Round 13 WAFL ResultsSaturday, June 21, 2014 - 7:20 PM - by Chris Pike

SWAN Districts found another remarkable way to win, South Fremantle discovered a new way to lose and East Fremantle won the day's crucial match against Subiaco on a huge afternoon of WAFL action in tough weather conditions.

With torrential rain making football difficult and the grounds drenched with water with puddles and mud, it was hardly pretty football but it was a day for hard, contested football and certainly taking your chances across the four games was rewarded.

East Perth maintained top spot on the ladder with a 12.10 (82) to 10.6 (66) win over Claremont at the Claremont Showground while Peel Thunder downed Perth 12.18 (90) to 10.11 (71) at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium.

Swan Districts then came from nowhere to beat South Fremantle 9.2 (56) to 6.15 (51) at Fremantle Oval while East Fremantle scored a crucial victory defeating Subiaco 11.5 (71) to 8.14 (62) at Leederville's Medibank Stadium.

East Fremantle's nine-point win over Subiaco was largely on the back of the Sharks making the most of their opportunities in front of goal for the second week in a row.

Despite Subiaco having 24 more entries inside-50 and 22 scoring shots to 16, it was East Fremantle who prevailed to move to percentage behind the third-placed Lions but more importantly three games clear in fourth spot of the fifth-placed West Perth.

Brett Peake kicked four goals for East Fremantle from just 10 kicks while the midfield was again terrific led by 34 possessions from former captain Mark McGough and 32 from current skipper Rory O'Brien.

Matt Boland kicked another three goals for Subiaco with Rhys Waters adding two while Andrew McDougall worked hard in the ruck in his first game of the season finishing with 17 possessions, five marks, 35 hit outs and five inside-50 entries.

Jason Bristow finished with 25 possessions for the Lions and Chris Phelan 22 while captain Kyal Horsley had 25 to go with eight tackles in his 100th WAFL match. Full-back Darren Rumble was his usual rock solid self on East Fremantle's tall forwards in his 200th WAFL appearance as well.

East Perth built a match-winning lead over Claremont during the first half with six goals to two in the first quarter and another four to one in the second to lead by an emphatic 49 points at the main break.

The Royals managed just the two behinds for the third quarter and only two goals in the final quarter, though, as the Tigers made a game out of it and only ended up going down to the ladder-leaders by 16 points in the finish.

It was a good fighting performance by Claremont who had not shown that desire to fight early in the season in heavy losses to Perth (64 points), Subiaco (80), East Fremantle (75), East Perth (80) and South Fremantle (64), but since then the Tigers have beaten the Lions and been strongly competitive in losses to Swan Districts, West Perth and now East Perth.

Josh Hill, Ashley Smith, Callum Sinclair and Paul Johnson all kicked two goals apiece for East Perth with Patrick McGinnity picking up 30 possessions, Blayne Wilson 27, Freddie Clutterbuck 26, Craig Wulff 24, Steven Payne 23, Brendan Lee 20 and Dom Sheed 20.

Sam Fong, Andrew Foster and Brenden Abbott kicked two goals apiece for Claremont with Luke Blackwell racking up 30 possessions, Matt Orzel 26, Jack Bradshaw 22, Corey Yeo 22 and Ryan Neates 21.

Ruckman Mark Seaby was outstanding with 25 possessions, seven marks, 28 hit outs and a goal.

Perth got off to a fast start against Peel in Mandurah kicking four goals to two in the opening quarter, but it was the Thunder from there with the home team recording their second win of the season.

The victory means that Peel remains a real chance of avoiding the wooden spoon for 2014 sitting just the one win behind Claremont, Perth and South Fremantle, but with a superior percentage to the Tigers and only narrowly behind that of the Demons and Bulldogs.

After trailing by 12 points at quarter-time, Peel kicked the only three goals of the second to lead by nine points at half-time and then by 13 at the last change before ending up winning by 19.

Michael Apeness kicked three goals for the Thunder with Scott Gumbleton and Matt Taberner adding two apiece while Anthony Morabito put in a best on ground performance with 28 possessions and two goals.

Kepler Bradley finished with 23 disposals for Peel, Hayden Crozier 22 and Jacob Ballard 20.

Gerald Ugle kicked three goals for Perth with Paul Bevan and Callum Collard adding two apiece with Dene White picking up 24 possessions, Jarryd Morton 23, Matt Moody 20 and Joel Leeson 20.

South Fremantle was completely on top of Swan Districts leading by as much as 35 points during the second quarter and still by 30 at three quarter-time, but Swans found something special.

Swans were poor for the first three quarters even to the point of going inside-50 just twice in a scoreless opening quarter, but delivered remarkable final 15 minutes.

The Bulldogs went scoreless for the last term while Swans kicked the only six goals, including five in a 12-minute stretch culminating in Ryan Davis booting the winning goal.

Kirk Ugle worked hard in defence for Swan Districts for the first three quarters but then went forward in the last and kicked two crucial goals to help set up the win on top of his 28 possessions.

The majority of Swans' run also came from defence with Aaron Elari gathering 25 disposals and Graham Jetta 23 while in the middle Adam Faulkner finished with 22 touches, Matt Riggio 21 and ruckman Nathan Blakely 20 while Blaine Boekhorst had 25 times on the wing.

Matthew Rogers and Ricky Cary kicked two goals each with Tony Notte working hard at centre half-forward for 18 touches.

South Fremantle captain Ryan Cook worked hard for 22 possessions while Ashton Hams was moved into the midfield after spending much of the season at half-back and gathered a team-high 26 disposals.

James Sellar played his best game of the season for the Bulldogs with 17 touches and 26 hit outs while Brendan Verrier worked hard for 16 touches.

Ben Saunders kicked three goals in an enthralling battle with Tallan Ames with Toby Bairstow chipping in with two.
 
ROUND 13 WAFL RESULTS
LEAGUE
Subiaco 8.14 (62) lost to East Fremantle 11.5 (71)
Claremont 10.6 (66) lost to East Perth 12.10 (82)
South Fremantle 6.15 (51) lost to Swan Districts 9.2 (56)
Peel Thunder 12.18 (90) defeated Perth 10.11 (71)

RESERVES
Subiaco 16.15 (111) defeated East Fremantle 1.6 (12)
Claremont 9.10 (64) lost to East Perth 12.13 (85)
South Fremantle 5.7 (37) lost to Swan Districts 10.3 (63)
Peel Thunder 8.5 (53) defeated Perth 7.6 (48)

COLTS
Subiaco 15.14 (104) defeated East Fremantle 8.12 (60
Claremont 7.15 (57) lost to East Perth 11.6 (72)
South Fremantle 7.13 (55) lost to Swan Districts 13.7 (85)
Peel Thunder 6.10 (46) lost to Perth 9.3 (57)