Round 13 WAFL Wrap UpTuesday, June 24, 2014 - 2:11 PM - by Chris Pike

EAST Perth and Swan Districts consolidated the top two spots with Round 13 wins in the WAFL on Saturday while East Fremantle went a long way to securing a finals berth as well with Peel Thunder giving themselves a chance to still avoid the wooden spoon.

East Perth dominated Claremont in the first half and then held on to win 12.10 (82) to 10.6 (66) at the Claremont Showground while Swan Districts kicked the only six goals of the final quarter to down South Fremantle 9.2 (56) to 6.15 (51) at Fremantle Oval.

Peel Thunder also recorded its second win of the season downing Perth 12.18 (90) to 10.11 (71) at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium while the game of the round took place at Leederville's Medibank Stadium with East Fremantle prevailing 11.5 (71) to 8.14 (62) over Subiaco.

The weekend's results leave East Perth on top of the ladder on a 10-2 record just percentage ahead of Swan Districts. There is then a two-game back to the third-placed Subiaco who are on 8-4 and now just percentage in front of East Fremantle as well.

West Perth (5-6) is back in fifth position followed by South Fremantle (3-8), Perth (3-9), Claremont (3-8) and Peel Thunder (2-9).

Click here for the summary of Round 13 of the WAFL

THE BIG WINNERS
East Fremantle's season looked to be in trouble after Round 8 following three straight disappointing losses to South Fremantle, East Perth and Swan Districts, but the Sharks have now done a tremendous job to turn things around since.

It started with a narrow nine-point win over Perth and since then the Sharks have beaten South Fremantle by 15 points, Peel by 25, West Perth by nine and then most impressively Subiaco by nine points on Saturday.

The game was a massive one for both the Sharks and Lions with Subiaco missing a chance to stay in touch with the top two and putting a gap between them and East Fremantle while with the win, the Sharks take a giant step towards making the finals.

With East Fremantle's forward-line is still a work in progress and with Steven Dodd to return to the back-line, there is improvement to come with the Sharks too throughout the rest of the 2014 season.

THE BIG LOSERS
South Fremantle dominated Swan Districts for more than three quarters at home on Saturday, but still managed to find a way to lose in what is becoming a trademark of the past three seasons since the Bulldogs last made finals in 2011.

South Fremantle has now lost four straight matches to slip to a 3-8 record on the season to be out of the running for a finals appearance for the third straight season, and Saturday's loss will leave everyone at the port scratching their heads.

Having already lost a game to Perth at home this season when leading by 44 points, South Fremantle was in control of the game against Swans but never put their opponents away despite leading by as much as 35 points in the second quarter and still by 32 at three quarter-time.

When Swan Districts woke up midway through the last quarter and kicked five goals in a 12-minute burst to snatch the victory, South Fremantle had no answers for it defensively and didn’t score for the entire last quarter or even look like it.

South Fremantle's team features high-quality talent like Haiden Schloithe, Ashton Hams, Ryan Cook and Ben Saunders, seasoned campaigners Craig White, Toby Bairstow and Adam Guglielmana, and promising youngsters Mitch Banks, Zac Strom, Ben Sokol, Brendan Verrier, Steven Verrier and Tim Kelly, but something is clearly amiss with the Bulldogs right now.

THE SHINING LIGHTS
East Fremantle and Subiaco met in the match of the round on Saturday at Medibank Stadium, and it was a tight and tough contest all afternoon in difficult conditions, with the Sharks coming out on top in the finish by nine points.

East Fremantle's experienced midfield campaigners dominated the contest with former captain Mark McGough racking up 34 possessions and laying eight tackles, current skipper Rory O'Brien amassing 32 touches and 11 tackles, and Bradd Dalziell 18 disposals, eight tackles and a goal.

Brett Peake was the Sharks' only multiple goal scorer finishing with four majors from 10 kicks and while laying six tackles.

Matt Boland extended his lead in the race for the Bernie Naylor Medal with another three goals for Subiaco while Rhys Waters added two majors.

Captain Kyal Horsley finished with 25 possessions, eight tackles and five inside-50 entries for Subiaco in his 100th match while Darren Rumble was strong in defensively against East Fremantle's tall forwards in his 200th WAFL appearance with the Lions.

Another recent milestone man Jason Bristow also had 25 possessions while laying 11 tackles and delivering the ball inside-50 on nine occasions.

Chris Phelan also picked up 22 touches, Shaun Hildebrandt 18 and Andrew McDougall 17 in his first league match of the season along with 35 hit outs, five marks and five inside 50s.

Swan Districts had a poor first three quarters before a six-goal to nil final term to beat South Fremantle by five points and even though it was Ryan Davis who kicked the winning goal in the finish, it was Kirk Ugle who was best afield.

He fought hard for three quarters providing run off half-back but then went forward in the final quarter to kick two crucial running goals to put Swans back into the contest. He finished the match with 28 possessions and the two goals.

Aaron Elari also provided Swan Districts with plenty of run with 25 possessions while Graham Jetta did well down back with 23 disposals while Justin Simpson, Tallan Ames, Brent Latch and Alex Howard did well defensively.

Nathan Blakely worked hard in the ruck finishing with 20 possessions and 29 hit outs with good support from centre half-forward Tony Notte who had 18 disposals, five marks, 18 hit outs and four inside-50 entries.

Blaine Boekhorst worked hard on the wing with 25 possessions with Adam Faulkner picking up 22 disposals, Matt Riggio 21 and State 18s player Connor Blakely 17.

Matt Rogers and Ricky Cary also kicked two crucial goals for the black-and-whites with Davis kicking the match-winner to go with his 17 touches and eight tackles.

Ashton Hams was moved back into the midfield for South Fremantle after spending much of the season across half-back and the dual premiership player and two-time Simpson Medallist finished with a team-high 26 possessions to go with five inside-50 entries.

Captain Ryan Cook also again worked tirelessly again for the Bulldogs with 22 disposals, six inside 50s and five tackles.

Haiden Schloithe gathered another 18 possessions while Brendan Verrier revelled in the wet conditions with his courage coming to the fore as he gathered 16 disposals.

James Sellar spent most of the game in the ruck as well and had a good game with 17 possessions, four marks, 26 hit outs and four inside-50 entries. His ruck partner Brock Higgins was also good with 14 touches and 25 hit outs.

Toby Bairstow also drifted forward to kick two goals to with his 16 possessions and six tackles while Ben Saunders had a fascinating battle with Tallan Ames and kicked three goals.

League-leaders East Perth dominated the first half against Claremont on Saturday at the Showground with the Royals kicking 10 goals to three to lead by 49 points at half-time.

However, the Royals couldn’t keep that up in the second half and the Tigers found some strong fighting spirit to end up kicking seven goals to two after half-time and to end up only losing by 16 points having gone down to East Perth by 80 points last time the two teams met.

East Perth's win was set up from its defence with Kyle Anderson again an impenetrable force as he continues to stake claims to being the best defender in the WAFL. He also finished with 14 possessions and six marks.

Blayne Wilson was also a strong performer in the back-line ending up with 27 possessions while up forward, Paul Johnson, Callum Sinclair, Ashley Smith and Josh Hill all kicked two goals apiece.

Through the middle, Patrick McGinnity racked up 30 possessions to go with seven tackles and five entries inside-50 for the Royals with Freddie Clutterbuck collecting another 26 disposals, Craig Wulff 24, Steven Payne 23, Dom Sheed 20, Brendan Lee 20 and Will Maginness 19.

Mark Seaby worked hard for Claremont up against rival ruckmen Johnson and Sinclair, and finished the afternoon with 25 possessions, seven marks, 28 hit outs, four tackles, three inside-50 entries and a goal.

Sam Fong, Brenden Abbott and Andrew Foster kicked two goals apiece for the Tigers with Foster also finishing with 21 possessions.

Jack Bradshaw had another 22 possessions for Claremont, Corey Yeo 22 and Ryan Neates 21.

Peel Thunder recorded its second win of the season beating Perth by 19 points at home on Saturday. The Demons started the game well leading by two goals at quarter-time, but the Thunder then got on top to lead by 13 points at three quarter-time and end up winning by 19.

Despite the horrible weather conditions, Peel's forward-line worked well with Michael Apeness leading the way with three goals from 15 possessions, nine marks and six inside-50 entries.

Matt Taberner contributed two goals from 16 disposals and Scott Gumbleton added two majors from nine disposals and four marks.

It was Anthony Morabito who was best afield for the Thunder, though, with 28 possessions and two goals.

Jonathon Griffin dominated the ruck for Peel with 47 hit outs while Kepler Bradley was outstanding in defence with 23 possessions and nine marks.

Hayden Crozier picked up 22 disposals for the Thunder, Jacob Ballard 20, Eddie Dann 19 and Tom Sheridan 19.

Captain Paul Bevan and lively small forward Callum Collard kicked two goals apiece for Perth while Gerald Ugle did well forward of centre booting three majors from just 10 kicks.

Dene White continued his strong season in the midfield for Perth gathering another 24 possessions while Jarryd Morton racked up 23 disposals, Joel Leeson 20, Matt Moody 20 and Brad Keast 17.

PUSHING FOR A SPOT
Subiaco's reserves recorded a thumping 99-point win over East Fremantle with Kyle Halligan booting three goals for the Lions, Luke Norriss two, Dylan Clarke two and Darcy Boyle two.

James Depane was East Fremantle's one goalkicker while Michael Edwards gathered 20 possessions and Tyler Chalwell 18.

Jacob Burnham racked up 32 possessions for Swans, Laurence Grescos 27, David McKay 24 and Anthony Stevens 20.

Adam McIntosh responded to being dropped from the South Fremantle league team by racking up 41 possessions and taking 10 marks for the Bulldogs.

Lewis Harvey also racked up 31 disposals for South Fremantle with Jayden D'Vauz picking up 27 touches, Alistair Gillespie 21, Stephen Mills 20 and Jakeb Tartaglia 19.

East Perth's reserves beat Claremont by 21 points at the Showground with Matt Gordon kicking four goals, Lewis Wilson two, Steven Wityk two and Malcolm Karpany two to go with his 20 possessions.

Julian Locantro racked up 28 disposals for the Royals with Mitch Howlett collecting 26, Dylan Main 22 and Tom Shanahan 20.

Ben Taylor kicked two goals for Claremont with Tom Ledger finishing with 20 possessions, Tom Willett 17, Jordan Law 16 and Keegan Knott 16 to go with his three goals.

Peel's reserves recorded a five-point win over Perth with Jesse Hockings and Mitch Green kicking two goals each.

Toby Gianatti had 25 possessions for the Thunder, Corey Morris 25, Cruize Garlett 24, Kelvin Lawrence 23 and Craig Moller 17 to go with 36 hit outs and four tackles.

Sam Garstone booted two goals for the Demons while Cameron Manuel racked up 28 possessions, Sean Holland 18 and Kieran Hug 18.

Two other notable performers were Chance Bateman who had 18 possessions as he prepares for his first league appearance for 2014 while Aidan Tropiano lined up for Perth for the first time since being cleared by East Fremantle and racked up 21 possessions while laying eight tackles.