Round 20 – Subiaco v Swan Districts Match Report

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Round 20 – Subiaco v Swan Districts Match ReportMonday, August 7, 2017 - 1:00 AM - by Chris Pike

MISSING a host of important players wasn’t enough to slow Subiaco's momentum with the Lions stamping their authority over Swan Districts early on Saturday at Leederville Oval and going on to win a 17th straight match by 29 points.

Subiaco might have been down a little on manpower, but the depth at the Lions mean that it's hardly a concern. They dominated the first half against Swans and then led by 37 points early in the third term before going on to win 11.17 (83) to 8.6 (54).

It was a dominant performance all-round by Subiaco and if it hadn’t been for the inaccurate goalkicking the margin of 29 points could have been considerably more.

Subiaco ended up with a massive 61 inside-50 entries to just 34 from Swan Districts even though Swans actually had nine more possessions and nine more marks for the game. But the Lions had 28 scoring shots to 14 on the way to the 29-point victory.

The win is a 17th straight for Subiaco with the Lions locked in for a third successive minor premiership attempting to play in a fourth straight grand final and trying to win a third premiership in that four-year stretch.

Swan Districts missed the chance to replace Peel Thunder in third position on the WAFL ladder but will take heart from the fight it showed in the second half and with some of what they tried that worked reasonably well against the league-leaders.

Subiaco came into the game minus captain Kyal Horsley along with Corey Adamson, Chris Phelan, Clancy Wheeler, Joel Latham, Liam Baker and Kyle Halligan.

But it didn’t stop the Lions from delivering another tremendous performance with star forward Liam Ryan putting in a dynamic first half on his way to kicking five goals from 19 possessions and eight marks.

Lachlan Delahunty was also tremendous finishing with 24 disposals, 13 marks, 11 hit outs and two goals for the Lions.

Adam Cockie continued his brilliant form in the midfield with another 31 possessions and seven inside 50s with the only blemish on his game his kicking of three behinds.

Leigh Kitchin racked up another 27 disposals for Subiaco with Justin Joyce finishing with 20 touches (10 tackles), Scott Hancock 18 and James Garcia 17.

Subiaco's defence was also rock solid led by Declan Jackson while Aaron Heal ended up with 20 possessions and seven marks, Greg Clark 17 disposals and Jordan Lockyer 15 touches and five marks.

Premiership small defender Hayden Kennedy returned from a shoulder injury for 15 possessions and six marks.

Ruckman Corey Gault had a superb game for Swan Districts doing everything he could to keep his team in the contest. He finished the afternoon with 27 possessions, nine marks, 30 hit outs and three goals.

Adam Faulkner worked tirelessly in the midfield for Swans up against the likes of Kitchin, Cockie and Joyce from Subiaco. He more than held his own with 28 possessions, eight marks and six tackles.

Jesse Turner kicked Swans' first goal of the contest and also gathered 24 possessions while Warrick Wilson compiled 20 disposals (six marks, six tackles), Matt Riggio 19 and the returning Jarrad Blight 16.

Second-gamer Samuel Taylor showed he's more than capable of holding up to league level with 14 possessions, six marks and four tackles against the league-leaders.

Kirk Ugle ended the day with 25 possessions and seven marks down back for Swan Districts while Tony Notte also had 17 touches and six marks, and Alex Howard 16 disposals and eight marks.

It took seven minutes for the first goal of the game and that came courtesy of Turner to give Swans a confidence-boosting start in the challenge against the league-leaders.

It was another eight minutes until the next goal and this time it was Subiaco on the board after three behinds. Ryan was the scorer as he began what was to be another big afternoon for the Bernie Naylor Medal leader.

Subiaco then kicked its second goal of the opening term through Hancock but Swans responded through Taryce Stewart just before quarter-time to only trail by four points at the first change.

It quickly turned into the Ryan show to start the second term. The dynamic small forward had four shots on goal in the opening 13 minutes of the quarter, kicking two more goals, and seeing the Lions lead grow to 18 points.

That soon became 24 points when Joyce kicked truly at the 14-minute mark.

Following another string of behinds for the Lions, Ryan again bobbed up for his fourth goal of the half and having kept Swans goalless in the second term the Lions had a match-winning 32-point lead at the long break.

Subiaco's lead grew to 37 points to start the second half when Ben Sokol kicked his only goal of the afternoon, but Swan Districts did well from that point on to stop the momentum of the Lions and show some impressive fight.

The black-and-whites did kick the next two goals through Ryan Crowley and Gault. While Subiaco did respond with majors to Delahunty and Max Walters before three quarter-time, Swans added their third of the term thanks to Gault and the margin at the last break was 35 points.

Swans outscored the Lions in the last quarter with three goals to two but in the end all that did was cut Subiaco's final winning margin to 29 points.

Subiaco has the bye now in Round 21 before finishing its season against West Perth and East Perth.

With the minor premiership sewn up, those two games will still be crucial for the Lions to welcome back key players into the line-up and get some form and match fitness before the bye again in the first week of the finals before hosting the second semi-final.

Swan Districts might have missed the chance to move into third position on Saturday but remains two games clear in fourth position and can lock away at least a top four finish with a win against East Perth at Leederville Oval on Saturday.

SUBIACO 2.4 6.10 9.15 11.17 (83)

SWAN DISTRICTS 2.0 2.2 5.4 8.6 (54)

SUBIACO – Goals: Ryan 5; Delahunty 2; Joyce, Walters, Hancock, Sokol.

Best: Cockie, Delahunty, Ryan, Kitchin, Jackson, Heal, Joyce.

SWAN DISTRICTS– Goals: Gault 3; Banfield, Stewart, Crowley, Turner, Noble.

Best: Gault, Ugle, Faulkner, Turner, Wilson, Taylor.