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Round 4 - South Fremantle v West Perth Match ReportMonday, April 10, 2017 - 12:38 PM - by Chris Pike

SOUTH Fremantle unloaded its full arsenal on a shell-shocked West Perth on Saturday evening at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with the Bulldogs romping to a 103-point victory.

While South Fremantle recorded three strong wins over West Perth in 2016, both teams did take part in finals action last season and there was nothing to suggest what was to come on Saturday.

South Fremantle was coming off an impressive 43-point win over Peel while West Perth had lost narrowly to Subiaco last week, but what took place on Saturday put on full show just how potent the Bulldogs arsenal is when at full power.

It was a relatively even first quarter with South Fremantle kicking first two and last two goals. But they kicked away from there with seven goals to two in the second term, four to nil in the third and eight to two in the last to win 23.8 (146) to 6.7 (43).

It is South Fremantle's third biggest win over West Perth, just the fourth time the Bulldogs have ever beaten the Falcons by over 100 points and largest win since a 126-point triumph in Round 9, 1979 at Leederville Oval.

It is the biggest loss that West Perth has suffered since a 119-point defeat at the hands of Claremont at HBF Arena in Round 18, 2012.

There wasn’t a single South Fremantle player who didn’t make a good contribution to the win and every Bulldog had at least nine disposals. Eight West Perth players had fewer than that however.

South Fremantle finished the game with 101 more disposals, 74 extra marks, 17 more inside-50 entries and 31 scoring shots to 13 in the 103-point victory.

South Fremantle's forward-line proved tremendously potent with Blaine Johnson kicking six goals from 19 possessions, Mason Shaw from 16 disposals and eight marks and Ben Saunders three from 14 touches and four marks.

Tim Kelly, Shane Hockey and Haiden Schloithe then had field days through the midfield for the Bulldogs. 

Kelly finished with 39 possessions, 10 inside 50s, six marks and five tackles while Hockey had 30 disposals, eight tackles and two goals and Schloithe 38 disposals, eight marks, eight inside-50 entries and two goals.

Captain Ryan Cook also racked up 30 possessions to go with 10 marks for the Bulldogs while 100-gamer Shaun Bewick finished with 22 touches and 10 marks.

Dylan Main also compiled 25 disposals, Brendan Verrier 21, Brandon Donaldson 21 and Ashton Hams 19.

Then down back, Marlion Pickett was outstanding with 22 possessions and six marks while helping keep Michael Lourey goalless. Blayne Wilson also had 24 disposals and six marks.

It was a tough day for West Perth but the Falcons did have some big ball winners in the middle with Shane Nelson racking up 40 possessions to go with seven tackles. Trent Manzone also had 35 disposals, Aaron Black 30 and captain Jay van Berlo 25.

Luke Meadows also finished with 21 touches for West Perth, Corey Chalmers 20 and Kody Manning 18 having started the game in the midfield to try and add some added bite around the contest.

Tyler Keitel kicked two goals for West Perth while Andrew Strijk tried hard in attack with 18 touches, eight marks and a goal. Seva Mozhaev had 28 hit outs in the ruck.

South Fremantle started strongly with the game's opening two goals to Johnson and Cory Dell'Olio, but West Perth steadied and responded through Mark Hamilton and Keitel.

But the Bulldogs did manage the last two majors of the first term through Johnson and Shaw to go into the first break with the momentum.

That paid off with five goals in the first 18 minutes of the second quarter including two to Schloithe and Johnson's third that saw the lead get out to 43 points.

Two goals in a minute to West Perth from Keitel and Strijk gave them a brief reprieve, but South Fremantle finished the half with two more goals to Zac Strom and Johnson to lead by 42 at the main break.

It took less than a minute into the third quarter for South Fremantle to continue to dominate with Bernie Naylor Medallist Saunders kicking his first of the day. Johnson then soon added his fifth and the margin ballooned to 55 points.

There wasn’t a goal then for 13 minutes with West Perth missing four shots on goal with South Fremantle then hitting back through Saunders. Then with Shaw's second also before three quarter-time the Bulldogs led by 62 points.

West Perth finally scored its fifth goal of the game four minutes into the last quarter thanks to Chalmers, but South Fremantle immediately answered through Hockey.

Then after the Falcons' sixth and last of the day courtesy of Meadows, South Fremantle piled on seven more majors leading into the final siren including a third, fourth and fifth for Shaw, and sixth for Johnson to end up winning by 103 points.

South Fremantle remains at Fremantle Community Bank Oval to host Claremont on Good Friday in another twilight fixture with a start time at 4.15pm.

West Perth remains on the road and will take on Peel Thunder at Bendigo Bank Stadium on Good Friday.

SOUTH FREMANTLE        4.3    11.3    15.3    23.8    (146)
WEST PERTH            2.1    4.3    4.7    6.7    (43)

SOUTH FREMANTLE – Goals: Johnson 6; Shaw 5; Saunders 3; Schloithe, Hockey 2; Dell'Olio, Kelly, Strom, Verrier, Edwards.
Best: Kelly, Schloithe, Johnson, Pickett, Cook, Hockey, Shaw, Main.
WEST PERTH – Goals: Keitel 2; Strijk, Meadows, Chalmers, Hamilton.
Best: Nelson, van Berlo, Strijk, Manning, Black.