WA Day WAFL ResultsMonday, June 2, 2014 - 10:50 PM - by Chris Pike

ALMOST 15,000 fans attended the three WAFL fixtures on WA Day on the biggest day of the season with three terrific contests eventuating with East Fremantle, East Perth and Claremont all recording hard fought and important victories.

A crowd of 6201 watched the Perth derby at Arena Joondalup with East Perth kicking the first three goals of the last quarter to set up a 10.9 (69) to 7.11 (53) victory over West Perth.

Another strong turnout of 5854 then attended Fremantle Oval as East Fremantle held off South Fremantle to win 15.16 (106) to 13.13 (91).

The third game on WA Day was at the Claremont Showgrounds with more than 2000 people watching as Claremont held on to beat Subiaco 13.9 (87) to 10.18 (78) in the upset of the afternoon.

The results also were crucial in terms of helping the winners rise up the ladder or stay in some sort of touch for the finals or indeed for the losers to slip down the ladder.

With the win, East Perth moves up to second position, East Fremantle is up to fourth and Claremont keeps its slim finals hopes alive.

Meanwhile, Subiaco's loss saw it slip down to third, West Perth dropped out of the four and South Fremantle's hopes of still contending for finals took a massive hit.

Without question the most anticipated battle was at Arena Joondalup in a grand final rematch between West Perth and East Perth with both teams coming into the contest in winning form, and again looking to contend for the 2014 premiership.

It was a tightly-contested and physical battle all afternoon as you would expect with West Perth leading by a point at quarter-time, a point at half-time and then three points at three quarter-time.

However, East Perth came out and kicked the first three goals of the last quarter to open up a match-winning lead to end up prevailing by 16 points to beat West Perth for the first time since WA Day last year.

East Perth's big men were outstanding with Scott Lycett finishing with 22 possessions, 23 hit outs and three goals, and Callum Sinclair 20 disposals and 21 hit outs with Fraser McInnes also booting two goals. Will Magginness also kicked two majors.

Steve Potente stood up to kick three goals for West Perth with Aaron Black chipping in with two to go with 27 possessions.

Shane Nelson again led the way for West Perth with a team-high 31 possessions.

Andrew Strijk also gathered 26 touches for the Falcons, Rohan Kerr 25, Jay van Berlo 23 and Luke Tedesco 23.

South Fremantle was on top of East Fremantle when leading by seven points at the 12-minute mark of the second quarter when Ben Saunders kicked his second goal, but from there East Fremantle kicked the next five goals.

By early in the third quarter the Sharks then led by as much as 33 points and even though the Bulldogs did get back to within 14, East Fremantle had the game in control and ended up winning by 15.

Former captain Mark McGough was outstanding for East Fremantle finishing with 26 possessions and two goals while Ryan Lester-Smith found his best form of the season to kick four goals and Brandon Ellis chipped in with three.

Danny Chartres played his best game since joining East Fremantle with 22 possessions while Jamie McNamara had 21 touches, Rory O'Brien 21, Bradd Dalziell 20, Brock O'Brien 19, Scott Hancock 18 and Andrew Stephen 18.

Cameron Eardley also worked hard for East Fremantle limiting Haiden Schloithe to 13 touches and two goals while also collecting 17 possessions himself.

South Fremantle's Ryan Cook was by far his team's best not only having the better of his battle with Dalziell, but finishing with 30 possessions, 13 marks, six inside-50 entries and a goal.

The result also wasn’t the result that the retiring Kris Miller was after in the final match of his career that lasted 303 WAFL games made up of 153 with East Fremantle and 150 with South Fremantle. He worked hard in his final match with 20 possessions including the last of the game.

Subiaco had every reason to head into its clash with Claremont as warm favourites sitting on a 6-2 record while the Tigers were on 2-6, and having been thumped in five of those six losses including once by the Lions to the tune of 80 points.

However, it was a vastly different Claremont outfit who turned out following the State game break.

It was a tight first half with Subiaco leading by a point at half-time, but then Claremont dominated the third quarter with four goals to one to head into three quarter-time with a 17-point advantage.

The Lions weren’t done with yet, though, and threw everything at the Tigers in the last term and did get to within five points, but they kicked 2.9 for the quarter and Claremont steadied just enough to win by nine points.

Jack Bradshaw and Jack Richardson both played important roles up forward for Claremont with three goals apiece while Anton Hamp kicked two as did Andrew Foster to go with his 22 possessions and five tackles.

Luke Blackwell backed up his effort in last week's State game with another 27 possessions for Claremont with Corey Yeo collecting 26 disposals, Ryan Neates 23, and Thomas Taylor 18.

Jarrod Kayler-Thomson came back into the Subiaco team and had his best game of the season with 24 possessions while Jason Bristow finished with 23 disposals, Chris Phelan 23, Kyal Horsley 22 and Chris Deluca 18.

WA DAY WAFL RESULTS
LEAGUE
South Fremantle 13.13 (91) lost to East Fremantle 15.16 (106)
West Perth 7.11 (53) lost to East Perth 10.9 (69)
Claremont 13.9 (87) defeated Subiaco 10.18 (78)

RESERVES
South Fremantle 12.7 (79) lost to East Fremantle 14.9 (93)
West Perth 16.12 (108) lost to East Perth 18.4 (112)
Claremont 3.6 (24) lost to Subiaco 18.18 (126)

COLTS
South Fremantle 6.4 (40) lost to East Fremantle 6.10 (46)
West Perth 12.13 (85) defeated East Perth 8.4 (52)
Claremont 12.10 (82) defeated Subiaco 8.4 (52)