Sharks Tigers shape up Thunder takes a grip on the spoon

THE WAFL has a breakaway. Claremont and East Fremantle look like turning the season into a race between two. The top two faced tricky assignments far from home and left their hosts to clean up an awful mess.

 

The game at Joondalup started promisingly enough with the Tigers and Falcons trading pairs of goals in entertaining fashion. After quarter time it was all Claremont. West Perth were unlucky to lose their best defender Dion Fleay to a knee injury but even the triple fairest and best winner couldn’t have done much to stop the ruthless Tigers. Luke Blackwell and Kane Mitchell controlled the midfield and the forwards enjoyed themselves with Jack Bradshaw kicking five goals, Chad Jones five, Tom Lee four and the very promising Jeremy McGovern three. Aaron Black fought on for the Falcons and Shane Nelson had a tough day but kicked an 80-metre goal so took away at least one pleasant memory.

Claremont 26.10 (166) West Perth 7.5 (47).

 

The Sharks are making a mockery of their tough run late in the season. This time they traveled to Bassendean and thrashed Swans. Koby Stevens capped a top midfield game with three goals, Steven Dodd starred in defence, Jayden Schofield maintained his top form, Brock O’Brien kicked four goals and Brad Dick also got four in the second league appearance of his comeback. Young forwards Adam Waight and Max Duffy each kicked three goals. Tim Geappen kicked five goals and Lachie Neale was in brilliant form for Swan Districts.

 

East Fremantle 20.16 (136) Swan Districts 11.7 (73).

 

It seems Peel are just made for the wooden spoon. This week they faced fellow spoon contender Perth at home and were lucky to finish as close as they did. The Demons scored 19 more times than the Thunder but finding the big opening was a problem. Brennan Stack has been in great touch lately and he kicked another five goals, Ross Young continually set up opportunities, Nick Lower was good in the midfield and consistent defender Matthew Tedesco again played well. Brad Holmes kicked six goals for Peel and Peter Faulks was steady in the backline.

 

Perth 15.26 (116) Peel 12.10 (82).

 

South Fremantle took a step away from spoon territory and were the fourth away team to win when they beat the struggling Subiaco at Leederville. Ben Saunders kicked seven goals for the Bulldogs (they couldn’t fit him in at Claremont so let him go to South) and Alex Grima has another ripping game. Aidan Parker –captain, ruckman, defender – is having a stellar season while all around him turns to dust and he was again the best Lion while Jason Bristow did his bit in the midfield.

 

South Fremantle 14.17 (101) Subiaco 11.7 (73).

 

The ladder: Claremont 44; East Fremantle 44; Swan Districts 40; East Perth 38; West Perth 30; Subiaco 24; Perth 20; South Fremantle 16; Peel 16.

 

This week top spot will be up for grabs when Claremont and East Fremantle meet even further from home… in Kunnunurra 2211km north of Perth. Swan Districts can move back into second place by beating Subiaco and East Perth can stay in touch with the top two by beating a now in-form Perth at Lathlain Park.

About Les Everett

A Footy Almanac veteran, Les Everett is the author of Gravel Rash: 100 Years of Goldfields Football and Fremantle Dockers: An Illustrated History. He is the footyalmanac.com WAFL correspondent and uses the money he makes from that role to pay for his expensive websites australianrules.com.au and talkingfrankie.com and fund the extravagant Vin Maskell at scoreboardpressure.com

Comments

  1. There’s a tiny error in this story.
    Claremont and East Fremantle are playing at Claremont Oval, not Kunnunurra. That idea was dropped a while back and i was looking at a set of fixtures from the start of the season.

    No harm done you might say except that Knacker and Claremont supporter Sean Gorman is currently in Kunnunurra. Sorry about that Sean, though I’m honoured that you read my story.

  2. Sean Gorman says

    Les no (john) harm(s) done – I am currently wallowing in Mango Matso Ale and a cool swimming pool as the weather is a nice 31 degrees. Prawns on the BBQ, and steaks! Did I mention it was 31? ……aaaahhh yes.

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