Round 5 WAFL Wrap UpWednesday, April 23, 2014 - 7:05 AM - by Chris Pike

EASTER Round of the 2014 WAFL season was split over three days with East Fremantle and Subiaco recording victories on Good Friday, South Fremantle winning on Saturday and Swan Districts then prevailing in a thriller over Perth on Easter Sunday.

The action began on Good Friday with East Fremantle beating Peel Thunder 12.14 (86) to 10.8 (68) at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium and then Subiaco downing East Perth 16.10 (106) to 12.10 (82) at Leederville's Medibank Stadium.

South Fremantle then recorded its first win of 2014 beating West Perth 15.8 (98) to 10.15 (75) at Arena Joondalup and on Easter Sunday, Swan Districts kicked the last three goals to beat Perth 14.8 (92) to 13.13 (91).

The results leave Subiaco out on top of the ladder unbeaten from five games followed by East Fremantle (3-1), Swan Districts (3-1) and East Perth (3-2).

Just outside the four are West Perth (2-3) followed by Perth (2-2), South Fremantle (1-4), Claremont (1-3) and Peel Thunder (0-4). 

Click here for the summary of Round 5 of the WAFL

THE BIG WINNERS
Subiaco continues to answer every challenge so far in 2014 now having won its first five matches to be the only team yet to taste defeat this season.

The Lions have beaten South Fremantle, East Fremantle, Claremont, Peel Thunder and now East Perth on their way to a 5-0 start to the season.

Subiaco was expected to improve this season having missed out on the finals the last two years following the 2011 grand final, but nobody quite expected that to happen to this degree.

Subiaco did get off to a hot start on Good Friday in front of 3440 fans at Medibank Stadium kicking the only six goals of the first quarter against East Perth, but by three quarter-time the Royals appeared in control leading by 15 points.

However, the Lions then kicked another six goals to nil in the final term to end up winning by 24 points leading into a bye this weekend and then a Round 7 clash against the also in-form Swan Districts at Medibank Stadium.

THE BIG LOSERS
Peel Thunder remains the only winless team in 2014 now after losing on Good Friday to East Fremantle, but once again the boys from Mandurah were right in the contest all afternoon.

Peel has lost all four of its games so far this season and even though it was only by 19 points to East Perth, 25 points to Swan Districts, 17 points to Subiaco and 18 points to East Fremantle, the fact remains that four points haven’t come the Thunder's way.

Even more concerning is the fact that both Peel's reserves and colts have yet to win either so far in 2014 heading into Round 6 this Saturday afternoon against the also struggling Claremont at the Showgrounds.

THE SHINING LIGHTS
George Hampson continued his career-best form for Subiaco with another best on ground performance with 24 possessions and five goals. Matt Boland also added four goals from seven kicks for the Lions.

Jason Bristow also collected 21 possessions, Lachlan Delahunty 21, Kyal Horsley 20, Chris Phelan 19 and Frank Stockley 17 to go with 22 hit outs and a goal while up against Scott Lycett, Callum Sinclair and Paul Johnson.

Lycett finished with five goals from 15 touches, eight marks and 12 hit outs for the Royals with Sinclair spending the majority of the time in the ruck and ending up with 20 disposals, nine marks and 12 hit outs.

Craig Wulff once again led the way for East Perth with another 25 possessions and two goals with Nathan Blee gathering 25 disposals, Blayne Wilson 24, Sam Butler 27 and Brant Colledge 26.

Bradd Dalziell was once again outstanding for East Fremantle and he spent most of the game across half-forward finishing up with 25 possessions and two goals. Jack Perham also booted two goals for the Sharks.

Brock O'Brien provided huge run off half-back and picked up a team-high 29 possessions with his older brother Rory picking up 28 disposals Andrew Stephen 24, Cameron Eardley 24, Sean Henson 23, Brett Peake 23 and Jamie McNamara 20.

There were three Fremantle ruckmen lining up for Peel with Craig Moller spending most of the game forward and kicking three goals with Jack Hannath the pick of them with 18 possessions, seven marks, 11 hit outs and a goal. Jonathon Griffin finished with 30 hit outs.

Tom Sheridan was terrific all day for Peel racking up 32 possessions while former skipper Brendon Jones had 29 touches, Garrick Ibbotson 24, Anthony Morabito 19 and Matt Brown 19 to go with two goals.

Alex Silvagni had a good game in defence for the Thunder as well while Jacob Ballard was impressive gathering 25 possessions.

Peel's cause wasn’t helped when key defender and former Brisbane Lions AFL player James Hawksley went down with a hamstring injury before half-time.

Ben Saunders starred up forward for South Fremantle booting seven goals after having just seven in the opening four games of the season.

His seven-goal haul came from 17 possessions and just the one mark. It's the first time the 2012 Bernie Naylor Medallist has managed seven in a match since doing it in Round 18, 2012 against Subiaco.

Veteran Craig White was also outstanding for South Fremantle in his second week as a forward after spending the majority of his 162-game career in defence even though his initial time in the league side was as a forward.

White finished with four goals from 19 possessions and seven marks.

South Fremantle's midfield was also outstanding led by ruckman Brock Higgins who finished with 21 possessions and 31 hit outs.

Haiden Schloithe backed up his 38 possessions last week against Swan Districts with another 37 disposals to go with six tackles and five inside-50 entries.

Tim Kelly was also terrific with 29 touches through the middle with captain Ryan Cook finishing with 24 possessions, Steven Verrier 24, Brendan Verrier 24 and Shaun Bewick 22.

Toby Bairstow has also been given a new role since returning to the league side for South Fremantle and he did a superb job restricting West Perth's prolific ball-winner Shane Nelson to just 12 possessions for the day.

The Bulldogs' defence was also terrific with Dylan Ross and Nick Borovac doing good jobs respectively on Marcus Adams and Anthony Tsalikis who combined for 11 goals last week against East Perth. They combined for just three on Saturday.

Ashton Hams roamed across half-back and finished with 31 possessions while Adam Guglielmana had 20 touches and nine marks while doing well defensively on both Marc Crisp and Andrew Krakouer.

It was Krakouer's league debut for West Perth and his first WAFL match since the 2010 grand final, and he finished with just two kicks, six handpasses and a goal. His two kicks at least resulted in two goals though.

Rohan Kerr finished with 29 possessions for West Perth with Aaron Black also having it 29 times, Jay van Berlo 26, Brayden Antonio and Jordan Jones 22 who was particularly prominent in the second half after being moved from defence on to the ball.

Dan Hunt was outstanding in defence spending most of the game on Josh Pullman and shutting him down.

As well as Davis kicking three goals from his 21 possessions, five tackles and four inside-50 entries, Tim Geappen and Ricky Cary both stepped up in the forward-line for Swans kicking three goals apiece.

Matthew Jukes and then again his former side, Matthew Rogers both added two goals apiece for the black-and-whites.

Adam Faulkner finished up with a game-high 30 possessions for Swan Districts while Blaine Boekhorst gathered 26 disposals, Travis Casserly 25, Justin Simpson 25, Aaron Elari 23, Kirk Ugle 22, Jarrad Blight 21, Connor Blakely 21 and Nathan Blakely 20 to go with 23 hit outs.

Matt Moody returned to the Perth line-up after missing the last two games with a rib injury and he kicked three goals with captain Paul Bevan adding two to go with 19 possessions, nine marks and six inside 50s.

Sean Lynch made a terrific debut for Perth having crossed from South Fremantle in the off-season and finished with a team-high 26 possessions.

Jarryd Morton also gathered 25 disposals for the Demons, Michael Florio 24, Mitch Morton 23, Gerald Ugle 23, Dene White 20 and ruckman Ben Power 19 to go with 27 hit outs, six marks, five tackles and a goal in his league debut in the absence of Mitchell Lleyendekkers.

PUSHING FOR A SPOT
Subiaco's reserves recorded a 52-point win over East Perth with Ray Daniels and Dylan Clarke kicking three goals apiece, and Andrew McDougall and Jordan Bestry two.

Joe Scafidi racked up 27 possessions for the Lions with Ryan Wade finishing with 26 touches, Matt Bogensperger 25, Simon Moore 24, Reece Blechynden 24, Nathan Stewart 22, Will Fetherstonhaugh 20 and Joel Ashman 20.

Matt Gordon and Samuel Ims kicked two goals each for the Royals with Julian Locantro racking up 31 possessions, Tom Shanahan 29, Rowen Powell 28, Will Magginness 24 and Beau Chatley 23.

East Fremantle's reserves beat Peel by 22 points in Mandurah with Brandon Ellis booting five goals and Michael Edwards racking up 28 possessions, Jacob Green 21, Tom Hooker 21, Miles Franklin 21, Jarryd Lindsay 20 and Connor Regan 19.

Jake Solomon was also impressive in the ruck with 17 touches, six marks and 22 hit outs.

Cruize Garlett racked up 26 possessions, eight marks and five inside 50s for Peel with Aidan Field finishing with 30 disposals, Laine Wilkins 26, Jeff Carter 21, Rhys Anzellino 20 and Ethan Hughes 19.

Once again, though, it was Liam McKenna who put in a brilliant performance for the Thunder.

Despite having 28 possessions in the league side the previous week against Subiaco, McKenna again found himself back in the reserves and responded by finishing the match with 38 possessions, nine marks and five inside-50 entries.

West Perth's reserves beat South Fremantle 11.8 (74) to 10.6 (66) in a rematch of last year's grand final won by the Bulldogs.

Matt Johnson and Ben McNamara kicked two goals each for the Falcons with Aidan Lynch racking up 31 possessions, Jack Thrum 27, Shaun Marusic 23, Cameron Branch 22, Joe Morrow 20, Mitch McPhee 19, Mitch van Berlo 18 and James Batterham 18.

Kris Miller had a strong game for South Fremantle finishing with 34 possessions and two goals with Anthony Collica making just his second appearance of the year and impressing with 25 disposals and a goal before taking a heavy knock to his just on the final siren.

Joe Pantano also gathered 26 possessions with Ben Sokol gathering 24 to go with his three goals. Lewis Harvey had 22 touches, Steve Mills 21, Tim Stewart 20 and Alistair Gillespie added two goals.

Rodney Jetta kicked three goals for Swan Districts with Braden Smith and Aaron Jetta booting two goals each.

Nathan Broad picked up 26 possessions, Jaye Colegate 23, Jesse Manton 23, Jacob Burnham 21 and Josh Kirkup 20.