Round 20 McDonald’s WAFL Results

WEST Perth, Peel Thunder and East Perth all further consolidated their finals positions with wins in Round 20 WAFL action on Saturday while Swan Districts returned to the top five with a thrilling-one point upset of Subiaco.

All four Round 20 matches took place on Saturday afternoon with West Perth remaining in second position with a 15.14 (104) to 4.7 (31) victory over East Fremantle at ATOM Stadium with the Falcons booting the opening six goals of the contest.

Peel Thunder then took South Fremantle’s best shot either side of three quarter-time at Fremantle Oval to kick the last four goals to win 14.13 (97) to 11.1 (67) to retain third position.

East Perth also remained secure in fourth spot with a hard fought 10.10 (70) to 8.12 (60) victory over Claremont at Medibank Stadium with the Royals now having won four on the trot.

The upset of the day then saw Swan Districts hold on to beat Subiaco in a thriller 11.6 (72) to 10.11 (71) at Steel Blue Oval to see the black-and-whites replace Claremont in fifth position.

East Perth all but locked away its place in the finals but it was a tough battle at Medibank Stadium against a Claremont team also looking to remain in the top five.

It was just one goal apiece in the first quarter but two goals to one in the second term saw the Royals lead a more inaccurate Tigers outfit by just the four points at the main break.

The scoring opened up a little in the second half and that saw East Perth kick four goals to Claremont three in the third quarter, and then both teams kicked three goals apiece in the last term as the Royals held on to win by 10 points.

Jackson Nelson, Tom Lamb and Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls all kicked two goals apiece for East Perth while Paul Johnson dominated in the ruck with 26 possessions, 38 hit outs and six entries inside-50.

Kane Lucas also gathered 31 disposals for the Royals, Brendan Lee 31, Jamie Bennell 29, Steven Payne 25 and Nelson 24.

Beau Maister did well kicking three goals for Claremont with Tom Ledger adding two to go with 33 possessions. Matthew Davies also had 26 touches for the Tigers, Corey Yeo 25, Ryan Neates 23, Tom Swift 21, Haydn Busher 21 and Ian Richardson 20.

Swan Districts had the advantage of the breeze in the first quarter against Subiaco and made the most of it with the last three goals of the opening term through Tim Geappen, Matt Riggio and Rudy Riddoch to lead by 17 points at the first change.

However, Subiaco took over in the second quarter with six goals to one, including three alone to Simon Moore, to see the Lions in control by 16 points at half-time but again the ascendancy went with the direction of the breeze in the third term.

Swans were able to kick four goals to one to lead by three points at the last change, and then appeared home with goals to Ryan Davis and Matthew Jukes to start the final term with their lead out to 15 points.

Subiaco kept coming, though, and goals to Chris Deluca and Wayde Twomey had them within three points, and they continued to attack but managed just two behinds in the dying stages with Swan Districts holding on to win by a point and to return to fifth position.

Davis finished with two goals for Swans to go with 17 disposals and 20 tackles while Geappen also booted two majors from 20 possessions.

Justin Simpson controlled the game across half-back for the black-and-whites with 29 possessions and nine marks while Aaron Elari gathered 27 disposals, Matt Riggio 26, Adam Faulkner 24 and Nathan Blakely ended up with 51 hit outs.

Moore ended up with three goals for Subiaco and Shane Yarran two while Chris Phelan gathered 28 possessions, Leigh Kitchin 24, Scott Hancock 24, Sam Menegola 22, Wayde Twomey 19, Jordan Lockyer 19 and Clancy Wheeler 19 to go with 33 hit outs.

South Fremantle needed to beat Peel Thunder at Fremantle Oval to be any chance of still making the finals in 2015, but the Thunder always appeared in control with the Bulldogs forced to play catch up all afternoon at the port.

Peel got the opening goal of the game through Leroy Jetta and it was goal for goal for the rest of the first quarter with the Thunder heading into quarter-time with a three-point advantage.

The Thunder then kicked away with the first five goals of the second term to open up a 33-point advantage and it was still 28 points at half-time after a South Fremantle goal to Haiden Schloithe.

Peel re-established a 32-point advantage when Gerald Ugle kicked his second to start the second half, before Josh Pullman’s third helped to spark a South Fremantle comeback.

Cory Dell’Olio kicked three goals in the space of seven minutes before three-quarter-time, and when Ryan Cook and Shaun Bewick kicked the first two goals of the last quarter, suddenly the Bulldogs were back within five points and had all the momentum.

However, that’s where the comeback would stop with Peel kicking the last four goals of the contest through Eddie Dann, Max Duffy, Brady Grey and Ugle to end up winning by 30 points to further secure their place in the top five.

Duffy and Ugle kicked three goals each for Peel with Jetta adding two while Jacob Ballard amassed 33 possessions, Brendon Jones 32, Connor Blakely 29, Ed Langdon 26, Josh Bootsma 24, Duffy 24, Brady Grey 24 and Jack Hannath 18 to go with 27 hit outs and a goal.

Pullman and Dell’Olio kicked three goals each for South Fremantle while Ashton Hams picked up 28 possessions, Tim Kelly 27, Ryan Cook 21, Callum Ah Chee 19, Anthony Collica 19 and Brock Higgins 18 to go with 31 hit outs.

East Fremantle’s only hope of turning around its form was to get off to a good start at ATOM Stadium against West Perth, but the Falcons kicked with the howling breeze in the first quarter and the game as a contest was all but over by time-on of the opening term.

It took less than a minute for West Perth to kick the game’s first goal through Matt Johnson before Trent Manzone snapped one through in traffic at the nine-minute mark.

When Blake Wilhelm kicked on the run from outside 50, Marcus Adams nailed a set shot from the pocket and then Michael Lourey kicked two in succession, the Falcons already had 37 points on the board with the Sharks yet to record a solitary behind.