WAFL Round 10 WrapMonday, June 19, 2023 - 10:09 AM - by Chris Pike

SUBIACO continued its hot WAFL form to shoot to the top of the ladder by beating the reigning premiers West Perth on Saturday while East Perth made it four straight, Peel Thunder hit back and East Fremantle moved back into the top five.

The four Round 10 WAFL match ups were all significant for the eight competing teams with Subiaco replacing Claremont in top spot after the Tigers had the bye while the Thunder consolidated third spot, the Royals did the same with fourth and the Sharks moved back into fifth position.

Round 10 in the WAFL got underway on Saturday afternoon and Subiaco put in a superb performance at Leederville Oval to make it four straight victories with the 17.11 (113) to 8.10 (58) win over the reigning premiers West Perth.

East Fremantle was able to shake off a slow start and bounce back from losing the last two games to beat Swan Districts at WACA Ground 13.13 (91) to 9.13 (67) with Dillon O'Reilly kicking a career-best six goals.

The other Saturday afternoon game saw Peel Thunder fight off a determined Perth for the 13.10 (88) to 10.9 (69) victory at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park to bounce back from two straight losses.

East Perth then continued its tremendous form on Sunday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval to beat South Fremantle 12.10 (82) to 9.5 (59) to make it four consecutive victories.

Meanwhile, Round 10 of the Colts got underway on Saturday morning with East Fremantle beating Swan Districts 10.7 (67) to 6.11 (47) at the WACA Ground.

Griffin Vladich kicked three goals for East Fremantle and Jack Cocking two while Zac Petersen finished with 20 disposals, Kobe Austin 17 and Mitch Zadow 16.

Lewis Zolnier-Owens and Leon Kickett kicked two goals each for Swans while Jack Saunders picked up 24 touches and Tom Cathcart 18.

Perth scored a 17.12 (114) to 4.7 (31) victory against Peel Thunder at Mineral Resources Park. Coen Livingstone kicked six goals for the Demons, Darcy Alvaro three and Sam Cameron two.

Kalib Dempster-Park racked up 22 touches for Perth, Tomas Waite 22 and Jake Watson 20. Ethan Logan had 17 possessions for Peel, Kyelan Sanders 16 and Deian Roberts 16.

Subiaco put on an impressive showing to beat West Perth 8.11 (59) to 3.4 (22). Hayden Windsor and Nicholas Emes kicked two goals each for the Lions while Riley Wills had 25 disposals, Malakai Champion 24, Tyler Senge 21, Max Sarre 21 and Charlie Burke 21.

Jye Skender kicked two of the three goals for West Perth with Callum Smith collecting 22 possessions, Mitchell Lonnie 18 and Matt Galjaardt 17.

Then on Sunday, East Perth beat South Fremantle 11.13 (79) to 8.13 (61). Alexio Yiannakis and Jacob De Santis kicked three goals each for the Royals, and Xavier Walsh two. Mitch Miller had 27 possessions, William Cassidy 22 and Bailey Harbour 19.

Tarkyn Etherington, Isaiah Hayden and Kaleb Baines kicked two goals apiece for South Fremantle while Liam Piper collected 22 disposals, Callum Copeland 21, Tyler Rowe 16 and Preston Cherry-Bayles 16.

Round 10 in the Reserves started on Saturday as well with Swan Districts beating East Fremantle 13.10 (88) to 2.10 (22) at the WACA Ground.

Kristian Caporn kicked three goals for Swans, Tristan McDonald two and Tyrell Metcalf two. Mitch Bain racked up 35 disposals, Max Chipper 24, Jacob Sideris 24, Ben Hewett 24, Bailey Jenkin 22 and Noah Hannan 20.

East Fremantle's goals were kicked by Eddie Simpson and Lachlan Blakiston with Jack Walsh gathering 25 touches, Jack Cleaver 24 and Matthew Burton 24 while Ryan Lester-Smith returned with 15.

Peel Thunder also beat Perth 14.10 (94) to 8.10 (58) at Mineral Resources Park. Lachlan Cullen kicked five goals for the Thunder, Matthew Payne four and Corey Tregenza three. James Sturrock gathered 29 disposals, Michael Sellwood 27 and Kyren Gavin 20.

Jacques Barwick and Harry Quartermaine kicked two goals each for the Demons and Conor McPartland had 28 touches and 13 tackles.

West Perth beat Subiaco 6.12 (48) to 5.5 (35) at Leederville Oval. Callum Johnson racked up 26 touches for the Falcons, Kane Bevan 26 and Daniel Gathercole 19.

Lachlan Vanirsen finished with 27 touches, 18 tackles and 11 marks for Subiaco with Noah Ash gathering 23 disposals, Connor Faraone 23 and Corey Bellouard 18.

Then lastly on Sunday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval, East Perth won a close one 7.14 (56) to 7.9 (51) against South Fremantle.

Tom Medhat kicked two goals for East Perth from 22 possessions and 10 marks. Tom Albertsen had 27 touches, Adam Boules 24 and Riley Saunders 23.

Aiden Hall and Ed Graham kicked two goals each for South Fremantle while Robbie Turnbull racked up 30 possessions, Hal 26, Riley Vidovich 22 and Jaxon Bellchambers 19. Brock Higgins also had 16 touches and 38 hit outs in his second game back.

 

WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 10

EAST FREMANTLE 13.13 (91) defeated SWAN DISTRICTS 9.13 (67)

With Dillon O'Reilly having a day out and a host of his teammates standing tall, East Fremantle got back to winning and returned to the WAFL's top five with Saturday's 24-point win over Swan Districts.

East Fremantle came into the clash at the WACA Ground having lost its last two matches to slip outside the top five while Swan Districts had won two straight to be building some momentum.

In the end, it was the presence of O'Reilly up front for East Fremantle and then a host of fresh faces stepping up in the midfield who fired the Sharks to the 13.13 (91) to 9.13 (67) victory against the black-and-whites.

O'Reilly backed up his four-goal effort last week against East Perth with the most dominant performance of his WAFL career on Saturday for East Fremantle. The Swan Districts defence had no answers for him as he went on to kick six goals for the first time in the WAFL on the back of 13 kicks and nine marks.

Harry Marsh also had a significant impact for the Sharks kicking two goals to go with 19 possessions despite having Swan Districts tagger Jehb O'Donohue shadowing him for much of the afternoon.

After a couple of strong weeks in the ruck, Hugh Dixon spent most of Saturday's game forward for East Fremantle and provided a good target while pinch hitting in the ruck. He finished with 24 touches, seven marks, 15 hit outs and a goal.

The Sharks' midfield was without Milan Murdock, Tom Joyce and Josh Schoenfeld, but stayed strong and around the field, Jackson McDonald gathered 19 possessions, Luke English 18, Cam Eardley 17 and Fraser Turner 17.

Jesse Palmer, Tom Edwards and Brayden Noble all kicked two goals apiece for Swan Districts.

Aidan Clarke continued his strong return from injury for Swan Districts over the last three weeks with another 24 possessions while Jarvis Pina picked up 23 disposals, Jesse Turner 21, Josh Cipro 19 and Jackson McLachlan 19.

Nathan Blakely was back into the team for Swan Districts after missing last Sunday's win over Perth and he had a hot start to the game, and ended up with 20 disposals and 28 hit outs.

After a couple of missed opportunities to start the game for East Fremantle, it was Swan Districts with the first goal of the game after a strong mark and good finish from Brayden Noble.

Co-captain Chris Jones added a second soon after in a hot start for Swans before the Sharks did get their first goal of the contest at the 10-minute mark thanks to Dillon O'Reilly.

O'Reilly soon added a second and then Jarrad Jansen kicked another for the Sharks and they went into the quarter-time break leading by 10 points as a result.

Swan Districts got back to within four points with an early goal in the second quarter to Tom Edwards, but it was the Sharks who pulled away with three goals over the next 10 minutes including two more to O'Reilly.

The Swans' back-line without Brandon Erceg and Will Collins were struggling for answers on O'Reilly with Nathan Ireland starting on him and eventually even Jones had to be taken from the forward-line to move back to try and quell his influence.

After East Fremantle's lead got out to 22 points with O'Reilly kicking his fourth, Swans Districts did respond with the next couple through Edwards and Greg Ottaviano, but a late goal from Harry Marsh ensured the Sharks remained on top by 14 points at the long break.

O'Reilly started the second half in the same vein kicking his fifth goal and when Harry Marsh kicked his second, the Sharks were 24 points up and threatening to run away with it.

Brayden Lawler stretched the lead for the Sharks to 25 points and then with O'Reilly kicking his sixth shortly before three quarter-time, it was East Fremantle in control by 36 points.

Hugh Dixon put the result beyond doubt with a goal for the Sharks to start the final term and despite Swans kicking the game's last three goals courtesy of Jesse Palmer (two) and Ryan Kemp, the Sharks still returned to the winner's list winning by 24 points.

PERTH 10.9 (69) lost to PEEL THUNDER 13.10 (88)

Perth put in another encouraging performance at home to Peel on Saturday but just as the Demons were making a charge, a brilliant patch from Sebit Kuek on his way to six goals helped the Thunder secure the 19-point win.

It turned out to be quite the fascinating contest at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park and Perth made Peel earn it all the way with the Thunder attempting to leave their losing slide at two.

Perth coach Peter German moving Ajang Ajang into the ruck and Sam Stubbs onto the ball proved instrumental in the Demons getting back into the contest too, and ultimately they were making a charge early in the last term.

However, three quick goals from Kuek turned the tide back in favour of Peel who went on to secure the 13.10 (88) to 10.9 (69) victory away from home.

Sebit Kuek put on quite the spectacular show at full-forward for Peel. Not only did he kick a career-best six goals from 12 kicks and eight marks, but his three quick goals midway through the fourth term sealed the win for the Thunder.

Travis Colyer also kicked two goals for the Thunder to go with 18 touches, four inside 50s, three marks and two tackles.

Brady Grey put together another strong performance in the midfield for Peel against his former team finishing with 22 possessions, eight tackles, six inside-50 entries and five marks.

Blair Bell also picked up 19 disposals for the Thunder, Corey Wagner 19, Tom Emmett 16, Nathan Wilson 15 and ruckman Liam Reidy 15 to go with 23 hit outs.

Perth captain Michael Sinclair kicked two goals as did the returning Kristian Cary in his first game of the season, Simon Hayward and Jack Evans.

Charlie Thompson continued his impressive first season in the WAFL with 30 possessions and 10 tackles while Jack Avery collected 27 disposals, Regan Clarke 26, Matthew Taylor 19 and Jye Clark 18.

It took almost 12 minutes for the game's first goal at Lathlain on Saturday and it went the way of Peel through big man Riley Smith. The Thunder then had the first two on the board courtesy of Sebit Kuek.

But Perth did close the first quarter with a late goal from captain Michael Sinclair to be within nine points at quarter-time.

Peel threatened to open up a dominant lead with the first two goals of the second quarter from Travis Colyer and Nathan Wilson but Perth were staying in the contest and the move of Ajang Ajang into the ruck, and Sam Stubbs onto the ball was a game changer.

When Stubbs won the centre clearance, got the ball back from his teammate who took the mark and slotted a running goal from 50m, the Demons fans were up and about, and by half-time the margin was just nine points thanks to a late goal from Ned Shannon.

Again the Thunder threatened to run away with the contest to start the second half with goals to Kuek and Guy Barnes, but the Demons weren’t going away and did stay in touch with a goal to Jack Evans.

However, Peel were still 20 points up at three quarter-time thanks to a late goal from Josh Corbett before the lead was back out to 25 points to start the fourth term when Colyer kicked his second of the day.

Perth then hit a purple patch with three goals in the space of five minutes firstly through Cary then another to Evans and Simon Hayward had a rush of blood after taking a mark, but retrieved the situation by snapping truly from the goal square.

Suddenly it was just a seven-point ball game but Kuek turned match-winner for the Thunder. He was really having fun when he kept the ball alive on the boundary in the pocket, took on his defender Kane Johnston, and then got boot to ball in the goal square while being tackled.

He would kick three of his six goals for the day in the space of four minutes in the last term to take Peel's lead from seven to 25 points, and the Thunder would go on to win by 19.

SUBIACO 17.11 (113) defeated WEST PERTH 8.10 (58)

Subiaco made it four wins in-a-row to shoot to the top of the WAFL ladder after 10 rounds by handing reigning premiers West Perth a 55-point spanking at Leederville Oval on Saturday.

The Lions did come into the clash on a three-game winning streak but the Falcons were also fresh off an improved performance the week before to beat South Fremantle by 27 points after trailing by 36 earlier in the contest.

So the stage was set for a fascinating contest between the last two WAFL premiership winning teams, but it was the Lions who dominated from the outset.

Subiaco kicked six goals to one in the opening term and kept it going the rest of the afternoon including six goals to two in the third quarter to end up winning 17.11 (113) to 8.10 (58).

Subiaco's triple premiership winning, two-time Bernie Naylor Medal winning spearhead Ben Sokol was outstanding again in the victory ending up kicking five goals from 17 kicks and 12 marks.

Ryan Borchet and Jordan Faraone also kicked two goals each in the 55-point win for the Lions.

Zac Clarke delivered another dominant performance in the ruck for Subiaco finishing with 23 possessions, 45 his outs, 12 marks and a goal.

Liam Hickmott also finished with another 23 possessions and 12 tackles for the Lions while Stefan Giro collected 22 touches, Leigh Kitchin 21, Taj Schofield 21, Angus Dewar 20, Wil Hickmott 20, Michael Braut 19 and Jack Mayo 18 to go with nine inside 50s and eight marks.

Tyler Keitel kicked West Perth's first three goals of the contest and finished the afternoon booting five from his 15 possessions and nine marks.

Nathan Murray ended up with 31 possessions for the Falcons, Mitch Peirce 27, Aaron Black 20, Luke Meadows 20, Shane Nelson 20 and Joe Hinder 19.

West Perth made the perfect start looking to build on the momentum from last week's strong finish against South Fremantle with the first goal of the game to Tyler Keitel after just three minutes.

It took Subiaco nine minutes to get on the board but once Ryan Borchet kicked a first goal for the Lions, Jaimon Alone, Ben Golding, 100-gamer Max Walters and then Ben Sokol all chimed in.

By the time Sokol kicked his second, the Lions had six goals on the board to head into the quarter-time break in control leading by 33 points.

Zac Clarke then stretched that lead to 39 points with a goal a minute into the second term before Keitel kicked his second, and West Perth's second shortly after.

However, Sokol added a third for the Lions and despite Keitel kicking a third of the half for the Falcons, Subiaco were still in control leading by 39 points by the half-time break.

Rylie Morgan then ran off his run-with job for the day on Shane Nelson to kick the first goal of the second half for Subiaco. When Borchet and Leigh Kitchin followed suit in the first four minutes, suddenly that Lions lead was out to 57 points.

Mitch Peirce got one back for West Perth to become the first Falcons player to kick a goal not named Keitel for the day, but Subiaco kept rolling with a couple of goals to Jordan Faraone seeing the lead grow to 68 points.

Nelson did get one back for West Perth before three quarter-time, but the damage was done and from there Subiaco cruised to the 55-point victory to shoot to the top of the WAFL ladder as a result.

SOUTH FREMANTLE 9.5 (59) lost to EAST PERTH 12.10 (82)

The superb form of East Perth continued on Sunday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with the Royals making it four wins in-a-row to beat South Fremantle by 23 points.

East Perth came into the game on a three-game winning streak but came up against a team they had lost 10 of the last 11 times against, and at a venue they had lost on their last five visits to.

However, the Royals turned that all around on Sunday with a commanding performance against the struggling Bulldogs to win 12.10 (82) to 9.5 (59) and improve to a 7-3 record with the four consecutive wins.

Sam van Diemen was the latest forward to stand up for East Perth on Sunday kicking an equal career-best three goals from 14 possessions and four tackles.

Mitch Schofield also kicked another three goals for the Royals with Shayne Hille and Liam Tedesco chipping in with two each.

The East Perth midfield was again superb with Simpson Medallist Angus Schumacher leading the charge with 38 possessions, nine inside 50s, four marks and four tackles.

Angus Scott racked up another 34 touches for the Royals, Mitch Crowden 26 and Hamish Brayshaw 21 while out of defence, Nick Robertson had another 27 disposals, Tom North 22 and Jacob Msando 21.

Jedd Edwards did a solid job on debut in the ruck in the absence of Scott Jones too with 11 touches and 35 hit outs.

South Fremantle again struggled to kick a winning score but Manfred Kelly and captain Dylan Main did manage two goals apiece.

Jake Florenca had another strong showing on the ball for South Fremantle with 28 possessions while Tom Blechynden picked up 27, Jacob Dragovich 24, Matthew Parker 19 and Glenn Byron 18 running off half-back.

It wasn’t the prettiest start to the contest in what was a grind over the first 15 minutes and neither team able to take their chances in front of goal, but eventually at the 17-minute mark it was East Perth who got the first goal on the board.

That came courtesy of Sam van Diemen before Shayne Hill added another for the Royals. Manfred Kelly got South Fremantle on the board but was the Royals on top by quarter-time by 11 points thanks to a Liam Tedesco conversion after the siren.

South Fremantle was able to make a strong start to the second quarter though. It started with a goal to Zac Strom before Caleb Stephens added another and when Kelly kicked his second of the day, it was the Bulldogs with all the momentum and an eight-point advantage.

They couldn’t maintain it, though, with East Perth getting the last two goals of the half courtesy of Mitch Schofield and Hille to be clinging to a four-point advantage.

If the game was still on the line at half-time, it didn’t stay that way too long into the second with East Perth kicking three goals in the opening eight minutes from Angus Scott, Nick Bonomelli and van Diemen to lead by 25 points.

South Fremantle did stay in touch with a couple of quick goals from George Wessels and Brandon Donaldson, but East Perth continued to have the answers and closed the third term with goals to Schofield and van Diemen.

Schofield added another to start the fourth stanza and that just about wrapped up the win for the Royals. The Bulldogs did show some signs of life with a couple of goals to Dylan Main, and then Matthew Parker's first of the season.

That got South Fremantle back within 15 points but East Perth kicked the last goal of the game through Liam Tedesco to win by 23 and make it four on the trot.