Round 3 McDonald’s WAFL Wrap Up

BEN Saunders kicked five goals in a quarter, Clancy Wheeler and Aaron Zucconi celebrated their 100th games with wins and Peel Thunder took advantage of a struggling Swan Districts as part of Round 3 of the McDonald’s WAFL Premiership Season.

The round began on Friday night at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with South Fremantle remaining unbeaten downing the winless East Perth 16.13 (109) to 10.9 (69).

On Saturday, another strong crowd of 6090 turned out as Subiaco beat West Perth as part of the International Football Festival at HBF Arena 17.15 (117) to 11.7 (73).

Also on Saturday, Perth came from behind to defeat Claremont 14.11 (95) to 12.6 (78) at Lathlain Park and Peel Thunder kept Swan Districts winless with an 11.28 (94) to 6.6 (42) victory.

Click here for the summary of Round 3 of the WAFL

TEAM OF THE WEEK (Club, times named in 2016)

BACK: Aaron Heal (S, 1), Aaron Zucconi (P, 1), Joe Morrow (WP, 1)
HALF-BACK: Matthew Davies (C, 2), Blayne Wilson (SF, 2), Julian Jacobs (P, 1)
CENTRE: Kyal Horsley (S, 2), Adam Cockie (S, 1), Chris Masten (EP, 1)
HALF-FORWARD: Haiden Schloithe (SF, 1), Tom Lamb (EP, 2), Brett Robinson (S, 2)
FORWARD: Steven Edwards (SF, 1), Ben Saunders (SF, 1), Ben Sokol (S, 1)
RUCK: Jonathon Griffin (PT, 1), Liam McKenna (P, 1), Rory O’Brien (PT, 1)
INTERCHANGE: Clint Jones (P, 2), Jay van Berlo (WP, 1), Oliver Tate (C, 1), Jared Bell (P, 1)

PLAYER OF THE WEEK – AARON ZUCCONI
He might not have been the best player of the round, but the return of Aaron Zucconi to Perth this year might be every bit as important as the Demons try to rise up the ladder as the recruiting of Clint Jones, Angus Graham and Spencer White turns out to be.

Zucconi put together 98 games with Perth between 2005 and 2012 as a strong and reliable key defender, but it was thought his career was over.

However, he has decided to give it one more crack in 2016 and the 29-year-old celebrated his 100th WAFL game in style on Saturday with Perth coming from behind to beat Claremont and Zucconi doing well in his battle with Tigers premiership player and Simpson Medallist Beau Maister.

What Perth has desperately needed in recent years is a key defender who could do a job on the opposition’s power forwards and that’s exactly what Zucconi provides on his return to help the players up the field go about their business with more confidence.

THE SHINING LIGHTS
Five goals in a stunning 11-minute patch to end the first quarter from Ben Saunders set up South Fremantle’s win over East Perth and then after being challenged by the Royals in the last quarter, the Bulldogs kicked the last four goals to run out 40-point victors.