Round 15 McDonald's WAFL ResultsSunday, July 5, 2015 - 1:15 AM - by Chris Pike

THE tightness of the WAFL competition was again on show on Saturday with Swan Districts beating East Perth in a thriller by four points to move from outside the top five into third position, while Subiaco beat Peel to return a three-game advantage on top of the ladder.

There were just the two WAFL matches in Round 15 on Saturday afternoon and that saw Swan Districts win a four-point nail-biter of East Perth 9.10 (64) to 8.12 (60) at Steel Blue Oval.

And at Medibank Stadium, Subiaco proved too good for Peel Thunder winning 15.9 (99) to 6.8 (44) with the Lions returning to a three-game lead on top of the ladder while the Thunder weren’t able to continue their winning form.

Swan Districts had fallen outside the top five with a two-point loss to South Fremantle last week but their four-point win over East Perth on Saturday sees them again move up into third position.

Swans kicked the first three goals even though the Royals had all the play for much of the first term. The black-and-whites took their chances, though, when Tim Geappen got out the back to run into an open goal, Matt Rogers goaled from long range and Matt Riggio kicked truly on the run.

East Perth then kicked the next two goals either side of quarter-time and then hit the lead once Matt Rosa kicked truly, and led by as much as nine points after Steven Payne's second but a lucky one just on half-time for Swans to Matthew Jukes made the margin five points at the long break.

Swans then dominated the third quarter but only ended up with two goals to show for it thanks to Tom Smirk and Riggio, but the last goal of the term came to the Royals by Mitch Howlett to cut the margin to six points at three quarter-time.

East Perth peppered the ball inside-50 constantly throughout the final term but just couldn’t get reward for effort and when Swan Districts captain Tallan Ames kicked one goal from a double 50m penalty, and another from a free-kick, it proved enough for Swans to hold on for the four-point win.

East Perth just couldn’t find a way to get clean disposal thanks to 88 tackles from Swan Districts despite the Royals finishing with 72 more possessions and 27 more inside-50 entries.

Ames was used in the ruck for Swans despite having more than six years as being the competition's premier defender, and he did well holding his own along with Nathan Blakely up against both Paul Johnson and Fraser McInnes.

Ames kicked two goals for Swans as did Riggio while Adam Faulkner racked up 33 possessions and Ryan Davis put together another best on ground performance with 23 disposals, 10 tackles, six marks and four entries inside-50.

Nathan Broad did well down back with 23 touches and Tony Notte was outstanding at centre half-back keeping Scott Lycett quiet and having 16 disposals and four marks himself.

Kane Lucas and Steven Payne kicked two goals apiece for East Perth while Matt Rosa racked up 32 possessions, Brant Colledge 28, Lucas 23 and Garry Moss 23 in the back-line while also doing well keeping Todd Banfield quiet.

Subiaco then bounced back emphatically from its first loss in nine games last Saturday by scoring a commanding 55-point victory over Peel Thunder to see the Lions again move three games clear on top of the WAFL ladder.

Subiaco raced away to a fast start kicking six consecutive goals either side of quarter-time to open up a sizeable lead, and they were never threatened the rest of the afternoon leading by 25 points at half-time, 51 points at three quarter-time and 55 points at the final siren.

Michael Wood put his hand up to be a regular member of the Subiaco side with his best performance of the season with three goals to go with 15 possessions and eight tackles with Chris Deluca, Brett Robinson and Kyle Halligan all kicked two goals apiece as well.

Subiaco's midfield also gave great supply to its forwards with Sam Menegola racking up 29 possessions, Leigh Kitchin 28, Chris Phelan 25, Robinson 25 and captain Kyal Horsley 20.

Peel couldn’t quite recapture its form that had seen it improve to third position on the ladder despite the best efforts in the ruck of Jonathon Griffin who had 11 possessions, four marks, 35 hit outs and two goals.

Jacob Ballard also gathered 26 possessions for the Thunder, Hayden Crozier 24, Connor Blakely 23, Brady Grey 23, Ethan Hughes 19 and Ben Hancock 19, while Tanner Smith did well limiting Subiaco full-forward Matt Boland to four kicks and one goal. 

ROUND 15 McDONALD'S WAFL RESULTS
LEAGUE
Swan Districts 9.10 (64) defeated East Perth 8.12 (60)
Subiaco 15.9 (99) defeated Peel Thunder 6.8 (44)

RESERVES
Swan Districts 12.7 (79) defeated East Perth 9.7 (61)
Subiaco 21.18 (144) defeated Peel Thunder 4.6 (30)

COLTS
Swan Districts 15.6 (96) defeated East Perth 8.3 (51)
Subiaco 7.4 (46) lost to Peel Thunder 13.12 (90)