Round 18 WAFL ResultsSaturday, July 26, 2014 - 9:14 PM - by Chris Pike

THE WAFL's top three teams all ended up winning on Saturday but didn’t have it easy with two of them having to come from behind at three quarter-time while Claremont continued its strong recent form with a win over the fourth-placed East Fremantle.

Consistent rain over the course of this week and still during Saturday morning meant that all four venues were far from in top shape making the conditions difficult for quality football, but the result was some fascinating action across the afternoon.

In the end, East Perth beat West Perth 5.9 (39) to 2.6 (18) at Leederville's Medibank Stadium, Swan Districts stormed home to beat Perth 11.11 (77) to 10.11 (71) at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval, Claremont downed East Fremantle 7.10 (52) to 4.11 (35) at the Claremont Showground and Subiaco finished strongly to beat South Fremantle 13.15 (93) to 12.12 (84) at Fremantle Oval.

Claremont has been in strong form over the past two months and has now beaten three of the teams in the top four in that period following Saturday's 17-point victory over East Fremantle.

The Tigers have won four of their last five, and five of their last eight matches this season to have now replaced West Perth in fifth position on the ladder.

Claremont controlled the game from the outset against the finals bound East Fremantle and never looked in danger of not recording the four points at any stage.

Ryan Neates and Brenden Abbott kicked two goals each for Claremont with Tom Ledger racking up 38 possessions, Luke Blackwell 37, Matthew Davies 30, Corey Yeo 26, Ben Daniher 25, Jake Murphy 24, Trinity Handley 23 and Neates 21.

Mark Seaby had another strong game in the ruck with 19 touches, 31 hit outs and six tackles.

East Fremantle has lost two of its last three games to still be safe for a finals spot but given the Sharks are now two games and significant percentage behind the second-placed Subiaco and third-placed Swan Districts, they do look destined to finish fourth.

The Sharks only managed one goal for the entire first three quarters of the game with Rory O'Brien finishing with 37 possessions, Bradd Dalziell 30, Jayden Schofield 21, Andrew Stephen 19, Scott Hancock 19, Steven Dodd 19 and Mark McGough 19.

Just in case Perth couldn’t feel any worse about a horror 2014 season, the Demons missed a golden chance to snap their losing run on Saturday with Swan Districts again finding a way to break their hearts.

Perth controlled the first three quarters of the contest leading by three points at quarter-time, 20 at half-time and then 31 at three quarter-time, but the black-and-whites kicked six goals to one in the final quarter to win by six points reminiscent of what they did to South Fremantle in Round 13.

Swan Districts maintained pace with the second-placed Subiaco as well with the win while Perth has lost its last 10 matches despite having several chances in that run to record a victory, but perhaps none more so than on Saturday against Swans.

Ricky Cary kicked three goals for Swan Districts with Aaron Elari adding two so Swans also came back in the last quarter without relying on usual suspects Ryan Davis and Tim Geappen.

Graham Jetta racked up 28 possessions for Swan Districts, Elari 24, Kirk Ugle 22, Adam Faulkner 21, Blaine Boekhorst 21, Alex Howard 21, Matthew Rogers 20 and Matthew Jukes 18.

Not only had Perth lost its last nine games coming into it, but were also without Mitch Morton, Paul Bevan, Nick Kane and Brennan Stack coming into the contest from the team that lost to Subiaco last week.

However, for three quarters Perth were outstanding and Chance Bateman finished with three goals and Mark Deaves two.

Aidan Tropiano had another 24 possessions, Kieran Hug 23, Matthew Hunt 22, Gerald Ugle 21, Dene White 17 and Callum Collard 17.

East Perth won its 10th straight match in the worst conditions of the day at Medibank Stadium with the Royals ending up beating the Falcons by 21 points.

The Royals maintained top spot on the ladder with the win with Josh Smith, Callum Sinclair, Fraser McInnes, Jamie Cripps and Paul Johnson kicking their five goals.

Steven Payne also racked up 32 possessions for East Perth, Craig Wulff 28, Brendan Lee 27, Sinclair 23 (35 hit outs), Mitch Howlett 19, Blayne Wilson 19 and Mitchell Fraser 18. Johnson also had 40 hit outs.

Rohan Kerr and Ray Bartholomew kicked West Perth's two goals for the afternoon with Aaron Black collecting 22 possessions, Shane Nelson 22, Kerr 20, Jordan Jones 18, Brayden Antonio 17 and Laine Rasmussen 16.

South Fremantle was the other out of contention team to be on top of a finals bound opponent on Saturday with the Bulldogs leading Subiaco most of the afternoon and still by 11 points at three quarter-time.

However, Subiaco needed to win to stay in second spot and to maintain a chance for the minor premiership, and with the Bulldogs also without Ashton Hams and Ben Saunders, the Lions finished strongly in the last quarter with five goals to two to win by nine points.

Andrew McDougall, Matt Boland and Rhys Waters all kicked two goals apiece for Subiaco with McDougall also adding 21 possessions and 31 hit outs.

Kyal Horsley racked up 29 possessions, Jason Bristow 22, George Hampson 22, Wayde Twomey 19, Waters 16 and Simon Moore 16 as well as the match-sealing goal.

South Fremantle fought hard despite being down to two men on the bench, but just couldn’t run out the game with Subiaco.

Craig White took the most of his chances up forward for the Bulldogs with three goals while Anthony Collica, Alistair Gillespie and Ben Saunders all kicked two apiece.

Jarrod Parry racked up 32 possessions, Brock Higgins 24 (29 hit outs), Haiden Schloithe 24, Shaun Bewick 22, Tim Kelly 22, Brendan Verrier 22 and Gillespie 22.

ROUND 18 WAFL RESULTS
LEAGUE
East Perth 5.9 (39) defeated West Perth 2.6 (18)
Swan Districts 11.11 (77) defeated Perth 10.11 (71)
Claremont 7.10 (52) defeated East Fremantle 4.11 (35)
South Fremantle 12.12 (84) lost to Subiaco 13.15 (93)

RESERVES
East Perth 1.8 (14) lost to West Perth 9.5 (59)
Swan Districts 5.9 (39) defeated Perth 5.2 (32)
Claremont 5.7 (37) defeated East Fremantle 2.4 (16)
South Fremantle 4.4 (28) lost to Subiaco 10.6 (66)

COLTS
East Perth 8.5 (53) drew with West Perth 7.11 (53)
Swan Districts 9.13 (67) defeated Perth 4.8 (32)
Claremont 16.16 (112) defeated East Fremantle 5.8 (38)
South Fremantle 7.10 (52) lost to Subiaco 10.14 (74)