Round 2 WAFL ResultsSaturday, March 23, 2013 - 4:00 PM - by Chris Pike

WEST Perth made it two straight wins to start the WAFL season with East Perth also bouncing back to record a victory in the only two matches in Round 2 this weekend.

The round began on Friday night at Leederville's Medibank Stadium with West Perth prevailing against Subiaco 11.12 (78) to 8.6 (54).

Then on Saturday at the same venue, East Perth won a hard fought battle against Peel Thunder 11.14 (80) to 9.14 (68).

West Perth was coming off a 75-point thumping over East Perth to open the season last Saturday, and started on fire on Friday night against Subiaco as well with six goals to two to lead by 23 points at quarter-time.

However, the Falcons kicked just 1.8 over the next two quarters with Subiaco kicking five goals to leave West Perth with only a five-point three quarter-time advantage.

West Perth kicked it up a gear in the last quarter, though, booting four goals to one to end up winning by 24 points.

Kody Manning, Josh Mellington, Matt Fowler and Anthony Tsalikis all kicked two goals each for West Perth while Shane Nelson racked up 30 possessions, Rohan Kerr 29, Aaron Black 25, Mark Hutchings 25 and Laine Rasmussen 18.

Callum Sinclair was terrific in the ruck for Subiaco finishing with 17 possessions, 40 hit outs and two goals. Chris Deluca also kicked two goals with Jarrod Kayler-Thomson gathering 28 disposals, Brett Mahoney 29 and Aidan Parker 24.

Then on Saturday, East Perth hit back from a 75-point thumping at the hands of West Perth last week to fight out a hard fought 11.14 (80) to 9.14 (68) victory but for the second straight week Peel will be kicking itself over some poor missed opportunities in front of goal.

It could well have cost Peel a win over Perth last Saturday, and robbed it of a real chance to threaten East Perth in the last quarter yesterday.

However, East Perth finished strongly and dominated much of the final quarter with Josh Smith and Garry Moss kicking the sealers.

As if losing the first two games of the season both by two points wasn’t bad enough for Peel, star recruit Jarrhan Jacky went down with a serious-looking knee injury and was stretchered off the field.

There was more encouraging news in the reserves with former North Melbourne player Cruize Garlett looking good gathering 23 possessions though.

East Perth had just the two West Coast-listed players at its disposal with Blayne Wilson playing well in defence against his former club while Cale Morton was solid on the wing with 19 disposals.

On the other hand, Peel had seven Fremantle-listed players with Viv Michie the standout with the classy on-baller gathering 26 disposals to go with six clearances and a goal. Hayden Crozier was also good with 24 touches while Jesse Crichton was prominent with 19 and a last quarter goal.

Craig Moller fought hard in the ruck up against Paul Johnson and had 19 possessions, 13 hit outs, six clearances and a goal. Johnson was outstanding for East Perth as well, though, with 24 touches, 34 hit outs, nine clearances and eight inside-50 entries.

Peter Faulks was solid in defence but didn’t spend too much time on Smith with the Royal big man kicking three goals from 24 possessions and 12 marks after being held goalless last week. Tom Sheridan worked hard for 17 touches as well with Tanner Smith showing encouraging signs forward.

As far as the non AFL-listed players went, East Perth had a host of strong ball winners led by co-captains Craig Wulff (31 possessions) and Brendan Lee (28). Freddie Clutterbuck also picked up 28 touches and Aaron Sweet 26. Moss and Mat Seal kicked two goals apiece.

Another of Peel's recruits, Marlon Motlop from Swan Districts, worked hard on the ball gathering 23 possessions with former Royal Pat Travers picking up 22 and Devin McFarlane did well in defence with 21.

Brad Holmes kicked three goals, but two of those came in a two-minute burst in the first quarter and his third didn’t come about until the last minute of the contest.

ROUND 2 RESULTS

LEAGUE

Subiaco 8.6 (54) lost to West Perth 11.12 (78)

East Perth 11.14 (80) d Peel 9.14 (68)

RESERVES

Subiaco 14.10 (94) d West Perth 9.11 (65)

East Perth 12.13 (85) d Peel 11.8 (74)

COLTS

Subiaco 20.10 (130) d West Perth 8.5 (53)

East Perth 9.10 (64) d Peel 3.11 (29)