremont defeating East Fremantle 10.12 (72) to 5.7 (37) at Revo Fitness Stadium.

Ryan Lazar and Kyle Lawrence kicked two goals each for the Tigers with Ryley Valli compiling 31 touches, Riley Disisto 24 and Zane Zakostelsky 23 to go with 23 hit outs.

Dante Wiseman kicked three goals for the Sharks with James Spadanuda gathering 29 disposals, Sam Otto 27, Mitchell Zadow 21 and Declan Pauline 20.

 

WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 7

CLAREMONT 9.8 (62) lost to EAST FREMANTLE 11.14 (80)

East Fremantle turned it on in the third quarter in Broome on Saturday to set up an impressive 18-point win for the Sharks against Claremont.

It was a tight affair in the warm conditions in Broome on Saturday afternoon, but with East Fremantle kicking five goals to one in the third quarter, that was where the Sharks set up the 11.14 (80) to 9.8 (62) victory.

Both teams were missing stars including Claremont without Sandover Medallist Bailey Rogers and East Fremantle missing both Harry and Jonathon Marsh, but it was still a fascinating match up in a rematch of last year's preliminary final.

In the end, the win improves East Fremantle to second position on the ladder with a 5-2 record with them percentage ahead of the third placed Claremont who are also 5-2.

Cody Leggett continued his tremendous form as a goalkicking target for East Fremantle kicking another three goals from eight kicks and five marks. He has now kicked 16 goals in his four appearances for the Sharks this season.

Fraser Turner has settled into life wonderfully with East Fremantle in the WAFL this season racking up another 25 possessions while Tom Joyce returned to strengthen the midfield with 20 disposals and five tackles.

Kyle Baskerville finished with 20 touches, Milan Murdock 19, Tom Bennett 19 and Jackson McDonald 18 while captain Matthew Jupp had 17 disposals, four marks and three tackles.

Claremont small/mid-sized forwards Talon Delacey, Tyron Smallwood and Zac Mainwaring all kicked two goals apiece in Broome on Saturday afternoon.

Jye Bolton spent most of the afternoon back on the ball for Claremont and racked up 33 possessions to go with seven marks, five inside 50s and a goal.

Teia Miles also finished with 26 touches, Callan England 22, Declan Mountford 21 (13 tackles), Lachlan Martinis 21, Anthony Davis 21, Joel Western 17 and Jack Buller 16 to go with 16 hit outs.

Oliver Eastland also had 16 possessions, 41 hit outs, seven tackles and a goal in the ruck.

It took 12 minutes for the first goal of the game to be kicked in Broome and it went the way of East Fremantle thanks to Fraser Turner.

Just three minutes later and Claremont responded with some clever work from Zac Mainwaring. He ran back onto the ball in an open forward 50, and was crafty enough to create some space and snap truly on his left boot.

Both teams added another goal each just before quarter-time and that saw scores all tied up at the first change.

Claremont then picked up the momentum to start the second quarter with a couple of quick goals to Talon Delacey and a second to Mainwaring before East Fremantle got one back through Cody Leggett.

Both teams had trouble finding the major opening from there but just before half-time Jye Bolton kicked a goal for Claremont before Jarrad Jansen replied for East Fremantle, and the Tigers were four points up at the major break.

The Sharks grabbed the lead to open the second half with an early goal to Alex Montauban but the momentum shifts continued with Tyron Smallwood putting Claremont back in front.

Finn Gorringe returned the lead to the Sharks soon after and then Dillon O'Reilly, Leggett and O'Reilly again added three more goals heading into three quarter-time to see East Fremantle take change with a 21-point lead.

Claremont got back into the contest early in the last term with a goal to Smallwood, but East Fremantle continued to have all the answers every time the Tigers got a goal back.

In the end a third goal of the day for Leggett sealed the deal for the Sharks and they left Broome with the 18-point win to return to second spot on the WAFL ladder.

 

SUBIACO 8.9 (57) defeated SWAN DISTRICTS 7.11 (53)

Subiaco shook off a slow start against Swan Districts at Leederville Oval on Saturday to score the thrilling four-point victory to inflict some more heartbreak on the black-and-whites this season.

With Aidan Clarke making a spectacular return to the Swan Districts midfield, Swans shot out of the blocks racing to an early 20-point lead on the back of kicking the first three goals at Leederville Oval on Saturday.

However, Swans could only manage four more goals the rest of the day and Subiaco whittled them down to end up winning 8.9 (57) to 7.11 (53) on the back of three goals to one in the last quarter with Swan Districts denied with a missed shot late from young forward Tom Edwards.

Subiaco improves to a 5-2 record on the season as a result to be in fourth position and only percentage out of second.

For Swan Districts, they are now 1-6 on the season but five of the losses have now all been by seven points or less.

Ben Sokol had a fascinating battle throughout the afternoon with Swan Districts defender Tobe Watson, and he kicked two goals and three behinds from eight kicks and six marks.

Liam Hickmott produced another standout performance on the ball for the Lions racking up 34 touches to go with eight marks, four tackles and four inside 50s while Zac Clarke dominated the ruck with 26 disposals, 48 hit outs and nine marks.

Max Walters also ended up with 20 touches for Subiaco, Jaxon McGowan 19, Wil Hickmott 17, Drew Rohde 17 and Rylie Morgan 17, who also ran with Jesse Turner and kept him to 11 possessions which was his lowest tally since Round 3 last year.

Aidan Clarke had a spectacular start to the game for Swan Districts with two early goals and the majority of his 31 possessions, seven inside 50s and five marks for the game came in the first half in his return game after injuring a hamstring back in Round 2.

Jarvis Pina collected another 23 possessions off half-back for Swans with Jackson McLachlan picking up 22 touches, Josh Cipro 19, Tobe Watson 18, Jehb O'Donohue 16 and Lachlan Riley 16. O'Donohue also ran with Stefan Giro for the day and limited him to 14 possessions.

Swan Districts made the best possible start once again chasing that second win of the season with Aidan Clarke on fire on his return from injury. He picked up right where he left off to start the season by dominating through the middle early in the game and kicking the first goal after just two minutes.

Greg Ottaviano added another goal soon after and when Clarke added a second goal at the 20-minute mark, Swans were leading by 20 points and had held the Lions scoreless up until that point.

Eventually Subiaco got its first score of the game and that was a goal to young small forward Koltyn Tholstrup at the 21-minute mark.

Swan Districts were still in control leading by 14 points at quarter-time but Subiaco was working back into the game through the middle on the back of Zac Clarke's work in the ruck, and got the first goal of the second term from Corey Hitchcock.

Jesse Palmer kicked the lone goal of the quarter soon after for Swans with a nice finish from the pocket around his body with his first kick of the day. However, Subiaco got one back through Jack Mayo to cut the lead for the black-and-whites to 12 points at half-time.

Ben Sokol kicked his first goal of the game in a fascinating match up with Tobe Watson for the opening goal of the second half too and when Stefan Giro added another for the Lions, they were in front for the first time in the game.

Jiah Reidy ensured that didn’t last for long when he restored the Swan Districts lead and then Jarvis Pina extended that to ensure the visitors were leading by nine points at three quarter-time still.

However, the story of the season for Swans is becoming being overrun in fourth quarters and that again was the case on Saturday with Subiaco kicking three goals to one in the last term.

All three came inside the first 10 minutes to Ryan Borchet, Max Walters and Sokol to end up being enough for Subiaco to secure the four-point win.

 

WEST PERTH 9.14 (68) lost to PEEL THUNDER 11.11 (77)

West Perth made a flying start at home on Saturday but Peel Thunder fired back from a 39-point deficit to kick the game's next seven goals to end up winning by nine points.

West Perth opened up a 39-point lead by midway through the second quarter at Pentanet Stadium in Joondalup on Saturday, but from there the Thunder took charge of the contest including kicking the next seven goals.

That helped Peel set up the 11.11 (77) to 9.14 (68) victory with the Thunder remaining a game and percentage clear only top of the WAFL ladder with a 6-1 record. West Perth remains in fifth position now with a 4-3 record as reigning premiers.

Sebit Kuek continues to develop nicely as a key forward target for Peel after now being on Fremantle's AFL list for almost a full 12 months. He kicked three goals from 14 touches and seven marks.

Josh Corbett and Liam Henry also kicked two goals apiece with the latter also finishing with 22 disposals, six marks and three tackles.

Corey Wagner is one Peel player banging down the door for an AFL opportunity with his impressive run and carry he's providing out of the back-line. He also did well limiting the influence of Keegan Knott on Saturday and finished with 33 possessions. 

Neil Erasmus racked up 28 possessions as well for Peel and captain Ben Hancock had 28 disposals on the day he set a new games played record with the Thunder in his 140th appearance.

Will Brodie racked up 27 touches, Nathan Wilson 23, Jacob Blight 20, Brady Grey 19 and Joel Hamling 19 to go with 10 marks.

Tyler Keitel reached 150 games on Saturday for West Perth to bring up life membership at the club that he's played in a premiership with, won a fairest and best at, and that along the way has seen him win two Bernie Naylor Medals and play for WA twice.

Shane Nelson might be 215 games into his career at the Falcons, but he is in a stunning patch of form and had another 32 possessions, 11 inside-50 entries, seven marks and two goals.

Nathan Murray collected another 26 touches for West Perth, Luke Meadows 25, Zac Guadagnin 19 and Conal Lynch 19.

West Perth has enjoyed life against Peel at Joondalup for most of the last 26 years and that trend continued to start the clash on Saturday with Tyler Keitel celebrating his 150th game for the Falcons with the first goal of the contest.

Conal Lynch soon gave West Perth the second of the day, Shane Nelson kicked the third and when Corey Rundle added a fourth, the Falcons had made a stunning opening against the league-leaders to be leading by 25 points after 15 minutes.

Peel had yet to hit the scoreboard but did eventually at the 20-minute mark with a goal to Josh Corbett and another to Liam Henry, but West Perth consolidated the 18-point edge by quarter-time thanks to a late goal to Ben Johnson.

It was a similar story to start the second quarter with West Perth dominating the first 15 minutes with Keitel adding a second goal in his 150th match before Nelson also added a second, and then Keitel kicked a third to extend the lead to 37 points.

The margin got out to as much as 39 for the Falcons and it looked a long road back for the Thunder, but Peel did make some inroads before half-time with goals to Ben Middleton, Tom Emmett and Sebit Kuek.

West Perth was still 21 points up at half-time but Peel had grabbed some of the momentum with those last three goals and kept it going with a dominant third term.

The Thunder kicked the only four goals of the quarter starting with one to Jack Sears before Jonathon Ietto, Corbett and Kuek all added others and suddenly it was Peel turning into three quarter-time leading by five points.

West Perth briefly regained the lead to start the final with a goal to goal sneak Keegan Knott, but it wouldn’t last long. Kuek kicked another to put the Thunder back in front and Henry added his second of the day to make sure of the nine-point win to keep Peel in top spot.

 

SOUTH FREMANTLE 11.7 (73) lost to PERTH 12.5 (77)

Kicking goals hasn’t been a feature of Matt Taylor's 101-game career with Perth, but he proved the hero for the Demons on Saturday when he snapped truly to snatch the four-point win from South Fremantle.

Wins had been rare at Fremantle Community Bank Oval for Perth in recent times, but the Demons turned that around on Saturday all thanks to the last goal of the game which was just the sixth in the 101-game career of Taylor.

That saw Perth snatch the 12.5 (77) to 11.7 (73) victory from South Fremantle with the two full forwards from the respective teams combining to kick nine goals.

The victory is a second of the season for Perth and the first under new coach Peter German against an opponent other than West Coast. 

It's a tough loss for South Fremantle who while they have won three matches this season, the Bulldogs still have just the four premiership points and one official victory to their name after seven rounds.

Jaiden Hunter put his name up in headlights for his standout performance as a key forward for Perth as he kicked five goals from six kicks and seven marks just in time for this week's AFL mid-season draft.

Charlie Thompson also had a spectacular performance in the midfield for Perth with 30 possessions to go with 12 tackles and two goals.

Jack Cooley is fitting right in now at Perth too having crossed from East Perth in the off-season with 32 disposals and 11 tackles while Corey Byrne had 21 touches, Matt Taylor 18, Sam Stubbs 18 and Daniel Hill 18.

Jack Avery gave great drive and run out of the back-line once again to finish with 25 possessions, eight marks and three tackles.

Zac Strom has been remarkably versatile throughout his 163-game career with South Fremantle and through necessity he is playing as the full-forward right now and did a terrific job of it on Saturday. He kicked four goals for the Bulldogs from 13 touches and six marks.

Jordan Gallucci, Brandon Donaldson and Caleb Datson also kicked two goals apiece for South Fremantle.

Jake Florenca made a superb return for South Fremantle showing his quality in the midfield in his first league appearance since Round 8 last year. He finished with 28 touches, 10 tackles, five marks and five inside-50 entries.

Tom Blechynden ended up with another 24 disposals and nine tackles for the Bulldogs while Glenn Byron finished with 22 touches, Matthew Parker 22 (12 inside 50s), Chad Pearson 21 and Toby McQuilkin 19.

The stage was set for the afternoon with two standout performances from the two full forwards with Zac Strom kicking first goal for South Fremantle and Jaiden Hunter doing the same for Perth.

The goal fest early in the game continued when Charlie Thompson put Perth in front before Caleb Stephens responded for South Fremantle, and then a second to Strom pushed the Bulldogs out to a seven-point edge.

Then after Oscar Bird kicked another for the Demons, the Bulldogs closed the first term with goals to Jordan Gallucci and Brandon Donaldson to see the home team head into quarter-time leading by 13 points.

After the eight goals that were kicked in the first quarter, it took almost 15 minutes for one to be kicked in the second term and that went South Fremantle's way thanks to Caleb Datson.

The Bulldogs' lead got out to as much as 19 points but Perth stayed in touch with a goal to ruckman Dakota Baldwin-Wright just before half-time.

It only took Perth nine minutes of the third quarter to not only eclipse that deficit, but to pull ahead with goals to Hunter, Michael Sinclair and Denzel More.

South Fremantle responded with two goals in as many minutes to Strom and Gallucci before eventually it was a one-point ball game with the Bulldogs in front by three quarter-time after a goal just before the siren to Thompson.

It's not often that the Bulldogs don't get the job done in a close game on their home ground, but the Demons were an inspired outfit and were back in front with two quick goals to start the last term to excitement machine Hunter.

The Bulldogs did answer with a fourth goal to Strom and then another to Datson to put them back in front at the 23-minute mark. However, Perth dug deep and kicked the game's last goal from the most unlikely of sources.

It was a rushed snap from 101-game defender Matt Taylor and it proved the match winner in what was his first goal since Round 18 last year and sixth of his career.

 

WEST COAST EAGLES 9.12 (66) lost to EAST PERTH 22.8 (140)

East Perth returned to the winning list on Sunday just as it needed to and stayed in the WAFL finals hunt with the 74-point victory against the West Coast Eagles.

The Eagles did put in a bit more of a competitive effort than their previous five matches they lost by at least 89 points, but the Royals still were able to dominate with 11 goals in each of the halves.

East Perth went on to score the 22.8 (140) to 9.12 (66) victory to snap a three-game losing streak after winning the opening three matches of the season.

West Coast has now lost 15 straight matches dating back to last year with an average losing margin of 98.7 points in the seven matches now in 2023.

Mitch Schofield had a standout start to the game for East Perth on his way to four goals for the day from 11 kicks and nine marks. 

Zach Raykos and Riley Saunders also kicked three goals each for the Royals with Sam van Diemen, Tom Medhat, Scott Jones and Liam Tedesco adding two each.

The East Perth midfield was where the Royals dominated with Mitch Crowden racking up 31 possessions, Hamish Brayshaw 26, Angus Scott 26, Stan Wright 24 and reigning Simpson Medallist Angus Schumacher 24.

Tom North was prolific off half-back once again with 24 possessions while Raykos also had 23 touches, Jacob Msando 21, Alex Pearce 21 and Kye Willcocks 19.

Jarrod Garlett grabbed his opportunities as a small forward for West Coast ending up kicking three goals from his four kicks for the day.

Zane Trew continues to be one of the great shining lights for West Coast's WAFL team and should be in the AFL line-up before long to show what he can do at the next level. He delivered another 30 possessions and a goal.

Callum Jamieson ended up with 22 disposals and 19 hit outs in the ruck along with nine marks while Harry Creasey picked up 22 touches, Coby Burgiel 21 and Josh Browne 20.

East Perth didn’t take long to get rolling in the search of stopping its losing run with three goals in less than six minutes to start the contest from Mitch Schofield, Kye Willcocks and Sam van Diemen.

West Coast did well to respond with the next two goals from Jarrod Garlett and Tyrell Dewar but the Royals hit back again with three more goals heading into quarter-time from Angus Schumacher, Scott Jones and Zach Raykos.

West Coast was doing well to stay in touch and got the first goal of the second term through Joey Deegan before a couple of quick goals to Schofield saw East Perth kick away again.

The Eagles were significantly more competitive, though, and did well to limit the East Perth lead to 39 points by half-time.

West Coast again got the first goal of the second half inside 30 seconds thanks to Zane Trew but the Royals continued to have the answers with the next four goals in six minutes to Tom Medhat, Liam Tedesco, Riley Saunders and van Diemen.

The Royals would end up kicking seven goals to one in the last quarter to lead by 78 points at three quarter-time, but the Eagles did well to not be blown away and there were four goals apiece in the final term.