Round 11 McDonald’s WAFL Wrap Up

THE top five WAFL teams pulled away from the pack with Subiaco, Peel Thunder and West Perth recording strong Round 11 victories on Saturday while Claremont kept its finals hopes alive with a big win over Swan Districts on Sunday.

Three of the Round 11 matches took place on Saturday with Subiaco bouncing back emphatically from losing two of its last three matches, beating East Perth 25.12 (162) to 9.9 (63) at Medibank Stadium.

West Perth shook off Perth for a fifth straight victory, winning 11.12 (78) to 8.4 (52) at Lathlain Park and Peel Thunder made it two straight wins beating East Fremantle 11.12 (78) to 7.10 (52) at ATOM Stadium.

Lastly on Sunday, Claremont snapped a five-game losing slide to beat Swan Districts 20.10 (130) to 7.8 (50) at the Claremont Showground.

Following 11 rounds of the season, South Fremantle (8-1) remains on top of the ladder following the bye ahead of Subiaco (8-2). East Fremantle (6-4) is third but only percentage ahead of the also 6-4 Peel Thunder and West Perth.

East Perth (4-6) is two games back in sixth position followed by Claremont (3-7), Perth (2-7) and Swan Districts (1-9).

Click here for the summary of Round 11 of the WAFL

TEAM OF THE WEEK (club, times named)
BACK: Brent Edmonds (P, 1), Nick Rodda (WP, 1), Toby Gianatti (P, 1)
HALF-BACK: Josh Cuneo (EF, 1), Anton Hamp (C, 1), Greg Broughton (S, 2)
CENTRE: Ryan Neates (C, 1), Chris Phelan (S, 2), Darcy Tucker (PT, 1)
HALF-FORWARD: Gerald Ugle (PT, 1), Michael Lourey (WP, 1), Simon Moore (S, 1)
FORWARD: Jack Bradshaw (C, 2), Hayden Yarran (S, 1), Liam Ryan (S, 2)
RUCK: Zac Clarke (PT, 1), Jye Bolton (C, 4), Shane Nelson (WP, 4)
INTERCHANGE: Rohan Kerr (WP, 3), Rory O’Brien (PT, 3), Michael Sinclair (P, 2), Adam Faulkner (SD, 2)

PLAYER OF THE WEEK – JYE BOLTON
Jye Bolton arrived at Claremont for the 2016 WAFL season with the reputation as a prolific ball winning midfielder coming from Werribee in the VFL, and he has more than backed that up now 10 games into the season.

The 24-year-old on-baller is averaging 26.4 possessions for the season and has been one of Claremont’s best players in nine of the 10 matches, with the only exception when he copped a heavy tag by West Perth’s Dean Munns in Round 7 in Kulin.

And on Sunday in the 80-point win over Swan Districts at the Claremont Showground, Bolton delivered one of the best individual performances of the season with 37 possessions, 14 marks and four goals.

With Claremont now having the bye this weekend, the performance should all but guarantee Bolton a place in the WAFL state team to take on Tasmania Saturday week at Steel Blue Oval.

THE SHINING LIGHTS
Peel scored a second straight win to move within percentage of third position after a fast start, and controlling the contest all day to beat East Fremantle by 26 points on Saturday.

Zac Clarke returned for the Thunder and dominated in the ruck with 19 possessions, five marks, 39 hit outs and four inside-50 entries.

Peel also unveiled four debutants on the day with all impressive with Brad McGowan kicking two goals from nine possessions and six tackles, Michael Humble gathering 13 disposals, Keegan Power 15 touches and five tackles, and Richard Wight seven possessions.

At the other end of the scale, 210-game veteran Rory O’Brien compiled 28 possessions for the afternoon with Tendai Mzungu gathering 27 disposals to go with eight tackles.

Darcy Tucker was terrific on the wing running hard for 29 possessions, 10 inside-50 entries and eight marks while Brad Walsh finished with 21 disposals, Anthony Morabito 21, Brayden Lawler 18 and Ben Hancock 18.

Peel skipper Gerald Ugle was lively in the forward-line finishing with two goals from 18 possessions with Josh Deluca, Michael Apeness and debutant McGowan also kicking two majors. Small defenders Josh Mathers and Ryan Nyhuis were particularly effective as well.

East Fremantle came into the clash with Peel on a four-game winning run but the absence of George Hampson, Cameron Eardley, Jamie McNamara and Sam Read proved difficult to cover for the Sharks.

Jayden Schofield was one East Fremantle to stand up against the tide with likely his best game of the season with 26 possessions and nine marks. Josh Cuneo also played what was the best game of his 14-match league career with 23 disposals and six marks in defence.

Matthew Jupp made a solid return for the Sharks in the back-line as well with 18 touches and seven marks while Brock O’Brien had 18 possessions and a goal, Andrew Stephen 20 disposals and six marks, and Ryan Lester-Smith 22 touches and nine marks.

Liam Anthony finished with 23 possessions, eight marks and six tackles for East Fremantle with Sean Henson gathering 22 disposals, Tim Bristow 21, James Harrold 19 and Jack Perham 18.

Matthew Watson and Tim Bristow kicked two goals each for an East Fremantle team that only managed seven majors for the game.

Subiaco had lost two of its last three games following an 11-game winning run heading into Saturday’s clash with Medibank Stadium co-tenants East Perth. And the Lions went into the clash without premiership stars Brett Robinson, Wayde Twomey, Lachlan Delahunty, Kyle Halligan, Jordan Lockyer and Hayden Kennedy.

But Subiaco put in a dominant display to win by 99 points in the biggest win of the WAFL season while kicking the season’s highest score.

And it was some new faces doing the damage up forward led by debutant Hayden Yarran. After playing some solid football in the reserves last year with West Perth, he couldn’t cut it for a league debut but he got his chance at Subiaco on Saturday and delivered five goals.

Liam Ryan also booted five goals for the Lions and he now has 13 goals in the first four league games of his career.

Simon Moore also stepped up for Subiaco kicking four goals in his fourth game of the season. Dylan Clarke played his first game since Round 4 and was good with 22 possessions and two goals with Hamish Shepheard, Craig Hoskins, Kyal Horsley and Greg Broughton all kicking two goals each.

Broughton also finished with 24 possessions and nine marks running off half-back while Chris Phelan was prolific through the middle ending up with 28 possessions and eight tackles.

Leigh Kitchin gathered 24 disposals while laying nine tackles with Brett Mahoney picking up 22 touches, Will Fetherstonhaugh 19, Hoskins 18 and Horsley 18.

Usual defender Aaron Heal battled hard in the ruck despite giving up plenty of size to Paul Johnson and Jonathan Giles, and had 16 touches, five marks, 12 hit outs and eight inside-50 entries.

It was tough going for the Royals but Kane Lucas again worked hard in the midfield for 29 possessions and five inside-50 entries. Corey Adamson continued his impressive form with 23 disposals, six inside 50s and a goal.

Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls marked his return to the league side to kick three goals for the Royals while down back, Tom Barrass was a strong performer with 18 possessions and eight marks with Mitch Fraser finishing with 23 disposals, eight marks and a goal.

West Perth did suffer a blow coming into the game losing premiership hard man Kody Manning, but that made it an easy decision on who would make room for ruckman Seva Mozhaev. Up against former AFL big man Angus Graham, Mozhaev worked hard for nine touches and 19 hit outs while also kicking his first two goals of 2016.

Shane Nelson continued his stunning form over the five games he has played this season with another 33 possessions, six marks for the Falcons.

Rohan Kerr is also in outstanding form and had another 30 touches, 12 marks and two goals while Aaron Black fought through the tag on the wing from Cody Leggett to still contribute 22 disposals.

Aidan Lynch finished with 22 possessions, six marks and five tackles for West Perth, captain Jay van Berlo 19 touches and six inside-50 entries and Trent Manzone 17 disposals.

Michael Lourey booted three goals for the Falcons along with the two each from Kerr and Mozhaev.

West Perth’s back-line was again terrific led by a best on ground performance by Nick Rodda. He held Sam Garstone well after he kicked two first quarter goals and dominated the second half with his reading of the play. He finished with 19 possessions and eight marks.

Tyler Keitel was again good with 19 touches, seven tackles and a goal while Blake Wilhelm had 19 possessions and kept Callum Walley in check.

Andrew Strijk was well held up forward in the first half but was tremendous in the second half ending the game with 23 possessions, nine marks and six inside-50 entries.

Perth’s midfield once did all it could to give the Demons a chance led by 36 possessions and seven marks from Julian Jacobs.

Clint Jones also gathered 31 possessions for Perth, Aidan Tropiano 27 (12 tackles), Liam McKenna 27, Brett Wolfenden 18, Jarrad Irons 18 and returning captain Dene White 18.

Ruckman Angus Graham worked hard for 15 disposals, six marks, 44 hit outs and a goal but he was struggling to be as effective as he would like due to his heave workload.

Sam Garstone provided Perth an option in attack with two first quarter goals while down back, Lennon Marlin had a good battle with Michael Lourey and had 20 possessions and 10 marks himself.

Toby Gianatti finished with 20 disposals and seven marks while keeping Andrew Strijk quiet in the second half while Brent Edmonds shut down Max Duffy. Michael Sinclair was also good off half-back with 21 possessions and holding Matt Johnson to four kicks and one behind.

Jye Bolton delivered a stunning performance for Claremont to all but secure his place in the state team against Tasmania. He was clear best on field for his 37 possessions, 14 marks and four goals.

Ryan Neates was also terrific for the Tigers running hard all afternoon to end up with 32 disposals and two goals.

Jack Bradshaw was a livewire up forward booting five goals from 14 touches and six marks as the small forward continues his form revival with 13 goals in the last four games.

Jack Richardson also kicked three goals for Claremont with Darcy Cameron booting two from 15 touches and eight marks. Beau Maister worked hard in the forward-line as well for the Tigers ending up with 20 disposals and 11 marks, but kicked just 1.3.

Ryan Lim was another Claremont player who found plenty of the ball finishing with 25 possessions and seven marks with Tom Ledger gathering 21 disposals, Matthew Davies 20, Keifer Yu 19 and debutant Justin Speed 19 to go with nine tackles and five inside-50 entries.

Francis Watson played his first game of 2016 in the league team and was impressive with 20 possessions with Anton Hamp leading a strong defensive effort by the Tigers by holding Tony Notte to nine touches, one mark and one goal.