WAFL kicks off for 2015

On Friday night at Fremantle Oval new South Fremantle coach Todd Curley got things off to a nice start with a 35-point win over West Perth.

The Hams twins got together again and both Kyle in defence and Ashton with two goals played starring roles for the Bulldogs. Craig White enjoyed a return to attack and kicked four goals while Blayne Wilson celebrated his return home after time on the West Coast list. Roahn Kerr and Shane Nelson were good for the Falcons.

South Fremantle 14.6 (90) West Perth 8.7 (55)

At Bassendean things weren’t quite as nice for Perth’s new coach Earl Spalding. The Demons were thrashed by Swan Districts. Matt Riggio had a big game in the midfield for Swans and kicked three goals, Ricky Cary kicked four and former Demon Aaron Elari was in excellent touch.
Aidan Tropiano was Perth’s best player, Mitch Morton kicked three goals and Jarryd Morton also had a good game.

Swan Districts 21.21 (147) Perth 7.9 (51)

It was tight until three quarter time at Leederville but then the 2014 premiers ran away with it. Lots of AFL clubs looked at Shane Yarran over the summer and he began the season with five goals for Subiaco as did Clancy Wheeler. Reece Blechynden was outstanding in the midfield for the Lions. Claremont’s best player was Tom Ledger and Shane McAdam kicked three goals.

Subiaco 15.16 (106) Claremont 9.7 (61)

The showpiece game was on Saturday night – it was played at Subiaco Oval (usually only used for WAFL finals), kicked off Channel Seven’s new WAFL coverage and featured West Coast aligned team East Perth. At half time the score was East Fremantle 7.10 East Perth 0.7. The Royals still had only one goal at three quarter time. Sharks midfielders Liam Anthony, Bradd Dalzeill and Sean Henson carved up their opponents, big man Andrew Stokes made a good debut and so did Connor Regan. Kyle Anderson and Steven Payne did some good things for East Perth.

East Fremantle 13.18 (96) East Perth 5.11 (41)

Channel Seven’s TV coverage has added an interesting element to the WAFL. West Perth is sponsored by Channel Nine and Seven won’t televise their games if the Falcons have the Nine logo on their jumpers. Maturity rules. Meanwhile East Perth’s Saturday night flop may have allayed fears Seven would concentrate their efforts on televising games featuring the AFL-aligned clubs.

Fremantle’s WAFL club Peel had the bye this week and begin their season against West Perth at Arena Jonndalup next week. The others games are East Perth vs Swan Districts at Leederville Oval, East Fremantle vs Subiaco at East Fremantle Oval and Perth vs South Fremantle 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

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