Round 16 WAFL ResultsSaturday, July 12, 2014 - 7:30 PM - by Chris Pike

THINGS largely remained the same in Round 16 of the WAFL on Saturday afternoon with East Perth staying on top of the ladder, Subiaco clear in third and East Fremantle kept the same gap over West Perth following the results of four strong contests.

All four matches were still up for grabs midway through the final quarter but in the end East Perth and Subiaco recorded victories to maintain their spots in the top four, South Fremantle moved clear of bottom spot and Peel Thunder gave itself a chance of avoiding the wooden spoon.

The results saw East Perth beat East Fremantle 14.20 (104) to 11.10 (76) at Leederville's Medibank Stadium, Subiaco defeat West Perth 13.19 (97) to 11.6 (72) at Joondalup's HBF Arena, South Fremantle down Perth 13.11 (89) to 10.17 (77) at Lathlain Park and Peel Thunder beat Claremont 11.8 (74) to 9.18 (72) at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium.

The league-leading East Perth got the jump on the fourth-placed East Fremantle with five goals to two in the first quarter, but the Sharks had closed the deficit to 16 points by half-time and three by three quarter-time.

However, the Royals steadied to dominate the last quarter scoring 5.7 to just two straight goals from the Sharks to end up winning by 28 points to mean that East Perth has now won nine straight matches while ending East Fremantle's six-game winning run.

Fraser McInnes booted three goals for East Perth with Malcolm Karpany, Jamie Cripps, Josh Hill and Matt Gordon all adding two apiece.

Craig Wulff racked up 36 possessions for the Royals, Brendan Lee 28, Sharrod Wellingham 26, Mitch Howlett 22, Steven Payne 21, Dean Cadwallader 20 and Nathan Blee 19.

Rob Young had a good day up forward for East Fremantle with five goals while Bradd Dalziell and Jack Perham booted two each.

Dalziell also finished with 34 possessions with Rory O'Brien collecting 29, Mark McGough 26, Andrew Stephen 24 and Cameron Eardley 22.

West Perth pulled off another successful International Football Festival at HBF Arena with over 5000 people attending and with the day including a citizenship ceremony for 60 new Australians, but what the Falcons really needed was four points against Subiaco.

That didn’t eventuate with Subiaco steadying to kick the last two goals of the match to end up winning by 25 points.

The Lions had led by as much as 46 points midway through the third quarter before the Falcons kicked five of the last six majors before three quarter-time, and then the first three goals of the final term but Subiaco was the better side most of the day and deserved the four points.

The win improves Subiaco to a 10-4 record on the season to be a game clear in third position and just a game behind second. While West Perth's loss sees the reigning premiers slip to a 6-8 record but still just three games out of the top four.

Andrew McDougall, Kyle Halligan and Rhys Waters all kicked two goals apiece for Subiaco with the league's leading goalkicker Matt Boland missing with a hamstring injury and then Lachlan Delahunty going off with a knee complaint.

Wayde Twomey also racked up 28 possessions from defence for Subiaco with Kyal Horsley finishing with 26 disposals, Chris Phelan 27, Shaun Hildebrandt 24, Simon Moore 24, Brett Mahoney 22, Jason Bristow 20 and Clancy Wheeler 20.

Nick Rodda and Marc Crisp kicked two goals each for West Perth with Rohan Kerr racking up 31 possessions, Shane Nelson 30, Aaron Black 29, Jay van Berlo 25, Matt Guadagnin 22 and Andrew Strijk 19 while Laine Rasmussen and Dan Hunt were terrific in defence.

Perth and South Fremantle both entered Saturday's clash on long losing streaks and without a coach locked in for 2015 so somebody had to get back on the winner's list, and in the end it was the Bulldogs who did it the hard way.

South Fremantle had opened up what appeared to be a match-winning lead when leading by four goals in the final term, but Perth then booted four consecutive goals to suddenly hit the front and have all the momentum.

However, the Bulldogs steadied with the last two goals of the match to win by 12 points and snap a six-game losing run and to win their fourth match of the season while the Demons remain on three wins for 2014 and having now lost nine consecutive matches.

Ben Saunders had just six kicks for the day for South Fremantle but each and every one of them was a goal with Craig White also booting two majors and Paul Mugambwa two as well.

Haiden Schloithe racked up 30 possessions, Shaun Bewick 29, Tim Kelly 25, James Sellar 22, Ben Sokol 21, Jarrod Parry 20, Anthony Collica 19, Brendan Verrier 18 and Jacob Martinez 18.

Mitch Morton kicked five goals for Perth but captain Paul Bevan kicked five behinds and the result could have been oh so different had he had his kicking boots on.

Matt Moody also finished with 22 touches and two goals for the Demons while Aidan Tropiano picked up 28 possessions, Dene White 22, Gerald Ugle 21, Nick Kane 20, Jarryd Morton 20, Michael Sinclair 20, Michael Florio 19 and Chance Bateman 18.

Peel then recorded its third win of the season to deny Claremont a third straight victory with the Thunder winning by two points despite 32 less possessions, 35 less marks and eight less scoring shots for the match.

Michael Wood played his best game of the season for Peel kicking four goals with Max Duffy adding two while Jonathon Griffin was terrific in the ruck with 17 touches and 38 hit outs even though Mark Seaby was also effective for Claremont with 20 disposals, eight marks and 24 hit outs.

Matt de Boer led the way for the Thunder with 31 possessions and 10 tackles with Jacob Ballard picking up 33 disposals, Brendon Jones 24, Eddie Dann 22, Tom Sheridan 21 and Hayden Crozier 20.

Trinity Handley kicked three goals for Claremont with Anton Hamp and Tom Ledger adding two while Ledger added 25 possessions on his return to the league side in the absence of Luke Blackwell.

Ryan Neates compiled 37 possessions for the Tigers, Ben Daniher 24, Tom Taylor 22, Matt Orzel 21, Jack Bradshaw 18 and Matthew Davies 18.

ROUND 16 WAFL RESULTS
LEAGUE
East Perth 14.20 (104) defeated East Fremantle 11.10 (76)
West Perth 11.6 (72) lost to Subiaco 13.19 (97)
Perth 10.17 (77) lost to South Fremantle 13.11 (89)
Peel Thunder 11.8 (74) defeated Claremont 9.18 (72)

RESERVES
East Perth 9.13 (67) lost to East Fremantle 12.12 (84)
West Perth 9.5 (59) lost to Subiaco 9.8 (62)
Perth 12.4 (76) lost to South Fremantle 12.11 (83)
Peel Thunder 9.11 (65) lost to Claremont 11.2 (68(

COLTS
East Perth 13.8 (86) defeated East Fremantle 7.4 (46)
West Perth 13.10 (88) defeated Subiaco 8.9 (57)
Perth 6.4 (40) lost to South Fremantle 12.7 (79)
Peel Thunder 3.11 (29) lost to Claremont 17.8 (110)