Round 15 WAFL Wrap UpWednesday, July 3, 2013 - 11:28 AM - by Chris Pike

THE WAFL's top-four teams all won in Round 15 action to further consolidate their positions and open up a larger gap on the chasing pack.

Three of the matches were thrillers with Claremont beating East Fremantle 15.8 (98) to 13.17 (95) in Kununurra, Perth downing South Fremantle 16.17 (113) to 16.7 (103) at Fremantle Oval and West Perth prevailing over Swan Districts 11.16 (82) to 11.13 (79) at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval.

East Perth was the big winners downing Peel Thunder 20.17 (137) to 7.4 (46) at Leederville's Medibank Stadium.

No matter the margins, the results meant that Claremont is two games clear on top, West Perth a game clear second, East Perth clear in third by a game and Perth clear by a game and percentage in fourth over the fifth-placed Swan Districts.

Click here for the summary of Round 15 of the WAFL

THE BIG WINNERS
East Perth has now found some terrific form to be consolidated in third position on the ladder after being the weekend's only emphatic winner with a 91-point thumping of Peel.

The Royals had a shaky start to the season winning just one of their first four games, but they have now won four straight, and six of their last seven to improve to an 8-5 record on the season to be a game clear in third spot.

East Perth's resurgence has certainly coincided with having a healthier list with Kyle Anderson, Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls and Michael Swan among the players now up and running after interrupted first halves of the season due to injury.

THE BIG LOSERS
Peel Thunder had a slow start to the season under new coach Cam Shepherd with some teething problems with the Mandurah-based club's link with the Fremantle Dockers, but mid-season they appeared to have turned the corner.

The Thunder won three of five games between Rounds 6 and 10 with two tight losses in between but things have fallen away badly over the past month with losses to East Fremantle, Claremont, Perth and East Perth by an average of 57 points.

On top of that, key players Cruize Garlett, Drew Robinson, Jamason Daniels and Pat Travers have not played for several weeks either through injury or not seeing eye to eye with the coach.

Players in the reserves have certainly not been banging down the door either with Peel losing two weeks ago to Perth by 126 points and then last Saturday kicked just two behinds up against East Perth's 23.15 (153).

THE SHINING LIGHTS
Claremont and East Fremantle travelled to Kununurra for a grand final rematch in the heat and put on a terrific show for the locals with the Tigers ending up winning a thriller by three points.

Jake Murphy led the way for Claremont with 24 possessions and three goals with Ian Richardson also outstanding with 24 disposals and two goals. Jack Bradshaw also kicked three goals, Paul Medhurst two and Mitch Andrews two.

Captain Andrew Browne racked up 29 disposals and ruckman Mark Seaby had 41 hit outs. Matt Davies and Ben Daniher also had 19 touches apiece.

Ryan Lester-Smith kicked a career-best five goals for East Fremantle with Jack Perham adding two as did Mitch Boyle.

Sharks captain Mark McGough picked up 30 possessions, Rory O'Brien 28, Brett Peake 23, Tom Howlett 19, Cameron Sutcliffe 19 and Sean Henson 19.

Andrew Strijk was outstanding for West Perth in the three-point win over Swan Districts with the 125-game veteran finishing with 25 possessions, 15 marks and three inside-50 entries. If it wasn’t for his four behinds he could have had a career-best afternoon.

Wingman Aaron Black was also terrific with 26 possessions, 11 marks and six entries inside the forward 50.

Matt Guadagnin gathered 22 disposals as well with Steven Browne picking up 21 touches, Steve Potente 21 in his best game with West Perth, Josh Mellington 21, Shane Nelson 20, Jordan Jones 20, Jay van Berlo 19, Rohan Kerr 18 and Marc Crisp 18 to go with seven marks, seven inside 50s and a goal.

Coach Bill Monaghan pulled a surprise and threw usual key defender Michael Pettigrew forward and the move paid off with him kicking three goals. Brayden Antonio and Rohan Kerr kicked two apiece as well.

Ryan Davis kicked three goals for Swan Districts to go with 22 possessions, 13 marks, six tackles and eight inside-50 entries.

Lachie Neale racked up 28 possessions to go with two goals with Tim Geappen also booting two majors.

Tom Roach finished with 32 possessions, Wayde Twomey 30, Adam Faulkner 27, Shaun Hildebrandt 25, Matt Riggio 25 and Brett Robinson 24.

Brennan Stack returned to the Perth league side and kicked another four goals against South Fremantle with Joel Houghton playing his first game of the season and contributed strongly booting three majors.

Kyle Reimers was also back from a minor hamstring injury to kick two goals.

Matt Tedesco was outstanding off half-back racking up 30 possessions while also holding dangerous South Fremantle forward Adam Guglielmana to just the one goal and 10 touches.

Michael Florio racked up 29 possessions for the Demons, Julian Jacobs 27, Matt Moody 25, Brett Hodge 24, Dene White 21 and Chance Bateman 18.

Sean Tighe was once again outstanding for South Fremantle as the best big man on the ground finishing with 26 possessions, seven marks, 35 hit outs, three inside-50 entries and a goal.

Mitch Banner continued his strong season with another good game with 29 possessions, nine marks, five inside 50s and two goals.

Paul Mugambwa kicked three first half goals for the Bulldogs with Alex Grima and Kris Miller booting two apiece as well.

Ashton Hams was another to boot two goals to go with his 24 possessions, five marks and three inside-50 entries.

The South Fremantle back-line was good led by Nick Borovac's job of keeping Perth captain Paul Bevan to just one goal. Dylan Ross also worked hard for 23 possessions and seven marks with Mitch Carter and Adam McIntosh picking up 21 disposals apiece.

Youngster Tim Kelly picked up 24 possessions and kicked a goal through the middle with captain Ryan Cook gathering 25 disposals and Toby Bairstow 20.

East Perth thumped Peel by 91 points with the Royals' trio of big men completely dominant.

Josh Smith kicked three goals up front while Scott Lycett finished with 24 possessions, six marks, 23 hit outs and three goals, and Paul Johnson 23 disposals, 29 hit outs and two goals.

Dean Cadwallader also kicked two goals, Mitchell Fraser two and Arthur Bennell two.

Co-captain Brendan Lee compiled 27 possessions to go with eight marks and seven tackles. Aaron Sweet also had 24 disposals, Cameron Grover 24, Blayne Wilson 23, Ashley Boyes 22 and Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls 21.

Matt Orzel was a tireless worker for Peel with 29 possessions, nine tackles and two goals.

The Thunder did win plenty of the ball with four more disposals for the game than the Royals with Paul Bower racking up 29, Brendon Jones 29, Marlon Motlop 28, Liam McKenna 28, Brennan Gillam 27, Jesse Crichton 27, Peter Faulks 25 and Devin McFarlane 25.

PUSHING FOR A SPOT
East Fremantle's reserves beat Claremont by 64 points back at Claremont Oval with Alex Howson booting five goals from just eight kicks. Adrian Ricciardello added three goals and Godfrey Curley two.

Aidan Tropiano racked up 31 possessions, Michael Edwards 25, Jake Schleicher 24 and Sam Read 23.

Simpson and Sandover Medallist Luke Blackwell returned for Claremont and picked up 19 possessions with Keegan Knott kicking two goals and Jake Colvin gathering 22 disposals and Jack Richardson 21.

Swan Districts reserves beat West Perth by 11 points with Malcom Anderson kicking two goals and Matt Rogers 34 possessions and Nathan Blakely 20 (and 18 hit outs).

Joe Morrow and Mitch McPhee kicked two goals apiece for the Falcons with James Embley gathering 23 possessions, Michael Mascoulis 22, Corey Chalmers 21, Ben McNamara 20 and Cameron Branch 18.

Frank Stockley had another 19 possessions, five marks and 40 hit outs.

Kaiden Matera kicked another six goals for South Fremantle as the Bulldogs' reserves beat Perth by four points with Sam Lowrie collecting 24 possessions to go with seven inside-50 entries. Shannon Burnett also did well with 16 possessions and seven inside-50 entries.

Mark Deaves kicked four goals for Perth with Joel Leeson adding three, Shannon Collard two and Brad Fry two. Joel Kalajzic gathered 23 possessions, Leeson 21 and Jarrad Irons 21.

Former Claremont player Jarryd Morton also played his first game for the Demons and had 14 disposals and seven marks.

East Perth's reserves thumped Peel 23.15 (153) to 0.2 (2) with Trent Bradshaw kicking four goals for the Royals, Chris Warrell three, Rowan Brookes three, Lewis Wilson two, Brock Higgins two and Jackson Slater two.

Marcus White racked up 25 possessions, Brookes 24, Higgins 23, Shaquille McKenzie 22, Matt Gordon 22 and Julian Locantro 22.

Jordan Wythes had 22 possessions for Peel and Josh Mathers also had 22 to go with 12 marks.