Round 23 WAFL Wrap UpTuesday, September 2, 2014 - 6:38 PM - by Chris Pike

CLAREMONT and West Perth both farewelled retiring stars in style in Round 23 WAFL action on Saturday while South Fremantle finished the season in terrific fashion and Subiaco became the only team to enter the finals coming off a victory.

There were three Round 23 matches on Saturday with South Fremantle beating Peel Thunder 14.20 (104) to 10.14 (74) at Fremantle Oval while West Perth thrashed Perth 21.18 (144) to 9.8 (62) at Lathlain Park and Claremont held off East Perth 12.12 (84) to 11.11 (77) at Medibank Stadium.

Then on Sunday, two finals teams did battle at Medibank Stadium with Subiaco kicking the only four goals of the last quarter to beat East Fremantle 12.9 (81) to 8.8 (56).

Click here for the summary of Round 23 of the WAFL

THE BIG WINNERS

Claremont and South Fremantle might have both given themselves too much to do in order to make the finals courtesy of poor first halves of the season, but both finished off 2014 in outstanding fashion.

After losing six of its first eight games of the season by an average of 11 goals, Claremont pulled together a stunning finish to the year including beating all four of the teams in the top four, but the Tigers just left their run too late to fall a game and percentage short of the finals.

Saturday's win means that the Bulldogs have finished the 2014 season with five consecutive victories with two of them coming against the Thunder and the other three against finals teams – the second-placed Subiaco, third-placed East Fremantle and fourth-placed Swan Districts.

THE BIG LOSERS
Perth was the complete opposite in 2014. The Demons recruited well coming into the season adding Mitch and Cale Morton to Jarryd along with the return of Gerald Ugle and the retention of Paul Bevan.

Perth then won its first two games of the season over Claremont and South Fremantle, but then won once for the remainder of the year and lost its last 14 matches by an average of seven goals.

The Demons were without key players Brett Hodge, Chance Bateman, Haydn Busher, Mitch Leyendekkers, Jarrad Irons and Joel Leeson for some or all of the season but only partly is able to explain for Perth's wooden spoon claiming season.

THE SHINING LIGHTS
Claremont might not have been able to make finals but went into Saturday's clash with the minor premiers East Perth on a five-game winning streak and with the desire to stretch that to six while farewelling retiring stars.

Dual premiership stars Trinity Handley, Luke Blackwell and Andrew Foster, and 100-plus game left-footer Matt Orzel all announced that Saturday's game would be the last of their tremendous careers, and all managed to go out in style.

Blackwell finishes on 121 matches to go with four for WA as well being a premiership captain, two-time premiership player and winner of a Sandover Medal, Simpson Medal and three fairest and best awards at Claremont. He starred again on Saturday with 27 possessions.

Handley finishes with 189 matches and along the way played in four losing grand finals, two premiership sides and having represented WA. He finished in style on Saturday in the narrow win kicking the sealer to top off a three-goal, 19-possession afternoon.

Foster joined Claremont in 2010 and began a remarkable run that saw him be a crucial member of the premiership teams of 2011 and 2012. He ends his WAFL career with 142 matches, 148 goals and a State game appearance.

Orzel ends his career with 157 WAFL matches but was unlucky to not be a premiership player before spending 2012 and 2013 with Peel and then returning this year to finish his career with Claremont.

Jack Bradshaw also kicked three goals for Claremont, Mitch McGovern two and Mark Seaby two to go with his 17 possessions, five marks and 29 hit outs.

Ryan Neates finished with 26 possessions, Jake Murphy 24, Matthew Davies 23, Corey Yeo 21 and Ben Daniher 20.

While East Perth almost pegged back its seven-goal first quarter deficit to win, the result in the end did nothing to change the fact that the Royals finish the season as the minor premiers and enter the finals as the premiership favourites.

Jackson Slater and Steven Wityk were two players to receive a chance in the final round and kicked two goals each while Steven Payne racked up 28 possessions, Dean Cadwallader 23, Brendan Lee 22, Freddie Clutterbuck 21, Jacob Brennan 18 and ruckman Paul Johnson 18 to go with 22 hit outs.

It was a dominant display by West Perth finishing with 185 more possessions than Perth, 81 more marks, 26 more inside-50 entries and 22 more scoring shots.

The day was made for the retiring Dan Hunt and Anthony Tsalikis, though, and both had afternoons to remember to close out their careers.

Tsalikis has every reason to be proud of his career that spanned 190 games and saw him kick 336 goals to be third all-time on the goalkicking list at West Perth.

Tsalikis is now a six-time leading goalkicker at the club and finished on fire on Saturday with 31 possessions, 13 marks and four goals.

While it was no surprise to see Tsalikis kick four goals, it was to see Hunt join him with four majors after the rock solid key defender of 169 games had a day out.

The premiership defender went forward in the second quarter and had one chance on goal touched on the line.

He then had another shot early in the last quarter that missed, but once he got his eye in it was party time and he ended up with four to take his career tally to six. Before Saturday, he had not kicked a goal in 107 matches since the second semi-final of 2008.

Hunt and Tsalikis were far from the only West Perth players to have days out though.

Shane Nelson put in a remarkable performance finishing with 52 possessions, 12 marks and eight inside-50 entries. Aaron Black also finished with 39 disposals and 18 marks and Rohan Kerr 38 touches and 15 marks.

Marcus Adams kicked four goals as well with Steve Potente adding three to go with 24 possessions and Seva Martin two to go with 33 hit outs.

Laine Rasmussen gathered 24 possessions for West Perth, Matt Guadagnin 23, Jay van Berlo 21, Kris Shannon 21, Ray Bartholomew 21, Max Alexander 20 and Luke Meadows 20.

Perth might have started the game well but there was less and less to like as the afternoon wore on to end the horror season in terrible fashion.

Callum Collard has been one shining light all season as a small forward and he kicked another three goals to see him finish with 33 goals for the year from 16 matches.

Aidan Tropiano continued to show that Perth can build its midfield around him in coming years after he arrived mid-season from East Fremantle with the 21-year-old collecting another 29 possessions, seven marks, six tackles and five inside-50 entries.

Michael Florio also had 24 disposals for the Demons, Dene White 22, Michael Sinclair 22 and Matthew Hunt 18.

Nick Kane finished with 18 possessions and Jared Risol nine in what was the final games with Perth for both.

South Fremantle won its fifth straight match to end the season with Ben Saunders kicking five goals from 17 possessions and that took his season tally to 59 goals to see him claim his second Bernie Naylor Medal as the league's leading goalkicker for his second time in three years.

Haiden Schloithe, Shaun Bewick and Josh Pullman all kicked two goals each for South Fremantle as well.

Ashton Hams finished off his terrific first full season back with the Bulldogs from the AFL with 33 possessions, seven tackles and five inside-50 entries.

Adam Guglielmana also racked up 28 disposals for the Bulldogs, Toby Bairstow 26, Brendan Verrier 23, Bewick 22 and Schloithe 20 to go with his two goals and seven tackles.

Ruckman Brock Higgins was again outstanding with 22 possessions, 20 hit outs and seven inside-50 entries.

Peel had kicked the first four goals of the game and then still were in front by booting the first goal of the last quarter before conceding the final six goals of the contest.

Michael Apeness kicked three goals from just six kicks and five marks for Peel with Kristin Thornton booting two goals from nine kicks.

Clancee Pearce (20 possessions) and Anthony Morabito (10) had solid first halves for the Thunder but weren’t sighted after half-time.

Matt de Boer was outstanding for Peel to do all he could to put himself in the selection mix for Fremantle in the finals finishing with 35 possessions and seven marks.

Former captain Brendon Jones also had a strong finish to his season with 32 disposals with Jacob Ballard picking up 30 touches, Eddie Dann 28, Tom Sheridan 24, and ruckman Jonathon Griffin 20 to go with six marks and 28 hit outs.

Subiaco captain Kyal Horsley was once again best afield with another 36 possessions and a goal while Wayde Twomey was one of the few players on the ground on either side to hit targets from the majority of his 29 disposals.

Justin Joyce all but secured his place in Subiaco's finals side next week with 28 possessions while Jason Bristow racked up 28, Shaun Hildebrandt 22, Brad Stevenson 20 and Clancy Wheeler 19 to go with 15 hit outs.

Lachlan Delahunty made a welcome return for the Lions with 18 possessions, nine marks and a clever final quarter goal.

Full-forward Matt Boland and Shane Yarran kicked three goals each for Subiaco.

Brock O'Brien led the way for East Fremantle across half-back with 32 possessions and a long goal. Rory O'Brien also had 28 disposals for the Sharks, Bradd Dalziell 27, Mark McGough 25, Tyler Chalwell 20 and Danny Chartres 19 to go with 18 hit outs and two goals.

East Fremantle's back-line held up well despite the loss led by Tom Howlett with 23 possessions, Steven Dodd 22 and Andrew Stephen 16.

PUSHING FOR A SPOT
Claremont's reserves geared up for their finals campaign with a 62-point win over East Perth with Jack Richardson booting five goals and Anton Hamp three with Ben Taylor racking up 31 possessions, Sam Fong 27, Maximillian Bentley 26, Henry Roberts 23 and Hamp 20.

Kristian Caporn kicked three goals for East Perth while Tom Omodei collected 30 possessions, Alex Ridley 27 and Daniel Perkins 21. 

West Perth's reserves geared up for its second semi-final clash with Subiaco this Sunday with an 18.13 (121) to 8.7 (55) win over Perth at Lathlain Park.

Shayne Zanetti had not played a single game at any level with West Perth since appearing in the league side in Round 10, 2012 but he lined up in the reserves on Saturday and put in a stunning performance as the 23-year-old 199cm big man booted seven goals from 13 possessions and seven marks.

Matt Fowler also kicked three goals for the Falcons, Ben O'Regan three and Aidan Lynch two to go with 26 possessions and eight marks.

Trent Manzone gathered 27 possessions for the Falcons, O'Regan 26, Jack Thrum 21 and Ben McNamara 20 as they recorded the thumping win to celebrate the 150th appearance of Cameron Branch.

Matt Moody returned from injury and kicked four goals in the reserves with Brennan Stack kicking two and Cameron Manuel finishing with 31 possessions, Rowan Brookes 26, Kodie Fleay 20, Bradley Fry 19 and Sean Lynch 19.

South Fremantle's reserves might not be able to defend its premiership from last year, but at least finished its 2014 season on a positive note with an 18.13 (121) to 12.7 (79) win over Peel.

Kaiden Matera and Brett Hill kicked three goals each for the Bulldogs with John Sgherza and Emmanuel Collard adding two apiece.

Ben Sokol racked up 35 possessions, Adam McIntosh 32, Lewis Harvey 24, Jakeb Tartaglia 23, Matthew Gundry 23, Mitch Carter 21, Jason Maskos 21, Sgherza 19, Tim Stewart 19 and Steve Mills 18.

Kelvin Lawrence, Mitch Green, Reise Wilkey, Sam Barndon and Jeff Carter all kicked two goals each for Peel while Liam McKenna gathered 31 possessions, Green 28, Ryan Mulgrave 26, Corey Morris 24 and Rhys Anzellino 22.

Subiaco's reserves have been the dominant team of the competition right throughout the 2014 season and finished off preparations for the finals with a 24.9 (153) to 7.3 (45) victory over East Fremantle on Sunday.

Kyle Halligan kicked five goals for Subiaco, Ray Daniels four, Joel Ashman three, James Garcia two, Will Fetherstonhaugh two and Dylan Clarke two.

Luke Norriss racked up 34 possessions, Matt Bogensperger 34, Simon Moore 32, Fetherstonhaugh 31, Reece Blechynden 30, Rob Forrest 28, Craig Hoskins 21 and Joe Scafidi 20.

Ryan Lester-Smith kicked two goals for East Fremantle while Tim Bristow picked up 27 disposals, Josh Cuneo 19 and Mitch Boyle 18.