Almanac WAFL: Top Two Toppled

WAFL round 16

PerthPaint

No camera troubles this week  – it’s just that I was in sunny Broome while WAFL followers suffered.

WAFL players were greeted with rain, hail, icy winds and thunder in Round 16 and strange things happened including the top two teams losing to opponents with seemingly no hope of making the finals. And the top five changed for a change.

A week after slipping to second last, Claremont gave another gasp. The Tigers travelled to Fremantle and kicked six goals to South Fremantle’s two points in the first quarter and never looked back. It wasn’t a day for big men but Beau Maister was outstanding with three goals, Jye Bolton bounced back to form and Ryan Lim had another good game. Shane Hockey loves the wet and was the best of the Bulldogs.

Claremont 11.3 (69) South Fremantle 5.8 (38) 

At Bassendean the home team didn’t score in the first and third quarters and didn’t score a goal until the last. East Perth powered into the top five with a 40-point victory inspired by Craig Wulff who scored three goals. Malcolm Karpaney has been showing something of late and enjoyed the conditions. Todd Banfield and Matt Riggio battled it out for the poor old Swans.

East Perth 8.10 (58) Swan Districts 2.6 (18)  

At Rushton Park Peel managed to score in each quarter in fashioning 1.5 (11) for the afternoon and slipped out of the five. West Perth are beginning to look ominous – Blake Wilhelm put in a strong performance, Jay Van Berlo was good in the midfield and Max Duffy kicked a couple of goals. Josh Deluca and Ethan Hughes were effective for the Thunder.

West Perth 8.7 (55)  Peel 1.5 (11)

In the upset of the season Perth not only knocked over the top team but kept their own silly finals hopes flickering. Brennan Stack put in an inspiring display that included two goals, Todd Stevenson was outstanding in the ruck while Cody Leggett and Michael Sinclair also impressed. Chris Phelan did more than his share for Subi.

Perth 6.6 (42) Subiaco 4.3 (27)

Ladder: Subiaco 44; South Fremantle 40; West Perth 40; East Fremantle 28; East Perth 28; Peel 28; Perth 24; Claremont 16; Swan Districts 8.

Next week: East Perth vs West Perth; East Fremantle vs Peel.

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. Snowy from Lonny says

    Go you mighty redlegs

  2. My Swan Districts playing nephew said it was the worst conditions he had ever played in. Hail in the third quarter. Sheets of water covered much of the grandstand side of the oval.
    The Avenging Eagle toughed it out in the McDonald Stand to support him. I was too smart for that. I played golf. Hoping for a late call up to Royal Troon on Thursday, so I thought I needed to get ready for the conditions.
    By my calculations if another 1,853,962 Australian male golfers follow Adam Scott, Jason Day, Rory, Dustin, Louis and Jason out of Rio – I will be an Olympian in a month’s time.
    Zika Virus?? I reckon the prizemoney fell short of customary expectations. As an International Golf official said yesterday “funny that we haven’t lost any greenkeepers to the virus yet”.

  3. Sean Gorman says

    Good day for ducks and Tigers with snorkles.

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