Round 8 WAFL Wrap UpTuesday, May 13, 2014 - 3:53 PM - by Chris Pike

THE top-three WAFL teams all recorded strong Round 8 victories on Saturday before West Perth came from nowhere to snatch a win over Peel on Sunday to move into fourth place.

The round began on Saturday afternoon with East Perth thrashing Claremont 19.10 (124) to 6.8 (44) at Medibank Stadium, Subiaco downing Perth 16.12 (108) to 11.8 (74) at Lathlain Park and Swan Districts were too good for East Fremantle 20.15 (135) to 10.15 (75) at Steel Blue Oval.

Then on Sunday at Arena Joondalup, West Perth came from 42 points down at half-time, 30 points behind at three quarter-time and still 17 points back at time-on in the last quarter to snatch a win off Peel Thunder, 14.9 (93) to 14.8 (92).

The weekend's results see the top-three teams streak three games clear of the rest of the competition with Subiaco (6-1) on top ahead of Swan Districts (6-1) and East Perth (6-2).

West Perth (3-4) moves into fourth position followed by Perth (3-4), South Fremantle (3-4), East Fremantle (3-4), Claremont (2-5) and Peel Thunder (0-7).

Click here for the summary of Round 8 of the WAFL

THE BIG WINNERS
East Perth, Subiaco and Swan Districts all sent a message that they are so far a cut above the rest of the competition in 2014 with their wins on Saturday.

The Royals kicked the first five goals against Claremont and were never challenged cruising to an 80-point win which could have been a lot more had they not taken the foot off the pedal in the fourth quarter.

East Perth now heads into a two-week break prior to its Foxtel Cup clash with Norwood at Patersons Stadium on Tuesday May 27 on a 6-2 record having played every side in the competition once.

Swan Districts dominated East Fremantle for three quarters and then cruised to a 60-point win on Saturday as well with the black-and-whites now having won six straight matches in fine fashion.

Subiaco maintained top position by bouncing back from its 43-point loss to Swan Districts to comfortably beat Perth by 34 points on Saturday.

THE BIG LOSERS
Peel Thunder would have been left heartbroken after not getting its first win of the season against West Perth on Sunday, but the boys from Mandurah continue to be a chance of winning each week which is something Claremont and East Fremantle aren’t at the moment.

Claremont has won two matches this season over West Perth and Peel, but when the Tigers have been beaten it has not been pretty.

The Tigers have now lost five matches in 2014 by an average of 73 points with the smallest defeat being the Round 7 loss to South Fremantle. Again on Saturday, Claremont was never a chance in an 80-point loss to East Perth.

East Fremantle has won three games this season over West Perth, Claremont and Peel, but its last three weeks have been disappointing particularly the first three quarters in each contest.

The Sharks found themselves 46 points behind South Fremantle on Anzac Day before losing by 17, trailed East Perth in Round 7 before losing by 10 and then trailed Swan Districts on Saturday by 59 points at the last change before losing by 60.

Lifting in the last quarter means precious little when so far behind and that's what coach Steve Malaxos will be hammering into his players while the Sharks desperately need to find a way to build a forward-line that can function because their midfield and defence is going reasonably well.

THE SHINING LIGHTS
East Perth kicked the first five goals of the game against Claremont and then the only seven of the second quarter to lead by 60 points at half-time, and to end up winning by 80.

Steven Payne, Craig Wulff, Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls, Jeremy McGovern, Patrick McGinnity and Sam Butler all kicked two goals in an even spread of goal kickers for East Perth in the continued absence of Josh Smith.

Co-captain Brendan Lee was superb in just his second game of the season with 31 possessions, five tackles and a goal while McGinnity racked up 32 disposals, eight inside 50s and five tackles to go with his two goals.

Butler continued his outstanding form in the midfield for the Royals with 28 touches, six inside 50s and his two goals.

Steven Payne also collected 27 possessions for East Perth, Brant Colledge 26, Nathan Blee 25, Freddie Clutterbuck 23, Wulff 22 and Fraser McInnes 18 to go with eight marks and a goal.

Luke Blackwell worked tirelessly for Claremont with 29 possessions while Tom Taylor collected 28 touches, Tom Ledger 21, Jake Murphy 20 and Jordan McAllister 18 in defence. Trinity Handley also battled hard in his first game since Round 1 at both ends of the ground.

Subiaco was in control of its clash with Perth from the outset on Saturday to end up winning by 34 points to maintain top spot on the ladder with Shane Yarran kicking four goals for the Lions, Matt Boland three and Chris Deluca two.

George Hampson returned to the team after missing the previous week's loss to Swan Districts and had 25 possessions and eight marks with captain Kyal Horsley also finishing with 25 disposals, five tackles and a goal.

Joel Latham also ended up with 23 possessions for the Lions with Justin Joyce picking up 23 disposals, Wayde Twomey 19, Chris Phelan 17, Jason Bristow 17 and Frank Stockley 16 to go with 36 hit outs and four inside-50 entries.

Joel Leeson, Paul Bevan, Brennan Stack, Haydn Busher and Callum Collard all kicked two goals apiece for Perth.

Cale Morton racked up 34 possessions to with 11 marks, five inside 50s and a goal for the Demons with Dene White having it 26 times, Michael Florio 22, Cameron Manuel 20, Stack 19 and Gerald Ugle 19.

Swan Districts kicked 10 goals to three in the first half against East Fremantle to set up the eventual 60-point win with Matthew Jukes backing up his six-goal haul from the week before with another four majors for the black-and-whites.

Tim Geappen also kicked four goals for Swans with Tony Notte and Matthew Rogers also kicking two goals apiece.

Rogers continued his remarkable form this season for Swan Districts with another 33 possessions, eight marks and four inside-50 entries to go with his two goals.

Ryan Davis was also superb for Swans with 31 possessions, 10 inside 50s, seven marks and a goal while Justin Simpson controlled the game at centre half-back with 31 touches, seven marks and a goal.

Even captain Tallan Ames sneaked forward for a goal in his 201st match for Swans. While he has kicked 48 goals now for his career, his major on Saturday was his first goal since Round 20, 2008. It breaks a string of 109 matches without a goal.

Not only that, but it's first score since Round 20, 2008 as well with him not having kicked a behind since Round 10, 2008. 

Blaine Boekhorst had another breakout game with 29 possesisons while Matt Riggio had 28 touches.

Adam Faulkner also had 22 touches for Swans, Kirk Ugle 21, Connor Blakely 20, Aaron Elari 19, Jarrad Blight 18 and ruckman Nathan Blakely 18 to go with 16 hit outs.

Bradd Dalziell worked hard for East Fremantle with 25 possessions and two goals with Rory O'Brien gathering 30 disposals and former skipper Mark McGough 27 to go with six inside 50s and a goal in his first match of the season wrist surgery.

Jayden Schofield also had 22 possessions, Cameron Eardley 21 and Danny Chartres 18.

As well as kicking the winning goal, Anthony Tsalikis had a strong game for West Perth finishing with 27 possessions, 10 marks and five inside-50 entries.

Shane Nelson again led the way in the midfield for the Falcons with 34 possessions and six tackles with Aaron Black finishing with 29 disposals as well.

Andrew Strijk was instrumental in West Perth's fight back in the second half and finished the game with 27 disposals and a crucial final quarter goal.

Steve Potente also worked hard for 25 touches to go with two goals with Jay van Berlo picking up 22 disposals, Luke Tedesco 19, Steven Browne 18 and Kody Manning 16 to go with 12 tackles and two goals.

Andrew Krakouer also kicked three goals from seven kicks with Nick Rodda booting two majors as well.

Peel deserved to win based on its performance for the most of the afternoon and had a host of players who performed strongly, both those listed by Fremantle and those not.

Sam Menegola returned for his first game since Round 3 for the Thunder and was outstanding in the midfield with 33 possessions and five tackles while Tom Sheridan also contributed 32 disposals, six marks and two goals.

Former skipper Brendon Jones racked up another 25 possessions while Eddie Dann also had 25 disposals and kicked a goal to go with six tackles and doing a good job keeping an eye on Krakouer for most of the day.

Jacob Ballard also picked up 22 possessions, Anthony Morabito 21 (two goals), Kristin Thornton 18, Kepler Bradley 17 (seven marks) and Jonathon Griffin 11 (47 hit outs, five tackles).

Matt Taberner starred up forward for the Thunder with 16 possessions, 12 marks and five goals with Cruize Garlett also booting two majors.

PUSHING FOR A SPOT
East Perth's reserves also beat Claremont by 32 points on Saturday with Matt Gordon and Steven Wityk kicking two goals each, and Callum Hart racking up 28 possessions, Mitch Howlett 24, Julian Locantro 23, Will Magginness 23 and Dean Cadwallader 19.

Keifer Yu, Keegan Knott, Jordan Aitken and Jayden Brooks kicked two goals each for Claremont with Ben Daniher racking up 26 possessions and Henry Roberts 22.

Subiaco's reserves beat Perth by 21 points with Kyle Halligan booting five goals for the Lions with Dylan Clarke, Joe Scafidi and Chris Wrigley adding two apiece.

Ray Daniels also finished with 22 possessions for Subiaco, Matt Bogensperger 21, Ryan Wade 21, Halligan 20, Luke Norriss 20 and Nathan Stewart 20.

Mark Deaves kicked four goals for Perth with Joel Houghton and Rowan Brookes adding two apiece.

Daniel Arangio also picked up 22 possessions for the Demons and Joel Kalajzic 21.

East Fremantle's reserves beat Swan Districts by 46 points with Jacob Green and Louis Cronan kicking three goals each for the Sharks, and Boston Williamson and Jake Solomon two.

Jake Schleicher racked up 25 possessions, Mitch Boyle 25 and Cronan 23.

Rudy Riddoch and Levi Ridley kicked two goals each for Swan Districts with Jacob Burnham picking up 29 possessions, Nathan Broad 28, Jai Menegola 21 and Ethan Hughes 20. Jesse Manton led the way, though, with 32 disposals, seven marks, seven tackles, five inside 50s and a goal. 

West Perth's reserves won its fourth straight match beating Peel 16.16 (112) to 7.8 (50).

Full-forward Matt Fowler was the star for the Falcons kicking 8.6 from 17 kicks and 15 marks.

Brayden Antonio picked up 23 possessions and kicked two goals with Mitch McPhee also booting two majors, and Jack Thrum gathering 26 disposals, Aidan Lynch 21, Kris Shannon 19, Blake Wilhelm 18, McPhee 17 and Ben McNamara 17.

Brennan Gillam led the way for Peel with 26 possessions while Aiden Field also gathered 26 disposals, Rhys Anzellino 20, Jeff Carter 20, Stephen Kane 20 and Mitch Green 19.