Round 1 WAFL Wrap UpWednesday, March 26, 2014 - 1:17 AM - by Chris Pike

ROUND 1 of the 2014 WAFL season saw four exciting match-ups on Saturday with Perth stunning Claremont with the day's big victory while East Perth, Subiaco and East Fremantle all recorded wins also.

Perth recorded its biggest win over Claremont in 28 years winning 19.10 (124) to 9.5 (59) at Lathlain Park with East Fremantle holding on to beat West Perth 11.7 (73) to 10.10 (70) at East Fremantle Oval, East Perth downed Peel Thunder 12.11 (83) to 9.10 (64) at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium and Subiaco defeated South Fremantle 17.9 (111) to 9.19 (73) at Leederville's Medibank Stadium.

Swan Districts had the Round 1 bye.

Click here for the summary of Round 1 of the WAFL

THE BIG WINNERS

There is little doubt that Perth was the most impressive of the four WAFL winners in Round 1 action with the Demons making a statement that they desperately want to end their finals drought in 2014.

Perth has not played in a WAFL finals campaign since 1997 but only narrowly missed out in 2013, and could not have possibly started 2014 any better even without AFL premiership players Mitch Morton and Chance Bateman still to come back in.

Claremont came into the contest having won the last five games against Perth, 21 of 25 clashes between the two teams since 2002 and 29 of the 35 matches since 1997 so it was has been quite a dominance by the Tigers over the Demons since Perth last played finals football.

However, the Demons emphatically turned that around on Saturday in their biggest win over Claremont since a 73-point first semi-final win in 1986.

It was also Perth's biggest win over Claremont at Lathlain Park since a 74-point triumph in Round 8, 1977.

THE BIG LOSERS
Claremont might have been the biggest losers on Saturday in terms of margin, but it was a disappointing opening to the season by a South Fremantle team who has promised so much coming in 2014, and it's still far too early for that to not still be the case.

Following the recruitment of James Sellar, Josh Pullman, Brock Higgins and Steve Mills with Ashton Hams, Steven Verrier and Haiden Schloithe returning to a club that underperformed through a combination of a slow start and missed chances in 2013, hopes are high of South Fremantle shooting up the ladder in 2014.

However, against Subiaco on Saturday the Bulldogs ran out of gas in the back end of each quarter and also couldn’t capitalise on their opportunities in front of goal.

South Fremantle finished the game with 27 more possessions than Subiaco, 17 more entries inside the forward 50 and two more scoring shots.

But from those 65 inside 50s and 28 scoring shots, the Bulldogs only kicked nine goals and lost by 38 points to now mean that this Friday's home clash against the on-fire Perth at Fremantle Oval is crucial especially after their 0-7 start to 2013.

THE SHINING LIGHTS
Reigning Sandover Medallist Rory O'Brien again led the way for East Fremantle in the win over West Perth finishing with 36 possessions, five tackles, four inside-50 entries and three clearances.

His brother Brock has returned to the Sharks this year and also returned to a role running off half-back and he was outstanding with 25 touches, eight marks and five rebounds from the defensive 50.

Another player back at East Fremantle this year, Jamie McNamara racked up 27 disposals and had six clearances while Bradd Dalziell worked tirelessly for 33 possessions, four clearances and a goal.

East Fremantle's back-line was outstanding with Tom Howlett collecting 21 possessions, Andrew Stephen 20, Steven Dodd 18 and Matthew Jupp 15 while keeping West Perth's forward-line well in check for most of the day.

Up forward, Brett Peake kicked three goals, and Boston Williamson and Ryan Lester-Smith two apiece while Peel Thunder recruit James Bristow worked hard in the ruck finishing with eight possessions and 19 hit outs.

Shane Nelson's last official game for the Falcons was last year's grand final where he racked up 36 possessions and 13 clearances, and he started 2014 where he left off with another 37 disposals and 10 clearances against the Sharks on Saturday.

Fellow young midfielder Aaron Black also started off the new season impressively with 28 possessions.

Co-captain Jay van Berlo racked up 27 touches, had nine clearances and kicked two goals while veteran wingman Ray Bartholomew finished with 23 touches and two goals.

Rohan Kerr, who booted five goals in the grand final, worked hard for 26 possessions as well while veteran on-baller Matt Guadagnin contributed 23 touches.

Andrew Strijk had 26 possessions off half-back before hurting his shoulder late in the game while Jordan Jones had 22 touches in defence with Luke Tedesco gathering 19 touches, Steven Browne 18 and Trent Manzone 17.

Marc Crisp worked hard across half-forward for 18 possessions, seven marks and 10 inside-50 entries while Anthony Tsalikis finished with 16 disposals, 10 marks and a goal.

East Perth won the first battle of the partnered clubs with the Royals enjoying a blend of good performance from Eagles and non-Eagles players in the 19-point win over Peel in Mandurah.

Josh Smith booted three goals for East Perth with Steven Payne, Freddie Clutterbuck and Ashley Smith all adding two majors apiece.

Adam Carter racked up a game-high 31 possessions for the Royals with Craig Wulff collecting 29 disposals, Brad Sheppard 28, Payne 25, Jacob Brennan 23, Brant Colledge 23, Smith 23 and Clutterbuck 23.

East Perth's back-line stood up well with Nathan Blee also finishing with 20 possessions with Jeremy McGovern gathering 20 disposals, Kyle Anderson 1 and., Will Schofield 18

Paul Johnson finished with 12 possessions and 17 hit outs in the ruck, and Scott Lycett 14 touches, six marks and 18 hit outs.

Peel captain Brendon Jones led the way for his team yet again after changing his mind on retirement over summer.

Jones finished the afternoon with 27 possessions and a goal.

Josh Simpson also finished the game with 25 possessions for the Thunder while Anthony Morabito racked up 23 disposals, Sam Menegola 22, Matt Brown 18, Hayden Crozier 18, Garrick Ibbotson 18 and Cruize Garlett 17.

Kristin Thornton was Peel's only multiple goal scorer booting two majors while Zac Clarke finished with 13 possessions, 30 hit outs and a goal in the ruck.

Perth dominated Claremont after quarter-time at Lathlain Park to end up winning by 65 points with Matt Moody finishing with four goals, and Callum Collard, Mitchell Lleyendekkers, Brennan Stack and Joel Leeson all booting two apiece.

Perhaps the most pleasing thing about the win for the Demons was that it was a host of vastly inexperienced, emerging and mostly youthful players who were their star performers.

While the AFL-experienced Moody, Paul Bevan (18 possessions), Gerald Ugle (22, one goal), Jarryd Morton (17) and Stack (two goals) they weren’t relied upon to carry the majority of the load.

Cameron Manuel played the best league game of his career finishing with 27 possessions, eight marks and a goal with Michael Florio racking up 24 disposals, Jarrad Irons 22, Dene White 21, Collard 21 (two goals), Leeson 21 and Daniel O'Sullivan 21.

Brad Keast also had 19 possessions and laid six tackles with Kieran Hug finishing 17 touches and Reese Richardson 18.

It was a tough afternoon for Claremont with John Williams and Anton Hamp kicking two goals apiece.

Andrew Foster picked up a team-high 27 possessions to go with six inside-50 entries and a goal for the Tigers while Ryan Neates gathered 25 disposals, Luke Blackwell 18, Jake Murphy 18, Aaron Holt 17, Matthew Davies 17, Tom Taylor 17 and returning key defender Brandon Franz 16.

Ruckman Mark Seaby tried hard and finished with 14 possessions, 35 hit outs and a goal.

Subiaco might have had less possessions and entries inside-50 than South Fremantle, but the Lions made the most of their chances to end up beating the Bulldogs by 38 points in the final game of Round 1.

Rhys Waters kicked a career-best five goals from 18 possessions in the 33 match of his WAFL career for the Lions while recruits Matt Boland and Shane Yarran were both impressive in front of goals kicking four and three majors respectively.

They were far from the only three star Subiaco performers on the night, though, with Chris Phelan finishing with a team-high 32 possessions, six marks, five tackles and five inside 50s.

Swan Districts recruit Wayde Twomey gathered 27 possessions and nine marks off half-back in what was his Subiaco debut, but 99th WAFL match overall.

Jason Bristow also finished the twilight encounter with 22 touches, six tackles and a goal with Shaun Hildebrandt contributing 22 possessions, Lachlan Delahunty 21, George Hampson 20 (nine inside 50s) and debutant Hayden Kennedy 15.

Ashton Hams was clearly South Fremantle's best player on Saturday against Subiaco finishing with 32 possessions, eight inside-50 entries and a goal.

Jacob Martinez worked hard for 24 possessions while also laying six strong tackles and kicking a goal.

Haiden Schloithe also worked hard finishing with 25 disposals, seven inside 50s and four tackles while Ryan Cook had 20 touches.

The forward-line was led by Ben Saunders who kicked three goals but he did add four behinds while Adam Guglielmana and Kris Miller worked hard combining for 40 possessions, but also four points between them.

Centre half-forward Josh Pullman also had just two behinds but he continually presented hard finishing with 16 possessions, eight marks and four inside 50s.

South Fremantle's back-line stood up reasonably well led by Adam McIntosh (19 possessions), Craig White (16), Steve Mills (10), Nick Borovac (nine), Jason Maskos (15) and Dylan Ross (13).

Ruckman James Sellar made his WAFL debut and finished with 16 disposals, 27 hit outs, five tackles, four inside 50s and a goal.

PUSHING FOR A SPOT
East Fremantle's reserves led West Perth by 31 points at half-time and then withstood a fight back from the Falcons to hold and win by 10 points in the finish.

Thomas Bowey and Louis Cronan booted three goals apiece for the Sharks with Dion Anthony adding two while Tyler Chalwell racked up 24 possessions, Tom Hooker 19, Jake Schleicher 18, Jarryd Lindsay 18, Conor Regan 18, Josh Cuneo 17 and Adrian Ricciardello 17.

Meanwhile in the reserves, West Perth fought back hard after trailing by 31 points at half-time to kick four goals to one in the third quarter, and then three goals to two in the last but ended up coming up short by 10 points.

Brayden Antonio was outstanding for the Falcons' reserves finishing with 32 possessions while Drew Rohde kicked four goals in an impressive performance.

Jack Thrum also gathered 25 disposals with James Batterham finishing the game with 23 touches, Aidan Lynch 22, Corey Chalmers 19, Max Alexander 17 and Seva Martin 41 hit outs in the ruck in his first official appearance for West Perth.

East Perth's reserves recorded a comfortable 57-point win over Peel with Samuel Ims booting four goals, Matt Gordon three and two each to Kane Moulton and Malcolm Karpany.

Thomas Omodei also racked up 29 possessions for the Royals with Jacob Payne gathering 27 disposals, Julian Ameduri 24, Thomas Shanahan 24, Julian Locantro 23, William Maginness 22, Marcus Ruggiero 9, Agid Gardoud 19, Jackson Slater 18 and Daniel Perkins 18.

Liam McKenna once again won plenty of the ball for Peel's reserves as he did throughout 2013 finishing with 27 possessions with Toby Gianatti gathering 20 touches, Aiden Field 19, Ryan Mulgrave 18, Corey Morris 15 and Josh Mathers 15.

Claremont's reserves scored a 22-point win over Perth with Keegan Knott booting four majors and Jack Richardson two from 25 possessions, 12 marks and five inside-50 entries.

Former Swan Districts midfielder Mathew Aitchison racked up 32 possessions and 10 marks for the Tigers with Ben Daniher finishing with 24 disposals, Henry Roberts 23, Corey Yeo 20, Sam Lamont 18, Ben Taylor 18 and Jordan Law 18.

Matthew White, Brock Bakker and Mark Deaves booted two goals apiece for Demons with South Fremantle recruit Sean Lynch finishing with 25 possessions, Mitch Morton 21, Tim Hunt 21, Joel Kalajzic 20, Ryan Gray 19, Daniel Arangio 18, Blake Borrett 18, Matthew Hunt 18 and Hayden Busher 17.

And finally, the Bulldogs lost three players through injury and had to bounce back from an 11-point deficit to end up recording a terrific 11.11 (77) to 8.9 (57) victory to begin their premiership defence in style over Subiaco.

South Fremantle's reserves kicked eight goals to three after half-time to end up beating Subiaco by 20 points despite losing Anthony Collica, Josh Branchi and Josh Hall to injury throughout the match.

Traye Bennell and Kaiden Matera booted three goals apiece for the Bulldogs while Lewis Harvey added two.

Brendan Verrier led the way with 27 possessions while Jarrod Parry collected 26 disposals, James Laurino 25, Nick Olds 25, Mitch Carter 23 and Toby Bairstow 22.

Darcy Boyle kicked three goals for Subiaco and Jordan Bestry two with Rhett Kerr gathering 22 possessions, Charles Le Fanu 21, Joe Scafidi 20, Will Fetherstonehaugh 19, Reece Blechynden 18and Sean Bradley 18.