Round 2 – Swan Districts v South Fremantle Match ReportSunday, March 26, 2017 - 1:28 AM - by Chris Pike

SWAN Districts has already matched its win tally from last season scoring a second straight victory to open 2017 beating an inaccurate South Fremantle by 21 points at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday.

Swan Districts won just two games in all of 2016 on the way to the wooden spoon, but the black-and-whites added some quality AFL experience over summer and that is already paying dividends.

Following a come from behind win over Perth to open the season, Swans backed that up with a strong performance against a South Fremantle team who made the preliminary final last year and beat Subiaco to open the new season by 39 points last Saturday.

Despite the Bulldogs' inaccuracy, Swans deserved the victory on the back of six unanswered goals either side of quarter-time to set up the eventual 13.7 (85) to 8.16 (64) victory.

South Fremantle will rue its inaccurate performance in front of goal with Mason Shaw, Ben Saunders and Brandon Donaldson combining for seven of the 16 behinds.

South Fremantle did kick the first goal of the game thanks to Blaine Johnson, but then the bad kicking in front of goal set in.

They ended up with seven behinds for the first quarter while Swans kicked straight thanks to Matthew Rogers, Todd Banfield and Ryan Crowley.

The Bulldogs then continued to miss and Swans were having no such trouble with David Ellard, Corey Gault and Brayden Noble all kicking truly to extend their advantage to 25 points.

South Fremantle ended its goalless drought at the 21-minute mark of the second term through Steven Edwards but the black-and-whites remained in control leading by 18 points at the main break.

The Bulldogs needed to start kicking straight to be any hope in the second half and that task started well when Tim Kelly booted truly less than a minute into the third term to make the margin just 12 points.

It wouldn't last and South Fremantle went more than 15 minutes before another goal and in that time Swans added majors through Noble, Crowley and Warrick Wilson to be up by 30 points.

South Fremantle got a couple back before three quarter-time, but Swans continued to have the answers and four goals in time-on saw Cary add his two for the afternoon, Crowley his third and Adam Faulkner his third to make the advantage 41 points at the last chance.

It was all South Fremantle in the final quarter but the Bulldogs again kicked just three goals from eight scoring shots. Saunders, Ryan Cook and Edwards did kick goals but that only cut the final margin to 21 points.

Swans might have been without Jamie Bennell from last week's win over Perth, but their other returnees or additions from the AFL for 2017 made a significant impact in Saturday's win.

Ellard finished with 24 possessions, eight tackles and a goal while Xavier Ellis had his moments with 13 disposals and eight marks. 

Gault was impressive as a roaming big man finishing with 19 possessions, 19 hit outs and a goal and while Crowley had just eight touches, he did kick three goals.

Cary worked hard as a target from centre half-forward too for 20 disposals, 12 marks and two goals. Noble also booted two goals.

Faulkner worked hard for 22 possessions as well for the black-and-whites with Matt Riggio adding 20 disposals, Freddie Clutterbuck 19 and Alex Howard 17 in defence. Tallan Ames also did well holding Bernie Naylor Medallist Saunders to the one goal and three kicks.

South Fremantle had plenty of big ball winners and finished with 89 more possessions than Swan Districts, 19 more marks, 15 more inside-50 entries and four extra scoring shots.

That all resulted in just eight goals for the afternoon, though, for the Bulldogs who also lost Jarrod Garlett to a leg injury in the second quarter. He was playing his first league game back since returning from the Gold Coast Suns over summer.

Kelly racked up a career-high 38 possessions for the Bulldogs to go with 12 marks, seven inside 50s and a goal.

He wasn’t the only one to pick up huge numbers either with Brendan Verrier finishing with 34 disposals, Haiden Schloithe 31, Hams 28, Cook 28 (12 marks), Shaun Bewick 26, Blayne Wilson 26, Donaldson 23, Dylan Main 22 and second-gamer Kyle Russell 19.

Jake Solomon again worked hard in the ruck for South Fremantle with 11 disposals, 32 hit outs and a goal.

Swan Districts takes on East Perth next Saturday at Leederville Oval while South Fremantle tries to end reigning premier Peel Thunder's seven-game winning streak at Bendigo Bank Stadium.

SWAN DISTRICTS        3.2    6.4    13.4    13.7    (85)
SOUTH FREMANTLE        1.7    2.10    5.11    8.16    (64)

SWAN DISTRICTS – Goals: Crowley 3; Noble, Cary 2; Ellard, Faulkner, Rogers, Banfield, Gault, Wilson.
Best: Ellard, Gault, Cary, Ames, Howard, Ugle, Faulkner.
SOUTH FREMANTLE – Goals: Edwards 2; Cook, Solomon, Saunders, Johnson, Donaldson, Kelly.
Best: Kelly, B Verrier, Schloithe, Cook, Wilson, Donaldson, Hams.