Round 13 Match Report – West Perth v Subiaco

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Round 13 Match Report – West Perth v SubiacoTuesday, July 3, 2018 - 11:41 PM - by Chris Pike

WEST Perth made a good start in front of a healthy International Football Festival crowd at HBF Arena on Saturday, but Subiaco had too much firepower to remain undefeated this season and win by 33 points.

An impressive crowd of 5602 turned out for the now annual International Football Festival with West Perth hosting Subiaco at HBF Arena and they went on to see a tremendous WAFL contest as well between two in-form teams.

West Perth made a good start against the undefeated Subiaco to lead by 11 points during the first quarter. But the Lions managed to kick five of the next six goals of the game to end up leading by 13 points at half-time.

The Lions then finished the third quarter strongly with the last three goals heading into three quarter-time to take control of the contest and go on to record the 15.9 (99) to 10.6 (66).

It might have been an 11 straight win this season for Subiaco and it might have also been the Lions' sixth straight win against West Perth, but the Falcons put up a good fight for the second time in 2018 against them.

West Perth remains the only team to have not been blown away for Subiaco this season with the two losses coming at a combined 54 points while every other team has lost to the Lions by a minimum of 40 points.

Subiaco improved to a perfect 11-0 record with the win but West Perth remains solid in third position at 7-5 despite the loss.

With Brad Stevenson, Rhys Waters and Kyle Halligan missing from Subiaco's forward-line, different players stood up again with Lachlan Delahunty and Ryan Borchet kicking five goals apiece to combine for 10 of the 15 goals for the Lions on the day.

It was another dominant display from Delahunty who also had 28 possessions and 11 marks while Borchet enjoyed his third league appearance with 16 disposals and 11 marks.

Subiaco's midfield was again prolific in the victory led by ruckman Zac Clarke who continued his impressive form with 17 possessions, 51 hit outs and a goal.

Josh Deluca finished with another 34 disposals, eight tackles, five inside 50s and a goal while Chris Phelan ended up with 31 touches and seven marks, Kyal Horsley 29 possessions, Leigh Kitchin 24 disposals, Hayden Kennedy 23 touches, and Rowen Powell 20 possessions.

Andrew Strijk continued his superb form deep in the forward-line for West Perth with the 218-game veteran kicking another four goals from 17 possessions and nine marks. He's now kicked 21 goals in the last four matches he's played in.

Tyson Moulton also came back into the West Perth league line-up and kicked two goals from 14 disposals and five inside-50 entries. Steve Potente also worked hard for 17 possessions, seven marks, five inside-50 entries and a goal.

Triple fairest and best winner Shane Nelson had another impressive day in the midfield for West Perth with 35 possessions, 10 marks and four tackles.

Captain Aaron Black also collected 30 disposals, eight marks and five tackles while Blake Wilhelm finished with 23 possessions (five tackles), Luke Meadows 23 (five tackles) Kris Shannon 20 (six marks), Trent Manzone 19 (seven marks) and Mitch Peirce 18 (eight tackles).

Chris Keunen battled hard in the ruck too in his 199th appearance for West Perth with 13 disposals, seven marks, four tackles and 30 hit outs.

A big crowd was on hand for the annual International Football Festival and it was Subiaco got the game's first goal courtesy of Lachlan Delahunty. West Perth responded with the next three through Steve Potente, Andrew Strijk and Tyson Moulton, and the game was on.

The Lions did kick the last goal of the opening term through Braden Fimmano but West Perth still led the league-leaders by five points at the first change.

It became the Ryan Borchet show for Subiaco in the third quarter with the three-game 21-year-old kicking three of the Lions' four goals. West Perth managed just one for the term in response from Michael Lourey and Subiaco had opened a 13-point advantage at the long break.

West Perth did close back to within eight points to start the second half with Moulton's second major of the afternoon. It was then goal for goal until the Lions finished the quarter with the last three goals to Ben Sokol, Josh Deluca and Delahunty (three for the term) to be 32 points to the good by three quarter-time.

West Perth did manage three goals in the last quarter, including Strijk booting his fourth, but Borchet managed his fifth as Subiaco also kicked three for the term to run out 33-point victors.

West Perth's reserves came away with a good 11.15 (81) to 8.11 (59) victory over Subiaco at Joondalup Arena on Saturday to improve to second position on the ladder.

Subiaco started strongly kicking four goals to one in the first quarter before the Falcons responded with four goals to three in the second term to get back within two goals at half-time.

West Perth then took over in the second half with five goals to nil in the third stanza and ending up winning by 22 points.

Liam Tedesco, Dylan Yem and Aidan Lynch kicked two goals apiece for West Perth.

Dean Munns racked up 29 possessions for the Falcons, Aidan Lynch 26, Yem 23, Conal Lynch 22, Rudy Riddoch 22, Kael Coleman 19 and Matt Guadagnin 18.

Andrew Doyle kicked three goals for Subiaco and David Ehlers two.

Daniel Leach amassed another 30 possessions for the Lions while Travis Cleggett gathered 23 disposals, Ryan Wade 22, Adam Cockie 21, James Eccles 20, Ben Reid 19 and Jack Beverley 19.

West Perth will hit the road again in Round 14 of the WAFL season to take on the bottom placed East Fremantle at East Fremantle Oval in what will be a celebration of premiership-winning ruckman Chris Keunen's 200th game.

Subiaco is back home on Friday night hosting Peel Thunder in a Grand Final rematch attempting to stretch its winning run to 12 since losing in the premiership decider in 2017.

WEST PERTH 3.1 4.3 7.5 10.6 (66)

SUBIACO 2.2 6.4 12.7 15.9 (99)

WEST PERTH – Goals: Strijk 4; Moulton 2; Lourey, Potente, Knott, Keitel.

Best: Nelson, Strijk, Black, Peirce, Wilhelm, Meadows, Potente.

SUBIACO – Goals: Borchet, Delahunty 5; Powell, Deluca, Sokol, Clarke, Fimmano.

Best: Delahunty, Deluca, Phelan, Clarke, Borchet, Horsley, Kennedy, Kitchin.