WAFL round 18…
It wasn’t a salute or a baby or an embarrassing old bloke but the WAFL competition was given a clear message from the Royals via Fremantle Oval on Saturday.With East Perth and South Fremanlte playing for a spot in the five a big game was expected. It turned out to be a big thrashing with the Royals capping the day with 10 straight goals in the last quarter. Paul Johnson started things in the ruck and Fraser Mcinnes was good too. He limped off in the last quarter after a great sliding mark and missed the chance to kick his fifth goal. Craig Wulff took the kick and the goal helped him to a career-high four. Youngster Tom Lamb also kicked four goals and Brendan Lee and Stephen Payne were dynamic for the Royals while Jamie Bennell did some good things in defence. Craig White and Cory Dell’olio each kicked three goals for the Bulldogs and Ashton Hams played well again in a sorry day for South Fremantle.
East Perth 28.9 (177) South Fremantle 11.5 (71)
West Perth are developing a nice habit of running down their opposition and on Saturday at Arena Joondalup they kicked five goals to none in the last quarter to beat Claremont by 10 points. Corey Chalmers kicked three goals for the Falcons and Laine Rasmussen, Jay Van Berlo, Marcus Adams and Shane Nelson were outstanding. Keifer Yu did his bit for the Tigers, Jake Murphy made a welcome return and Kepler Bradley kicked three goals
West Perth13.12 (90) Claremont 12.8 (80)
Top team Subiaco crushed the bottom team Perth with Matt Boland kicking seven goals. Sam Menegola kicked four in another stellar midfield display – he’s starting to look like the best player in the competition. Jordan Bestry was outstanding in the ruck and Kyle Halligan kicked four goals. Michael Sinclair and Aidan Tropinao were good for the Demons and Mitchell Jones kicked three goals.
Subiaco 25.17 (167) Perth 5.4 (34)
In the Sunday morning game (11.40 start) at Rushton Park Peel scored one of the most important wins in their history and have just about sealed a finals berth. After dominating the first half the Thunder lost the lead to a spirited Swan Districts in the third and fell 19 points down in the last before Zac Clarke engineering a comeback in the last 10 minutes. Veteran Brendan Jones was outstanding for Peel along with Connor Blakely and Tendai Mzungu, Gerald Ugle kicked five first half goals and Leroy Letta was a threat all afternoon and kicked two vital late goals to finish with three. Ed Langdon provided a highlight when he ran half the ground with the ball before kicking the goal that gave Peel a real chance in the last quarter. Aaron Elari led the fightback by Swans, Tallen Ames and Tony Notte were solid in the back line, Ricky Cary moved around a lot at half forward and kicked three goals, Matthew Jukes kicked four and youngster Warrick Wilson attacked well from defence.
Peel 17.9 (111) Swan Districts 15.10 (100)
The ladder: Subiaco 52; West Perth 40; Peel 40; East Perth 32; Swan Districts 32; South Fremantle 32; Claremont 28; East Fremantle 20; Perth 4.
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
That seagull was the only local on the day to lay a tackle I hear.