Round 14 Sunday WAFL ResultsMonday, June 30, 2014 - 12:10 AM - by Chris Pike

ROUND 14 of the WAFL concluded on Sunday afternoon with West Perth running out convincing 62-point winners over South Fremantle to keep its finals hopes alive.

The game started with no defensive pressure from either side in a six-goal apiece first quarter, but West Perth dominated from that point on kicking 13 goals to four for the rest of the day at Fremantle Oval to end up winning 19.19 (133) to 10.11 (71).

It was a crucial win for West Perth as well keep its season alive coming off winning last year's WAFL premiership.

The Falcons improve to a 6-6 record with the win to be two games now behind the fourth-placed East Fremantle but with a superior percentage. West Perth's season finishes with games against Swan Districts, Subiaco, East Perth, East Fremantle, Swans again, Peel, Claremont and Perth.

South Fremantle, meanwhile, lost its fifth straight match to now fall to eighth position on the ladder to only be a game clear of the bottom-placed Peel with games to go to close out the season against Claremont, Perth, Subiaco, East Fremantle, Peel, Swan Districts, Subiaco and then Peel again.

Despite the game starting with a free-flowing and high-scoring opening quarter with scores level at 6.5 apiece at quarter-time, West Perth coach Bill Monaghan was understandably furious with his team's lack of defensive pressure and his team responded over the final three quarters.

It was a dominant showing from West Perth in the finish ending up with 39 more entries inside-50 than South Fremantle, 17 extra scoring shots and a 62-point advantage on the scoreboard by the finish.

Nick Rodda was the star for West Perth up forward kicking a career-best five goals from 10 kicks and eight marks. Matt Johnson was also outstanding across half-forward for the Falcons with three goals from 24 possessions and nine marks.

Marc Crisp had a good game for the Falcons with two goals from 19 disposals, six inside 50s and five marks.

West Perth's midfield worked its way on top led by Shane Nelson with 36 possessions and six inside-50 entries. Rohan Kerr racked up 26 possessions with eight marks, six inside 50s and a goal, and Aaron Black 25 disposals, nine marks, eight inside-50 entries and a goal.

Chris Keunen was the best ruckman on the ground finishing with 13 possessions and 29 hit outs.

The Falcons back-line might have had to only deal with 31 inside-50 entries from South Fremantle, but stood up well with Dan Hunt keeping Josh Pullman to the one kick while Jordan Jones and Andrew Strijk both provided rebound with 22 possessions apiece.

It was a tough afternoon for South Fremantle but Brendan Verrier continued to emerge as a top-class WAFL player despite having just 20 games of experience. The 19-year-old racked up a career-best 33 possessions to go with nine marks and the first goal of the match.

Ashton Hams worked hard for the Bulldogs finishing with 33 disposals, 10 tackles and five marks including an absolute screamer in the final quarter when he sat on the shoulders of his West Perth opponent and held on in spectacular fashion.

Captain Ryan Cook again did what he could for South Fremantle with 25 possessions, five marks, four tackles, four inside 50s and a goal while Haiden Schloithe finished with25 touches and a goal.

Jarrod Parry also collected 19 possessions, Toby Bairstow 18 and Anthony Collica 18.

Adam Guglielmana tried hard down back and gathered 22 possessions while Nick Borovac did a good job holding Anthony Tsalikis goalless and Zac Strom kept Seva Martin to just the one goal also.

Craig White was the lone shining light up forward for South Fremantle in the absence of Ben Saunders and Paul Mugambwa, with three goals from 15 possessions and six marks. Brock Higgins worked hard as well for 15 touches and two goals.

Both teams were down a man before half-time as well with West Perth losing Steve Potente to a lateral ligament injury to his knee that could sideline him for up to a month while South Fremantle youngster Mitch Banks suffered a nasty knee injury that saw him taken away to hospital.

The first quarter of the match consisted of all-out attack with South Fremantle getting the game's first goal inside a minute through Brendan Verrier.

West Perth then responded with three goals in less than three minutes with Rodda booting two of them and Kody Manning the other.

However, South Fremantle responded with the next two majors to Higgins and Cook, and then with three in three minutes in response to one from Potente for West Perth.

That saw the Bulldogs open up a 12-point advantage before the Falcons fought back to level the scores at quarter-time on the back of two goals in succession to Crisp.

It was all West Perth for the rest of the afternoon at Fremantle Oval, though, even though South Fremantle still led by seven points when White booted his second goal at the eight-minute mark of the second quarter.

West Perth went on to kick the last four goals of the second quarter to lead by 19 points at half-time, and then the Falcons again dominated the third term with five goals to one.

The Falcons led by 45 points at three quarter-time following Rodda booting his fourth goal of the match after the siren. Rodda then kicked his fifth to open the fourth quarter and West Perth went on to record the comfortable 62-point victory.

ROUND 14 SUNDAY WAFL RESULTS
LEAGUE
South Fremantle 10.11 (71) lost to West Perth 19.19 (133)

RESERVES
South Fremantle 10.9 (69) lost to West Perth 15.13 (103)

COLTS
South Fremantle 8.6 (54) lost to West Perth 8.8 (56)