Round 11 WAFL Wrap UpWednesday, June 11, 2014 - 7:30 AM - by Chris Pike

WAFL fans again flocked to watch four big matches in Round 11 action which saw East Perth move to the top of the ladder, Subiaco consolidate third spot, East Fremantle remain in fourth and West Perth stay right in touch for a finals berth.

Building on the momentum of the WA Day weekend where over 17,000 fans attended the four WAFL matches, it was a huge Saturday with another 9943 people watching the four games highlighted by 3596 at Steel Blue Oval and another 2863 at Lathlain Park.

The results saw Subiaco beat Swan Districts 22.10 (142) to 14.10 (94) at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval, East Perth thrash Perth 22.8 (140) to 9.6 (60) at Lathlain Park, East Fremantle overrun Peel Thunder 15.10 (100) to 11.9 (75) at East Fremantle Oval and West Perth hold on against Claremont 10.14 (74) to 9.11 (65) at the Showground.

Those results leave East Perth (8-2) on top of the ladder after 11 rounds just ahead of Swan Districts (8-2) and Subiaco (7-3).

East Fremantle (6-4) and West Perth (5-5) are then locked in a battle over fourth spot with South Fremantle (3-6), Perth (3-7), Claremont (3-7) and Peel Thunder (1-8) all looking to be out of finals contention.

Click here for the summary of Round 11 of the WAFL

THE BIG WINNERS
Subiaco started 2014 on fire winning its first five games before the Lions' bubble burst in a Round 7 loss to Swan Districts and then after rebounding with a win over Perth, losses to West Perth and Claremont heading into Saturday's clash with Swan Districts.

Subiaco's brigade of small forwards Chris Deluca, Shane Yarran, Rhys Waters, Justin Joyce and George Hampson all tore the game open during the third quarter helping the Lions open up a 36-point advantage just before three quarter-time, but that was only the start of the drama.

Ryan Davis and Tim Geappen looked capable of single-handedly handing Subiaco a third straight loss when combining for the last three goals of the third quarter for their team, and then the first three of the last to suddenly make the margin just five points.

Swans had all the momentum, an extra man on the bench with Subiaco having lost ruckman Frank Stockley and his back up Lachlan Delahunty throughout the day, but Subiaco played a remarkable last 15 minutes kicking seven straight goals to end up winning by 48 points.

Subiaco can now genuinely contend for the 2014 premiership following that courageous performance.

With a dynamic forward-line of Matt Boland and Delahunty with Yarran, Deluca, Waters, Joyce and Hampson at their feet, experienced brigade including Jason Bristow, Kyal Horsley, Jarrod Kayler-Thomson and Shaun Hildebrandt through the middle, and a solid back-line, coach Jarrod Schofield has a team that could go a long way in 2014.

THE BIG LOSERS
Perth's hopes of playing finals for the first time since 1997 now looks well and truly over for another year following a poor showing at home to East Perth on Saturday.

Perth started the season brightly with wins over Claremont and South Fremantle before competitive losses to West Perth, Swan Districts and East Perth. The Demons then got their third win of the season in Round 7 against Peel, but that is still their last win of 2014 and only victory since Round 2.

The Demons were again competitive in losses to Subiaco, East Fremantle and Swan Districts, but it looked to be a dispirited outfit on Saturday as they barely took it up to the league-leading East Perth at all.

Perth is without key players including Brett Hodge, Chance Bateman, Haydn Busher, Mitch Leyendekkers and Jared Risol, and that might be an excuse for not being able to get across the line against the top teams, but it didn’t excuse non-competitive efforts.

Now a trip away to Kalgoorlie this Saturday to face Subiaco will be just the tonic that coach Damien McMahon hopes his team needs to discover some fighting spirit.

THE SHINING LIGHTS
Subiaco and Swan Districts likely played the game of the WAFL season to date on Saturday at Steel Blue Oval with the Lions running out 48-point winners, but that was only after just five points separated the teams midway through the final quarter with Swans holding all the momentum.

However, Subiaco kicked the game's last seven goals in a tremendous performance.

The forward-line for the Lions was potent all afternoon with Matt Boland kicking four goals, Shane Yarran four, Chris Deluca three, Rhys Waters three and George Hampson two to go with 23 possessions, 19 of which came in the second half.

Clancy Wheeler also played a good game stepping up in the ruck after Frank Stockley went down hurt. Wheeler finished with 19 possessions, 12 hit outs, five inside-50 entries and a goal.

Kyal Horsley also finished with 27 possessions for Subiaco, Jarrod Kayler-Thomson 23, Shaun Hildebrandt 22 and Jason Bristow 23 to go with two final quarter goals in the 100th WAFL match of his career.

Swan Districts looked like running over the top of Swans in the last quarter with Ryan Davis and Tim Geappen on fire.

The star premiership and multiple-time state forwards had big days with Davis finishing with 18 possessions, six marks, six inside-50 entries and five goals, and Geappen 20 disposals, nine marks, seven inside 50s and four goals.

Ricky Cary also kicked three goals for the black-and-whites in a good battle at full-forward with four-time Subiaco premiership defender Darren Rumble.

Matt Riggio worked hard through the middle for Swans finishing with 27 possessions while Aaron Elari gathered 25 disposals, Blaine Boekhorst 22, Tony Notte 21, Graham Jetta 20, Justin Simpson 18 and Jacob Burnham 18.

West Perth came into the contest against Claremont without premierships and state ruckman Chris Keunen, premiership veteran Matt Guadagnin and with Andrew Krakouer and Ray Bartholomew still sidelined.

That meant there were some big jobs in store for some emerging players including ruckman Seva Martin who had cross in the off-season from Subiaco with four games of league experience to his credit.

It was a big task coming up against AFL and WAFL premiership ruckman Mark Seaby and young gun Darcy Cameron from the Tigers, but Martin did well holding his own finishing the match with 13 possessions, five marks, 20 hit outs and three inside-50 entries.

Luke Meadows also received a call up to play his second league match and did well with 12 possessions while Jack Thrum continued to show he's ready for senior football with 19 touches while Kris Shannon put in his most impressive league showing with two goals from 15 disposals.

Steven Browne, Anthony Tsalikis and Nick Rodda all kicked two goals as well for West Perth and while Marcus Adams didn’t kick a major, he worked hard with 13 possessions, six marks and five inside-50 entries.

Rohan Kerr was outstanding all day for the Falcons. He started on fire with eight disposals in the opening 12 minutes and went on to finish with 32 for the day along with seven marks and a goal.

Shane Nelson also racked up another 30 disposals with Aaron Black gathering 29 possessions, Andrew Strijk 26, Jay van Berlo 23 and Jordan Jones 19.

Claremont was again more competitive and never gave up kicking the only four goals of the final term to continue to give themselves an outside chance of the come from behind victory.

Mark Seaby kicked two of those final quarter goals to go with his 15 possessions and 26 hit outs for the day.

Luke Blackwell again led the way in the middle for the Tigers with 30 possessions while Corey Yeo continued his strong ball-winning form with another 29 touches after starting his first season at Claremont as a tagger who was winning precious little of the football while focused on his job.

Ryan Neates also gathered 28 possessions for Claremont with Matthew Davies having 26 touches, Jack Bradshaw 25, Sam Fong 24, Andrew Foster 24, Thomas Taylor 19, Brenden Abbott 18 and Hugo Breakey 18.

East Perth dominated Perth from the outset at Lathlain Park extending its lead at every chance to end up winning by a commanding 80 points to finish the round on top of the WAFL ladder.

East Perth's big men all had a big impact on the result with Callum Sinclair leading the way with 21 possessions, 13 marks, 17 hit outs and six goals.

Scott Lycett also added 17 touches, six marks, 14 hit outs and two goals with Paul Johnson booting two majors and while Josh Smith didn’t kick a goal, he did work hard for 18 disposals and 10 marks.

Ashley Smith also kicked three goals for the Royals from 21 possessions with Steven Payne, Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls and Freddie Clutterbuck all kicking two apiece as well.

Clutterbuck racked up 28 possessions, nine marks and six inside-50 entries for East Perth with Brendan Lee finishing with 27 disposals, Payne 26, Dom Sheed 25, Will Magginness 23, Patrick McGinnity 20 and Nathan Blee 20.

It was a tough day for Perth but Gerald Ugle responded well to being dropped the previous week coming back into the league side and finishing with 18 possessions and three goals. Captain Paul Bevan also kicked two goals.

Cale Morton collected a team-high 26 possessions for the Demons and Joel Leeson 20 with Matthew Hunt finishing with 19 disposals, Jarryd Morton 19, Mitch Morton 17 and Michael Florio 17.

Peel Thunder started strongly against East Fremantle and led for the whole first half at East Fremantle Oval, but the Sharks then kicked 10 goals to five in the second half, and five goals to two in the final quarter to win by 25 points and stay in fourth position.

Ryan Lester-Smith continued his improved form up forward for the Sharks after a slow start to the year backing up his four goals in the Foundation Derby win over South Fremantle on WA Day with another three on Saturday while Brett Peake and Jayden Schofield also added three apiece.

East Fremantle's back-line was once again rock solid led by Andrew Stephen, Tom Howlett, Sam Read and Matthew Jupp in the absence of Steven Dodd while Brock O'Brien provided great run and drive with 23 possessions.

And the Sharks were terrific through the middle with Mark McGough racking up 27 possessions, Cameron Eardley 27, Rory O'Brien 24 and Sean Henson 20.

Former Peel and East Perth versatile big man Danny Chartres also celebrated his 100th match in the WAFL in his eighth appearance for the Shark with 15 possessions as he continued his important form for his third club.

Anthony Morabito and Hayden Crozier were both outstanding for Peel with the former finishing with 28 possessions, eight marks, 10 inside-50 entries and three goals and the latter had 27 disposals, 10 marks, five tackles and two goals.

Colin Sylvia also had an improved performance for Peel with 21 possessions and two goals after only showing flashes of his immense ability so far this year.

Jacob Ballard continued his development into a certain AFL mainstay of the future with 31 possessions, nine marks and five inside 50s while Eddie Dann finished with 27 disposals for Peel, Clancee Pearce 25, Cruize Garlett 21, Matt Taberner 20, Kepler Bradley 18 and Kristin Thornton 18.

PUSHING FOR A SPOT
Subiaco's reserves hammered Swan Districts 23.18 (156) to 2.2 (14) with Rhett Kerr booting four goals, Will Fetherstonhaugh three, James Garcia three, Ray Daniels two, Simon Moore two, Jordan Bestry two, Dylan Clarke two and Darcy Boyle two.

Moore also racked up 33 possessions, Matt Bogensperger 33, Fetherstonhaugh 26 and Nathan Stewart 22.

Charlie Stapleton and Brayden Duckworth kicked Swan Districts' only goals with Ethan Hughes collecting 24 possessions, David McKay 22 and Kurt Tanner 21.

Meanwhile, West Perth's reserves also recorded a resounding 15.13 (103) to 8.7 (55) victory over Claremont.

Drew Rohde was outstanding for the Falcons with 20 possessions and four goals with Broderick Walton, Matt Johnson, Cameron Branch and Matt Fowler all booted two goals apiece.

Brayden Antonio racked up 24 possessions, Johnson 23, Aidan Lynch 20, James Embley 19, Corey Chalmers 17 and ruckman Tim Sutherland 12 to go with 42 hit outs as he stood up with Seva Martin needed by the league side.

Henry Roberts kicked two goals and gathered 22 possessions for Claremont with Tom Ledger racking up 32 disposals.

East Perth's reserves beat Perth by 21 points with Matt Gordon kicking four goals, Steven Wityk three and Lewis Wilson two for the Royals.

Mitch Howlett also racked up 35 possessions with Garry Moss finishing with 25, Jackson Slater 24 and Malcolm Karpany 21.

Daniel Arangio kicked four goals for Perth while Chance Bateman made his first appearance of the season and had 15 possessions while kicking a goal.

East Fremantle's reserves also recorded a 34-point win over Peel with Alex Howson kicking four goals, Dylan Coulthard three, Cameron Fannon two and Mitch Boyle two.

Michael Edwards also picked up 25 possessions for the Sharks, Jacob Green 25, James Depane 22, Jake Schleicher 22, Tyler Chalwell 21 and Miles Franklin 20.

Laine Wilkins and Reise Wilkey kicked two goals apiece for the Thunder with Corey Morris gathering 23 possessions, James Hawksley 23, Mitch Green 21, Aiden Field 21 and Brennan Gilliam 21.