Round 21 WAFL Wrap UpTuesday, August 19, 2014 - 11:03 AM - by Chris Pike

CLAREMONT continued its hot form to finish the 2014 WAFL season with a win over the second-placed Subiaco on Saturday with South Fremantle, West Perth and East Perth the other Round 21 winners.

Claremont recorded a 11.11 (77) to 9.15 (69) victory over Subiaco at Leederville's Medibank Stadium while South Fremantle beat Swan Districts 18.7 (115) to 9.15 (69) at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval, East Perth thumped Perth 28.14 (182) to 14.6 (90) at Lathlain Park and West Perth downed Peel Thunder 9.14 (68) to 8.11 (59) at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium.

The fourth-placed East Fremantle had the bye.

Click here for the summary of Round 21 of the WAFL

THE BIG WINNERS
Claremont could very well be the form team of the WAFL right now after being the surprise battlers in the first eight weeks suffering six hefty losses.

Those big losses early on to Perth, Subiaco, East Fremantle, South Fremantle, East Perth and Swan Districts will still likely cost Claremont a place in the finals in 2014, but the Tigers have done an outstanding job turning their side around in the space of the same season.

After starting the season with just two wins from the opening eight matches, Claremont has been outstanding since and it began with a win over Subiaco on WA Day and then on Saturday, the Tigers again beat the second-placed Lions.

Claremont might mathematically still be a chance to make the finals in 2014 if it thumps West Perth and East Perth in its final two matches and if East Fremantle are equally thumped by Swan Districts and Subiaco, but that does appear a long shot.

Nonetheless, if the WAFL had a final five this season then Claremont would very well be a contender to make the grand final.

THE BIG LOSERS
Swan Districts has won 12 games for the season but eight of those came in a winning streak between Rounds 3 and 10, and since the black-and-whites have only won four of 10 matches including having lost three in-a-row now in emphatic fashion against West Perth, East Perth and South Fremantle.

Swans do still have plenty of talent including Ryan Davis and Tim Geappen up forward, Tallan Ames, Justin Simpson, Graham Jetta, Alex Howard and Kirk Ugle down back, and Matt Riggio, Blaine Boekhorst and Aaron Elari through the middle, but another loss this week against the Sharks and they face a prospect of ending up in fourth spot to miss out on a home first semi-final.

Swans currently sit a game and percentage ahead of the Sharks on the ladder with the former in third position and the latter in fourth, but Saturday's game will likely determine which team finishes third and earning home ground advantage in that first semi-final in a fortnight's time.

THE SHINING LIGHTS
The game of the round was always likely to be at Medibank Stadium with the second-placed Subiaco on a six-game winning streak hosting the fifth-placed Claremont on a three-game winning streak, and it did pan out to be tightest affair of the afternoon.

Claremont got off to a fast start and withstood a final quarter Subiaco fight back to win by eight points and record a fourth straight victory.

Jack Bradshaw continued his impressive season for Claremont kicking another four goals to now give him 34 for the season.

Queensland recruit and debutant Jackson Starcevich and 187-game veteran Trinity Handley kicked two goals apiece as well for the Tigers.

Luke Blackwell led the way through the middle with 30 possessions, six inside 50s, five marks and four tackles with Matthew Davies finishing with 28 disposals, Ryan Neates 25, Ben Daniher 24, Tom Taylor 22, Tom Ledger 22, Jake Murphy 20, Handley 19 and Jordan McAllister 18 to go with eight marks.

Subiaco captain Kyal Horsley again led the way for his team with 23 possessions and seven tackles with Joel Latham gathering 21 disposals, Chris Phelan 19, Justin Joyce 19, Wayde Twomey 19 and Jason Bristow 18.

George Hampson was well held to just 12 possessions and six marks, but did chip in for two goals while Rhys Waters booted three.

Luke Meadows and Max Alexander are two players who have bided their time in the reserves waiting for an opportunity in the West Perth league side, and both showed some terrific signs on Saturday in the win over Peel.

Just two weeks after doing an outstanding defensive job on Swan Districts' Ryan Davis, Meadows moved forward for the Falcons against Peel and ended up kicking three impressive goals from 11 possessions and six marks.

Alexander showed some encouraging signs as well as a key forward with two goals from 13 disposals, five marks and six entries inside the forward 50.

While Meadows and Alexander were impressive, some of the usual suspects were outstanding for West Perth as well with Rohan Kerr racking up 33 possessions, Aaron Black 32, Shane Nelson 26 (seven clearances), Matt Guadagnin 24 (seven clearances), Steven Browne 23, Brayden Antonio 20, Ray Bartholomew 19, Dan Hunt 19, Jay van Berlo 19 and Anthony Tsalikis 18 (eight marks).

Laine Rasmussen again spent the majority of the game on the wing and on the ball and put in another strong showing not only with 17 possessions, 10 tackles, nine marks and a goal, but also keeping Clancee Pearce to just the nine possessions.

Former skipper and sure-fire fairest and best winner Brendon Jones again worked hard for 24 disposals, 10 clearances and five inside 50s with Sam Menegola also continuing his good form with another 20 possessions, six clearances and five inside-50 entries.

Garrick Ibbotson returned to the side from injury with 16 possessions and fellow Fremantle players Matt de Boer (12 possessions) and Clancee Pearce (nine) also returning but failing to impress.

One Docker who was impressive was Michael Apeness both up forward and in occasional stints in the ruck. He finished with 15 possessions, 10 strong marks and two goals.

Tom Vandeleur did a good defensive job keeping Anthony Tsalikis goalless as well for the Thunder.

South Fremantle kicked the only five goals of the first quarter and the opening seven majors of the match before then being able to respond to Swan Districts' mounting several challenges in the second half and steady to win by 46 points largely on the back of Josh Pullman.

Pullman played 23 league matches with Swan Districts on the back of being a colts premiership captain before spending the last three years playing in Queensland, and then coming back to Western Australia in 2014 and joining South Fremantle.

He has always worked hard at centre half-forward without getting the rewards for effort, but that came on Saturday as the former Swan kicked five goals from 11 possessions and seven marks including a dominant showing in the final term.

Bernie Naylor Medal leader Ben Saunders kicked another four goals from five kicks with Craig White and Jacob Martinez booting two apiece as well.

Ashton Hams put in a dominant performance for the Bulldogs finishing with 43 possessions, 12 marks and eight inside-50 entries while Anthony Collica showed his quality when fit with 27 disposals and 13 marks.

Toby Bairstow continued his strong form as well collecting 26 disposals with Brendan Verrier gathering 24 touches, Haiden Schloithe 23, James Sellar 22 (11 marks), Tim Kelly 21, Adam Guglielmana 19, Jarrod Parry 19, Shaun Bewick 18 and Dylan Ross 17 (nine marks).

Ryan Davis and Tim Geappen are perhaps the most potent forward combination in the WAFL and both had good games for Swan Districts with Davis finishing with five goals from 16 possessions and eight marks, and Geappen 23 disposals, 13 marks and a goal.

Matthew Rogers also kicked two goals for the black-and-whites.

Adam Faulkner racked up 29 possessions, Blaine Boekhorst 27, Aaron Elari 25, Justin Simpson 19, Graham Jetta 17 and ruckman Nathan Blakely 17 to go with 23 hit outs.

Perth was able to be competitive in the first half at home to East Perth on Saturday, but the Royals then kicked 10 goals to four in the third term and 16 goals to six overall for the entire second half to end up thumping 92-point winners.

Josh Smith kicked a season-best six goals for East Perth from 14 possessions and nine marks while co-captains Craig Wulff and Brendan Lee were outstanding.

Wulff finished the game with 23 possessions, nine marks and three goals with Lee contributing 23 possessions and three goals as well in his 100th WAFL match for the Royals.

Mitch Howlett also went a long way to cementing his spot for East Perth come finals time with a strong showing with 24 disposals, seven marks, five tackles, five inside 50s and two goals.

Tom Shanahan and Brant Colledge both kicked two goals apiece for the Royals as well.

Steven Payne put in a dominant showing with a game-high 35 possessions for East Perth with Adam Carter gathering 29 disposals, Mitchell Fraser 20, Will Maginness 18, Nathan Blee 18, Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls 18 and Freddie Clutterbuck 18.

Callum Collard kicked four goals from 16 possessions for Perth to take his season tally of goals to 30 for 2014 from 15 matches.

Captain Paul Bevan returned from a three-week suspension for the Demons and played well with 23 disposals, six marks and two goals while former Royal Nick Kane did well when moved forward to kick two majors.

Aidan Tropiano again led the way in the midfield with 24 possessions, eight marks and eight tackles with Mitchell Browne finishing with 21 disposals, Dene White 20 and Michael Florio 17.

PUSHING FOR A SPOT
Subiaco continued its dominant reserves form with a 42-point win over Claremont at Medibank Stadium.

Dylan Clarke kicked four goals for Subiaco with James Garcia and Ray Daniels adding three apiece, and Thomas Smith two.

Will Fetherstonhaugh racked up 27 possessions, Matt Bogensperger 27, Daniels 23, Ryan Wade 23, James Garcia 19, Joel Ashman 19 and Craig Hoskins 18.

Anton Hamp and Steven Edwards kicked two goals each for Claremont while Henry Roberts picked up 22 possessions, Matt Orzel 20, John Williams 20 and Jack Beeck 20.

West Perth's reserves scored a thumping 16.9 (105) to 4.6 (30) win over Peel Thunder in Mandurah with Matt Fowler making a successful return for the Falcons with six goals from seven kicks and six marks.

Shaun Marusic also booted three goals for West Perth as did Mitch McPhee with Jesse Kirwen kicking two.

Trent Manzone gathered 27 possessions, Jack Thrum 23, James Embley 23, Blake Wilhelm 22, Stephen Healy 20, David Sorgiovanni 19 and Aidan Lynch 18.

Cruize Garlett worked hard for the well-beaten Peel reserves team with 31 possessions while Brendan Tingey gathered 23 disposals, Toby Gianatti 22, Mitch Green 20 and Craig Moller dominated the ruck with 16 touches and 45 hit outs.

South Fremantle's reserves also scored a thumping 19.19 (133) to 7.6 (48) win over Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday.

John Sgherza showed just how much he has been missed with his injury troubles this year by kicking six goals from 21 possessions while Paul Mugambwa found some form with 18 disposals, nine marks and three goals for the Bulldogs.

Adam McIntosh racked up 37 possessions, Tim Stewart 35, Lewis Harvey 26, Ben Sokol 23, Myles Bolger 22, Mitch Carter 20 and Marlon Pickett 18 to go with nine marks, six tackles, six inside 50s and a goal.

Brandon Jetta worked hard for Swan Districts with 28 possessions and eight marks while Travis Casserly pressed his claims for a league recall with 26 disposals and a goal in his second match back from injury.

Jacob Burnham also gathered 24 disposals, David McKay 22, Roderick Manton 21, Rudy Riddoch 20, Laurence Grescos 20 and Kurt Tanner 20.

East Perth's reserves beat Perth 19.7 (121) to 13.6 (84) with Kristian Caporn kicking five goals, Agid Gardoud three and Jackson Slater three to go with 27 possessions, 13 inside-50 entries and six marks.

Jacob Payne also had 33 possessions, Julian Ameduri 31, Tom Omodei 25 and Callum Hart 19.

Bradley Fry and Daniel Arangio kicked three goals apiece for Perth while Hayden Tanner and Brennan Stack booted two apiece.

Sean Lynch picked up 22 possessions, Brent Edmonds 19, Matthew Welburn 19 and Blake Borrett 19.