Round 4 WAFL Wrap UpTuesday, April 15, 2014 - 6:05 PM - by Chris Pike

WEST Perth made history while handing East Perth its first loss, East Fremantle bounced back emphatically, Subiaco remained unbeaten and Swan Districts continued its impressive start in Round 4 WAFL action on Saturday.

East Fremantle thrashed Claremont 21.11 (137) to 9.8 (62) at East Fremantle Oval with West Perth beating East Perth 22.17 (149) to 7.7 (49) at Leederville's Medibank Stadium, Subiaco downed Peel Thunder 16.9 (105) to 13.10 (88) at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium and Swan Districts defeated South Fremantle 13.16 (94) to 11.15 (81) at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval.

The results mean that Subiaco (4-0) remains atop the WAFL ladder as the only remaining unbeaten team followed by East Perth (3-1), West Perth (2-2) and Perth (2-1).

Outside the top-four are Swan Districts (2-1), East Fremantle (2-1), Claremont (1-3), Peel Thunder (0-3) and South Fremantle (0-4).

Click here for the summary of Round 4 of the WAFL

THE BIG WINNERS
West Perth came into its grand final rematch with East Perth having recorded its first win of the season over Perth following tight losses to East Fremantle and Claremont, and made a real statement to the rest of the WAFL that they are deadly serious about their premiership defence.

It was a complete demolition job by the Falcons who ended up winning 22.17 (149) to 7.7 (49) finishing up not only with the 100-point victory, but 39 scoring shots to 14, 31 more possessions, 14 more marks and an incredible 61 inside 50s to just 32.

Just seven days after many in the WAFL competition were beginning to worry about how to stop a West Coast-strengthened East Perth line-up following its 75-point thrashing of South Fremantle, the Falcons allayed those fears.

East Perth had opened its season with wins over Peel Thunder, Swan Districts and South Fremantle, but lost Eagles players Jeremy McGovern, Scott Lycett, Patrick McGinnity, Sam Butler, Josh Hill and Dom Sheed to the AFL coming into Saturday's grand final rematch with West Perth at Leederville.

The result was the Royals kicking just seven goals for the match, and two after half-time, to lose to West Perth by 100 points for the first ever time in history.

THE BIG LOSERS
South Fremantle remains anchored to the bottom of the ladder with four straight losses after losing their first seven of 2013.

That is despite the Bulldogs having plenty of opportunities against Subiaco in Round 1, leading Perth by 44 points in Round 2 and now having more of the ball again against Swan Districts on Saturday.

Coach Paul Hasleby has shown that he is not afraid to make the big calls on dropping players having sent 301-game champion Kris Miller back to the reserves last week.

As a result this week, Brendan Verrier, Mitch Carter, Steven Verrier, Josh Pullman, Jason Maskos and Zac Strom all have reasons to think that their place in the league line-up might be in jeopardy against West Perth with South Fremantle desperate to find the right tonic to get on the board in 2014.

THE SHINING LIGHTS
West Perth welcomed back premiership pair Kody Manning and Marc Crisp from suspension to play East Perth and every member of the Falcons team made a strong contribution led up forward by six goals to Anthony Tsalikis, five to Marcus Adams, four to Matt Fowler and three to Manning.

The back-line was equally impressive holding both Josh Smith and Fraser McInnes scoreless while Aaron Black (30 touches), Steve Potente (25), Shane Nelson (23), Andrew Strijk (28) and Rohan Kerr (26) dominated possession.

Simon Tunbridge was East Perth's only multiple scorer kicking three goals for the game from nine kicks.

Captain Craig Wulff was against East Perth's best finishing with 29 possessions and a goal with second-gamer Julian Locantro again impressing with 22 possessions and a goal as well.

Steven Payne also gathered 23 disposals for the Royals, Brett Dobson 23, Mark Hutchings 22, Freddie Clutterbuck 20 and Blayne Wilson 18 to go with seven marks.

Swan Districts' victory over South Fremantle was set up by an outstanding performance from its entire defensive unit.

Captain Tallan Ames was inspirational not only in his performance to keep 2012 Bernie Naylor Medallist Ben Saunders to one goal, but he also spent time on former teammate Josh Pullman and didn’t give him a sniff.

Ames also finished with 17 possessions, 11 marks and four tackles.

Justin Simpson was also at his rock solid best at centre half-back strong defensively and finishing with 20 touches and eight marks.

Kirk Ugle was outstanding and finished with 21 possessions, eight marks and a terrific running goal. Alex Howard was also rock solid most of the afternoon on Pullman.

Graham Jetta provided enormous run from the back-line as well ending up with 25 possessions with Aaron Elari playing in the back half for most of the afternoon and doing well in a new defensive role from the usual free-wheeling wingman.

Further up the field, Ryan Davis was outstanding for Swans with 25 possessions, nine inside 50s, seven marks and a goal with Adam Faulkner adding 19 touches, Connor Blakely 19, Blaine Boekhorst 17 and Travis Casserly 17.

Last week's eight-goal hero Ricky Cary kicked another three majors with Matthew Jukes adding two.

Haiden Schloithe did all he possibly could in the midfield for South Fremantle finishing with a career-high 38 possessions to go with 14 marks and two goals.

Tim Kelly also worked hard finishing with 26 touches, seven marks, five inside 50s, four tackles and two goals.

Captain Ryan Cook was another tireless worker ending up with 28 touches, 10 marks, seven inside 50s and a goal.

Shaun Bewick had 22 possessions on the wing while down back, Ashton Hams finished with 29 possessions and Dylan Ross 21.

Brock Higgins again worked hard on his own in the ruck in the absence of James Sellar, Alistair Gillespie and Paul Mugambwa, and finished the match with 15 touches and 28 hit outs as the best ruckman in the game.

Nick Borovac continued his outstanding defensive form to open the 2014 season keeping Swan Districts' veteran forward Tim Geappen to just the one goal and 13 disposals.

South Fremantle coach Paul Hasleby tried some new things and the move of veteran Craig White to the forward-line was one that worked. He led up well providing a strong target from centre half-forward finishing with 11 possessions, seven marks and four inside 50s.

East Fremantle bounced back from a 56-point loss to Subiaco in Geraldton before a bye last weekend with a 75-point thumping of Claremont at East Fremantle Oval on Saturday.

It was a dominant showing from the Sharks in their second win of the season with them not only winning by 75 points, but finishing with 100 more possessions, 25 more marks, 15 more scoring shots and 20 more entries inside the forward 50.

Debutant Richard Bourne kicked four goals for East Fremantle but it was Bradd Dalziell who was the clear best on ground finishing with 30 possessions, eight marks and four goals.

Sean Henson also played his best game of the season and got back to his outstanding form of 2012 with 30 possessions, eight marks, seven inside 50s and two goals.

Jack Perham also kicked three goals for the Sharks with Brett Peake adding two from his 24 disposals.

Scott Hancock was another strong contributor for the Sharks with 28 possessions and 13 inside-50 entries with Rory O'Brien still managing 25 possessions despite the close tag of his former East Fremantle teammate Corey Yeo.

Jamie McNamara also had 24 touches for East Fremantle, Aidan Tropiano 25, Brock O'Brien 22 and Cameron Eardley 21.

It was Claremont's third heavy loss from four games this season only interrupted by a win over the reigning premier West Perth in Round 2 at Arena Joondalup.

Ruckman Mark Seaby worked hard for Claremont in his best showing of 2014 finishing with 20 possessions, seven marks, 14 hit outs and three goals.

Jack Richardson was Claremont's only other multiple goal scorer with two.

Luke Blackwell racked up 28 possessions for the Tigers, Andrew Foster 22, Ryan Neates 22, Matt Orzel 18 and Tom Taylor 18.

Subiaco recorded its fourth straight win to open the 2014 season and remain on top of the WAFL ladder with a hard fought 17-point victory.

Subiaco's goals were again well spread around with Matt Boland and George Hampson kicking three apiece, and Lachlan Delahunty, Chris Deluca, Rhys Waters and Jason Bristow all adding two.

Frank Stockley had a terrific game in the ruck finishing with 18 possessions and 16 hit outs despite coming up against three Fremantle ruckmen – Jonathon Griffin, Jack Hannath and Craig Moller.

Bristow collected 31 possessions to go with six marks, six inside 50s and four tackles to go with his two goals.

Chris Phelan racked up 28 disposals for the Lions, Delahunty 24, Kyal Horsley 24, Shaun Hildebrandt 23, Joel Latham 23, Hampson 22 and Justin Joyce 18.

Kelvin Lawrence booted four goals in the loss for the Thunder with Michael Apeness, Matt Brown and Anthony Morabito all booting two apiece.

Liam McKenna forced his way into the Peel line-up through sheer numbers in the reserves and he continued on that form in his first league appearance of 2014 with 28 possessions, eight marks and four inside-50 entries.

Brown gathered 25 disposals to go with his two goals for the Thunder with Morabito racking up 23 touches, Tom Sheridan 22, Hannath 22 (25 hit outs), Alex Silvagni 22, Brendon Jones 21 and Eddie Dann 18.

PUSHING FOR A SPOT
West Perth's reserves beat East Perth 22.14 (146) to 4.7 (31) with Corey Chalmers, Drew Rohde and Mitch McPhee all kicking two goals apiece.

Max Alexander added three goals with Matt Johnson and Aidan Lynch booting two apiece.

Jack Thrum racked up 30 possessions, James Embley 26, Lynch 23, Shaun Marusic 21, Rohde and Kris Shannon 18. Seva Martin finished with 40 hit outs in the ruck.

Andrew Krakouer finished with 26 possessions, seven tackles, five inside-50 entries and a goal. He is a chance to come in for his West Perth debut this Saturday against South Fremantle at Arena Joondalup as a result.

Kane Moulton, Samuel Ims, Steven Wityk and Trent Bradshaw combined for East Perth's only four goals with Tom Shanahan gathering 20 possessions and Jackson Slater 18.

Claremont's reserves beat East Fremantle by 18 points with Jordan Aitken, Ben Higgs, Alexander Manuel and Shane McAdam all kicking two goals each.

Mathew Aitchison racked up 28 possessions to go with eight inside 50s while Sam Fong had 23 disposals, Coleman Cristinelli 21, Matthew Goyder 20 and Mitch Andrews 15 to go with 24 hit outs and a goal.

Dion Anthony kicked three goals for East Fremantle with Michael Edwards collecting 23 possessions, Miles Franklin 22 and Tom Hooker 20.

Swan Districts' reserves beat South Fremantle by 12 points with Rodney Jetta booting six goals and Braden Smith three.

Jesse Manton racked up 30 possessions, Jarrad Blight 25, Jai Menegola 22 and Rudy Riddoch 20.

Kris Miller kicked three goals for South Fremantle with two each to Traye Bennell and John Sgherza.

However, Sgherza did get injured early in the game as did key defender Steve Mills.

Miller's welcome into the reserves line-up after being demoted from the league side was a close tag all game long from Swan Districts youngster Ben Holman. The 301-game WAFL champion still managed the three goals from 14 possessions despite the close attention.

Jarrod Parry racked up 29 possessions for the Bulldogs in the reserves with Lewis Harvey also collecting 20 disposals, Emmanuel Collard 19 and Jayden D'Vauz 18.

Subiaco's reserves also recorded a thumping 83-point victory over Peel in Mandurah with Dylan Clarke booting seven goals and Ray Daniels three from eight shots and 24 possessions.

Simon Moore racked up 32 possessions, Reece Blechynden 26, Joe Scafidi 26, Matt Bogensperger 25, Rhett Kerr 24 and Charles Le Fanu 22.

Big man Andrew McDougall made his first appearance of the season after a knee injury and was also impressive with 23 touches, six marks, 19 hit outs and a goal.

Cruize Garlett racked up 33 possessions for the Thunder with Aiden Field finishing with 31 touches, Matthew Rubery 23 and Laine Wilkins 22.