Round 9 WAFL Wrap Up

SWAN Districts has replaced Subiaco on top of the WAFL, Peel Thunder has its first win in almost 12 months, the reigning premiers West Perth are back on track and East Fremantle got back to winning after Round 9 action heading into the State game break.

Swan Districts won its seventh straight match to now sit clear on top of the WAFL after a 11.17 (83) to 8.9 (57) win over Claremont at Bassendean’s Steel Blue Oval on Saturday.

Peel Thunder got its first win since Round 10 last year beating South Fremantle 11.13 (79) to 7.13 (55) at Mandurah’s Bendigo Bank Stadium while West Perth downed Subiaco 14.12 (96) to 13.8 (86) at Leederville’s Medibank Stadium and East Fremantle defeated Perth 13.12 (90) to 12.9 (81) at Lathlain Park.

The results leave Swan Districts (7-1) clear on top of the ladder ahead of Subiaco (6-2), East Perth (6-2) and West Perth (4-4). Outside the four are East Fremantle (4-4), Perth (3-5), South Fremantle (3-5), Claremont (2-6) and Peel Thunder (1-7).

The WAFL now takes a break for this Saturday’s State match against the NEAFL at Blacktown in Sydney.

Click here for the summary of Round 9 of the WAFL

THE BIG WINNERS
Peel Thunder might not have won a game yet this season and not one since Round 10 last year with that span stretching 18 matches, but the boys from Mandurah hadn’t been far away.

The Thunder had been a chance to win each and every game so far in 2014 most notably in Round 3 against Swan Districts when leading by 34 points early in the third quarter before losing by 35 points and having no rotations left on the bench in the second half.

Peel then led West Perth in Round 8 by 42 points at half-time but ended up losing by a point in heartbreaking fashion.

However, Peel was starting to click and the youngest group in the competition by some margin put in a terrific performance on Saturday to beat South Fremantle by 24 points. The Thunder were also challenged in the last term with the Bulldogs closing to within a goal, but Peel steadied to then kick the last three majors.

Peel might have had 14 Fremantle-listed players on Saturday, but of those 14 only Jonathon Griffin, Kepler Bradley, Clancee Pearce and Colin Sylvia have played much AFL football at all. The rest are very much in their infancy as players at league level let alone the AFL.

THE BIG LOSERS
Perth was hoping for big things coming into 2014 having spent most of 2013 in the top-four before a fadeout late in the season.

Being able to maintain the majority of the group along with the recruitment of Cale and Mitch Morton, return of Gerald Ugle and with key position pair Chris Billings and Haydn Busher back up and running, the Demons were buoyant coming into the season.

And then Perth thrashed Claremont in Round 1, came back from 44 points down to beat South Fremantle in Round 2 and things started well. However, losses to West Perth, Swan Districts and East Perth stopped that momentum before the Demons got back to winning against Peel.

But since then Perth has lost to Subiaco and now East Fremantle to be sitting on a 3-5 record with plenty of work to do following the State game break to remain in finals contention starting with a standalone Saturday May 31 clash with the league-leading Swan Districts at Lathlain Park.

The Demons then take on the third-placed East Perth and second-placed Subiaco so they will need to pull out at least one, possibly two and perfectly three upset wins after the break or the season could very much be over by Round 12.

THE SHINING LIGHTS
With Dan Hunt and Shaun Marusic holding down the key defensive posts, Nick Rodda was able to stay forward for the second straight week for West Perth and the premiership teenager had a good game with four goals from 13 possessions and six marks.

Centre half-forward Marcus Adams also booted three goals for the Falcons with Steve Potente adding two majors.

Aaron Black racked up a game-high 29 possessions to ensure that the WA selectors didn’t forget about him after he put in a tremendous performance in last year’s win over Victoria in Northam.

Andrew Strijk also picked up 22 possessions for West Perth with Rohan Kerr adding 22 disposals and seven inside-50 entries, and Shane Nelson 21 touches.

Co-captain Jay van Berlo worked hard for 15 possessions and 10 tackles.

The ruck battle was a fascinating one with West Perth’s Chris Keunen up against former Falcon Frank Stockley. Keunen finished with 13 possessions, 41 hit outs, three inside 50s and a goal while Stockley had 13 disposals, 49 hit outs and three inside-50 entries.

Matt Boland kicked five goals for Subiaco from five kicks with Shane Yarran, Kyle Halligan and Will Fetherstonhaugh all booting two majors each as well.