WA State 18s have solid finish in loss to Vic CountryThursday, July 2, 2015 - 1:27 PM - by Chris Pike

WESTERN Australia put in a competitive showing to finish the 2015 NAB AFL National 18s Championships but ended up falling 32 points short of the unbeaten Victoria Country.

Vic Country won its sixth match of the National 18s Championships as they claimed the Division 1 title for 2015 but WA put in a much more competitive showing than the 105-point loss in Perth against them last time.

Vic Country still ended up winning 8.15 (63) to 4.7 (31) at Geelong's Simonds Stadium but WA did well outscoring them three goals to one in the second half to close a 42-point half-time deficit to 32 by the final siren.

WA's carnival started in outstanding fashion with a one-point win over the two-time defending champions South Australia at Lathlain Park prior to the WAFL's State game victory over South Australia at the same venue.

There were then some tough weeks for the WA State 18s with a 105-point loss to Vic Country at Medibank Stadium, 73-point defeat to South Australia at AAMI Stadium and 74-point loss at the hands of Vic Metro at Domain Stadium.

However, WA put in a tremendous performance last Friday to beat Vic Metro at Geelong's Simonds Stadium and then back at the same venue on Thursday to close the championships, came back from having just one goal in the first half to win the second half and only lose to Vic Country by 32 points.

Bailey Rogers was terrific across half-back right throughout the game for WA finishing with 20 possessions to go with five marks and six rebounds from the defensive 50.

Sam Powell-Pepper continued his strong carnival as well with another 20 disposals, three clearances, three inside-50 entries and three rebounds from the back 50.

Sam Petrevski-Seton is another WA player with big wraps on him and he had 18 touches, five clearances and four inside 50s.

Jack Watson also did well with 16 possessions and six marks while James Harrold finished with 16 disposals (four tackles), Declan Mountford 14 (five tackles), Tom Bennett 13, Greg Clark 13 (six tackles, three clearances), Jake Waterman 12 (five marks) and Jesse Glass-McCasker 12.

Waterman, Callum Ah Chee, Josh Schoenfeld and Mathew Taylor were WA's goalkickers.

Vic Country has dominated the championships going through undefeated and again had some stars on show on Thursday with Darcy Parish picking up 29 possessions, Jarrod Berry 22, Darcy Tucker 21, Joe Maishman 21, Jy Simpkin 20 and Kurt Mutimer 20 while Ben Ainsworth kicked five goals.

Vic Country had the advantage of a healthy breeze in the first quarter, but only managed to kick the two goals in the opening term and while WA managed just three behinds, they had done well to stay in touch by quarter-time.

Waterman then went on a terrific run right inside the forward 50 with the help of a strong shepherd by captain Clark to kick a good goal, and give WA the first major of the second quarter.

Vic Country, though, kicked the last three goals of the quarter despite kicking into the breeze to hold a 27-point advantage heading into the half-time break.

WA then came out inspired to start the second half and two goals in a minute to Taylor, Schoenfeld and Ah Chee suddenly had the Black Swans just 24 points behind Vic Country.

Vic Country did get a steadying goal just before quarter-time, though, and then neither side was able to kick a major in the final term that concluded the 2015 Nationals 18s Championships.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA        0.3    1.3    4.5    4.7    (31)
VIC COUNTRY            2.6    7.9    8.10    8.15    (63)

WA – Goals: Waterman, Ah Chee, Schoenfeld, Taylor.
Best: Rogers, Glass-McCasker, Petrevski-Seton, Powell-Pepper, Waterman, Watson, Harrold.
VIC COUNTRY – Goals: Ainsworth 5; Berry, Maishman, Schache.
Best: Parish, Ainsworth, Mutimer, Nyuon, Berry, Tucker, Maishman.