Anzac Round WAFL Wrap UpWednesday, April 29, 2015 - 7:57 PM - by Chris Pike

A MASSIVE weekend commemorating Anzac Round in the WAFL threw up some surprises and included seven goals coming from the most unlikely of sources, West Perth pulling off a stunning comeback, Peel continuing to win and East Fremantle winning the first derby of 2015.

The round began on Saturday afternoon with the standalone Anzac Day clash and East Perth ended up beating Perth 20.18 (138) to 5.5 (35) in front of almost 2000 fans at Lathlain Park.

Then on Sunday it was also a standalone fixture that saw Peel Thunder win a fourth straight match for the first time ever by beating the winless Claremont 16.12 (108) to 11.15 (81) at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium.

There were two massive matches on Monday starting with West Perth kicking five goals in the last 10 minutes to come back from 26 points down to beat Swan Districts 12.12 (84) to 12.5 (77) at Joondalup's HBF Arena in front of a crowd of almost 3500.

And finally at Fremantle Oval, East Fremantle kicked the first seven goals of the second quarter and that was enough to set up the eventual 13.15 (93) to 11.10 (76) victory in front of 5200 spectators.

The results leave Subiaco (4-1) on top of the ladder after six rounds just ahead of Peel Thunder (4-1) and East Fremantle (4-2) by percentage. East Perth (3-2) and West Perth (3-2) then round out the top five.

South Fremantle (3-3) has now slipped outside the top five followed by Swan Districts (2-3), Perth (1-5) and Claremont (0-5).

Click here for the summary of Round 6 of the WAFL 

TEAM OF THE WEEK
BACK: Laine Rasmussen (WP), Tallan Ames (SD), Adam Guglielmana (SF)
HALF-BACK: Brock O'Brien (EF), Justin Simpson (SD), Nathan Broad (SD)
CENTRE: Hayden Crozier (PT), Shane Nelson (WP), Drew Rohde (WP)
HALF-FORWARD: Ryan Davis (SD), Jack Perham (EF), Jacob Dragovich (SF)
FORWARD: Matt Fowler (WP), Kyle Anderson (EP), Alec Waterman (EP)
RUCK: Paul Johnson (EP), Cameron Eardley (EF), Brendon Jones (PT)
INTERCHANGE: Matthew Davies (C), Jacob Ballard (PT), Simon Panizza (SF), Danny Chartres (EF)

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
East Perth needed to find an avenue to goal in its Anzac Day clash with Perth but not even coach Brian Dawson would have expected seven goals out of usual defender Kyle Anderson when he decided to try him at full-forward.

With Josh Smith still sidelined with an ankle injury and with Fraser McInnes, Josh Hill and Murray Newman other goalkickers absent and with West Coast wanting Callum Sinclair, Paddy Brophy and Tom Barrass to play in defence, Dawson decided to see what Anderson could do.

Given he was playing his 68th WAFL match and had only kicked one goal previously and built a reputation as one of the league 's best lockdown defenders, there was little reason to expect much and that was even more the case when he missed two sitters in the first quarter.

However, a ball fell his way to allow him to kick a goal on the run before quarter-time and his confidence continued to soar as he finished with seven goals from 23 possessions and 10 marks in the 103-point win.

THE SHINING LIGHTS
On top of Anderson's seven goals, debutants Rowen Powell and Shayne Hille hit the scoreboard with two and one goal games respectively while Alec Waterman booted two majors from 24 possessions and Julian Ameduri also kicked two goals.

Ruckman Paul Johnson was at his dominant best as well with 23 disposals, five marks, 29 hit outs, seven inside-50 entries and two goals.

East Perth's midfield got on top as the game wore on with Freddie Clutterbuck racking up 26 possessions, Brendan Lee 24, Steven Payne 22 and Mark Hutchings 19 to go with nine tackles, seven inside 50s and a goal in his first league match of the season after one game back in the reserves.

East Perth's back-line also held up well even if Perth did only have 33 inside 50s and set up some attacks out of the defensive 50 with Main ending up with 21 possessions, Callum Hart 17, Nathan Blee 14, Brophy 12 and Barrass 12 to go with two towering marks.

Perth's hopes of remaining competitive certainly weren’t helped on the injury front. Already coming into the game without Mitch Morton, Jarryd Morton, Christian Eyres, Chance Bateman, Jarrad Irons, Chris Billings and Callum Collard, things went from bad to worse for the Demons the longer the game went.

Daniel O'Sullivan came off injured in the opening minutes of the game and then Brennan Stack joined him on the sidelines before half-time. Joel Kalajzic copped a nasty blow to the head in the third quarter and didn’t return and then Michael Sinclair came off just before three quarter-time with what appeared to be a nasty injury.

With no players left on the bench, captain Dene White and wingman Brett Wolfenden had to play as Perth's deep forward options in the last quarter while trouble by injuries as well.

White still managed to kick three of Perth's five goals despite being hobbled, though, while Wolfenden worked hard to finish with 19 disposals, four tackles and four inside-50 entries.

Aidan Tropiano again worked tirelessly in the midfield for Perth racking up another 38 possessions with Liam McKenna another continuing his strong ball-winning form with 32 disposals, seven marks and five inside 50s.

Small defender Jared Bell also continued his good form with 21 disposals while Sinclair was outstanding with 19 possessions and keeping Brant Colledge quite up until going off with his apparent knee injury just before three quarter-time.

Peel captain Brendon Jones worked tirelessly once again for 28 possessions while Fremantle small forward Hayden Crozier put his hand up for an AFL recall in a strong showing with his 27 disposals, seven marks, seven inside 50s and a goal.

Jacob Ballard was the leading possession-winner on the ground with 29 disposals as well for Peel with Connor Blakely gathering 24 disposals, Tom Sheridan 23 and Brady Grey (in an intriguing battle on Jack Bradshaw).

Alex Pearce continued his good form in defence for Peel with the second-year Fremantle backman doing well to hold former AFL big man Kepler Bradley goalless and to nine disposals.

Peel's small forwards were lively with Gerald Ugle ending up kicking three goals, Max Duffy three (20 possessions, nine marks) and Leroy Jetta two while resting ruckman Jack Hannath kicked two from just five kicks for the game.

Peel was also down a player from just before quarter-time onwards after defender Alex Silvagni went down with a hamstring injury in his first match of the season having just overcome another hamstring complaint.

Matthew Davies was Claremont's best setting up play off half-back and finishing with 23 possessions while Ryan Neates had it 23 times, Corey Yeo 22, Oliver Tate 21 and Ryan Lim 19.

Darcy Cameron provided a good target in attack for Claremont finishing with three goals in the continued absence of the suspended Beau Maister and with Mark Seaby playing a second game back in the reserves.

Jack Bradshaw also booted two goals for the Tigers from 19 disposals while Ian Richardson worked hard as a high half-forward finishing with 19 disposals, six marks, seven inside 50s and a goal.

Brandon Franz had the big job up against either of Peel's ruckmen in Jonathon Griffin, Hannath or Craig Moller when they were forward and battled manfully.

Matt Fowler finished with three goals for West Perth with Matt Johnson also booting three majors in the first half to keep the Falcons in the contest. Luke Meadows added two crucial last quarter goals as well.

Shane Nelson racked up 28 possessions for West Perth with Rohan Kerr also gathering 28 disposals and taking eight marks. Aidan Lynch also gathered 24 disposals for the Falcons, Aaron Black 24, Jay van Berlo 22, Steven Browne 21, Andrew Strijk 18 and Luke Tedesco 17.

Chris Keunen was tremendous in the ruck again for West Perth with 15 possessions and 49 hit outs while Drew Rohde played the best game of his burgeoning league career finishing with 22 disposals and five tackles.

Jake Nuich kicked three goals to go with 12 disposals, five marks and 15 hit outs for Swan Districts while Ryan Davis added 23 possessions, six marks, nine inside-50 entries and three goals. Matt Rogers also kicked two majors to go with 22 touches and 11 marks.

Tallan Ames did a tremendous job holding Michael Lourey to just the one goal while also in Swans' back-line, Justin Simpson racked up 31 possessions and took 12 marks while Kirk Ugle added 22 disposals and Nathan Broad had 27 to go with eight marks.

Matt Riggio picked up 27 possessions for Swan Districts while Jarrad Blight gathered 23 disposals and laid eight tackles. Jason Daniels also had 20 touches in just his sixth league game.

East Fremantle key forwards Jack Perham and Ryan Lester-Smith kicked two goals each as did captain Rory O'Brien to go with 22 disposals as he spent more time as a small forward rather than in his usual role on the ball.

Andrew Stephen also booted two goals for the Sharks with the defender sneaking forward in the first and third quarters while also having a good battle trying to quell the influence of Cory Dell'Olio.

Cameron Eardley was East Fremantle's leading possession-winner finishing with 26 disposals to go with six tackles and six inside-50 entries while Brock O'Brien was terrific with his drive off half-back finishing with 24 touches, six marks and four inside 50s.

Sam Read did a good job keeping South Fremantle's Ben Saunders to just three kicks and two goals while Danny Chartres also shut down James Sellar in the defence.

Bradd Dalziell also gathered 20 possessions for East Fremantle, Boston Williamson 19 and Sean Henson 18.

South Fremantle coach Todd Curley made five changes to the team coming into his first game in charge in a derby with East Fremantle, and two youngsters he blooded grabbed their chances with both hands.

Simon Panizza was given the run-with role on Liam Anthony in just his second league appearance, and first of the season, and did a tremendous job holding him to just the 11 possessions.

Jacob Dragovich then made the most of his league debut finishing his first match with 23 possessions, seven marks and a goal.

Brock Higgins worked tirelessly in the ruck for South Fremantle up against both Rob Young and James Bristow, and he finished with 22 possessions, 11 marks, 22 hit outs and five entries inside the forward 50.

Ashton Hams racked up 29 possessions for South Fremantle while Kyle Hams had 22 disposals, Brendan Verrier 19, Ryan Cook 18 (and two goals), Steven Verrier 17 and Jarrod Parry 17.

Adam Guglielmana did a terrific job defensively holding George Hampson goalless and having 18 possessions while up forward, Josh Pullman proved the most effective target for the Bulldogs with 16 touches, eight marks and two goals.

Cory Dell'Olio kicked two goals and Ben Saunders did also to go along with taking a spectacular mark midway through the fourth quarter.

RESERVES STANDOUTS
Meanwhile, Perth's reserves started the action on Anzac Day at Lathlain Park with a strong 16.8 (104) to 6.6 (42) victory on the back of scoring 10 goals to three in the second half.

Jarryd Morton returned from injury and should earn a league call up straight away as a result playing at full-forward for the Demons and kicking seven goals from 18 possessions and 10 marks.

Ashley Boyes also finished with 27 possessions and two goals for Perth with Daniel Arangio also kicking two majors and Mitch Browne gathering 27 disposals, Kieran Hug 22, Brent Edmonds 19, Rowan Brookes 18, Rowan Garlett 18, and Kodie Fleay 17.

Tom Omodei continued his strong for East Perth finishing with 29 possessions and eight marks with Zachary Dent also collecting 22 disposals and Brandon Hughes while Scott Jones had 14 touches, six marks and 43 hit outs in the ruck.

Peel's reserves recorded its first win of the season holding on to beat Claremont 10.14 (74) to 9.13 (67). The win is the Thunder's first in the reserves since Round 13 last year.

Ben Hancock, Jarrod Bowman and Mitchell Wallace all kicked two goals each for Peel with Cruize Garlett racking up 30 possessions, Hancock 20, Nathan Fahey 19, Mitch Gill 19, Harrison Tyler 18, Bowman 18, Laine Wilkins 17 and Corey Morris 17.

Kaiden Gilbert kicked three goals for Claremont with Alexander Manuel and Shane McAdam booting two apiece.

Mark Seaby had 17 disposals and 43 hit outs as well for the Tigers with Chaz Flint gathering 26 possessions, Tom Willett 22, Francis Watson 22, Harrison McCracken 22, Harrison Court 21, Ben Higgs 21, Cameron Palmer 20, Reece Maxwell 19, Isaac Baum 18 and Manuel 18.

West Perth's reserves stormed home against Swan Districts at HBF Arena on Monday but the black-and-whites held on in the finish to win 11.10 (76) to 9.15 (69).

Dylan Nelson booted four goals for Swan Districts with Steven Wityk also impressive with 20 disposals, 10 marks and two goals. Mason Hislop and Daniel Patching also kicked two majors.