Round 16 WAFL Wrap UpTuesday, July 15, 2014 - 9:50 AM - by Chris Pike

ROUND 16 of the WAFL saw Ben Saunders boot six goals in a South Fremantle win and Rob Young kick five in an East Fremantle loss but in the end all teams remained in the same positions on the ladder.

The four matches on Saturday afternoon saw East Perth beat East Fremantle 14.20 (104) to 11.10 (76) at Leederville's Medibank Stadium, Peel Thunder defeat Claremont 11.8 (74) to 9.18 (72) at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium, South Fremantle down Perth 13.11 (89) to 10.17 (77) at Lathlain Park and Subiaco beat West Perth 13.19 (97) to 11.6 (72) at Joondalup's HBF Arena.

Following 16 rounds of the 2014 season with all nine teams having played 14 matches it's East Perth (12-2) who sits on top of the ladder ahead of Swan Districts (11-3), Subiaco (10-4) and East Fremantle (9-5).

West Perth (6-8) remains in fifth position followed by Claremont (5-9), South Fremantle (4-10), Perth (3-11) and Peel Thunder (3-11).

Click here for the summary of Round 16 of the WAFL

THE BIG WINNERS
Subiaco now sits a game and percentage clear in third position of the fourth-placed East Fremantle and only a game behind the second-placed Swan Districts following Saturday's 25-point victory over West Perth at HBF Arena.

The Lions opened up a match-winning 46-point advantage midway through the third quarter but then had to withstand the Falcons kicking eight of the next 10 goals of the game to suddenly be within 12 points heading into time-on of the final quarter.

However, Subiaco steadied thanks to goals late from George Hampson and Kyle Halligan to win by the 25 points to further secure third position and remain a chance of finishing second with a superior percentage to that of Swan Districts.

Subiaco now finishes its home and away season against Perth, South Fremantle, East Perth, Claremont, South Fremantle again and East Fremantle.

THE BIG LOSERS
West Perth's premiership defence continues to hang by a thread following Saturday's loss at home to Subiaco.

The 25-point loss to Subiaco means that West Perth continues to struggle at HBF Arena in 2014 having now lost there to Claremont, South Fremantle, East Perth, East Fremantle, Swan Districts and Subiaco while only managing to beat Perth and Peel – the two teams battling over the wooden spoon.

West Perth has lost its last four matches at home, all against the current top four teams, and the Falcons now remain three games outside of fourth position.

The Falcons have the bye this coming weekend ahead of next Tuesday's Foxtel Cup grand final in Geelong against Williamstown before finishing the home and away season against East Perth, Swan Districts, East Fremantle, Peel, Claremont and Perth.

THE SHINING LIGHTS
East Perth found itself challenged by East Fremantle in the third quarter on Saturday having its 16-point half-time lead cut to just three points by the last change, but the Royals finished strongly with five goals to two in a dominant last quarter to end up winning by 28 points.

East Fremantle had done well to keep itself in the contest, but in the end East Perth's sheer weight of numbers with 61 inside-50 entries to 33 told and the Royals came out victorious.

Fraser McInnes was called upon to play more of a key role for the Royals and he stood up against a strong East Fremantle back-line with 17 possessions, six marks and three goals while Jamie Cripps, Josh Hill, Malcolm Karpany and Matt Gordon all kicked two goals apiece.

Co-captain Craig Wulff continued his stunning season for East Perth despite being 31 years of age and now having played 237 matches with another brilliant game with 36 possessions, six marks and six inside-50 entries.

Wulff's fellow co-captain Brendan Lee was also outstanding with 28 possessions, six tackles and six inside 50s.

Sharrod Wellingham responded to being dropped by West Coast for the second time this season and had 26 possessions, eight marks and seven inside-50 entries for the Royals, but he kicked three behinds.

Mitch Howlett also showed why he banged down the door to get his spot in the East Perth league side with outstanding reserves form by finishing with another 22 disposals in just his sixth appearance, and second of the year.

Steven Payne gathered 21 possessions for East Perth, Dean Cadwallader 20, Nathan Blee 19 and Mitch Fraser 17 while Paul Johnson had 31 hit outs.

Bradd Dalziell again did all he could for the Sharks finishing with 34 possessions, six marks, four inside-50 entries and two goals.

Jack Perham booted two goals for the Sharks from 15 touches and seven marks.

Sandover Medallist Rory O'Brien racked up another 29 possessions while former skipper Mark McGough returned to the line-up with 26 touches.

State defender Andrew Stephen also collected 24 possessions, Cameron Eardley 22 and Tom Hooker 17.

Wayde Twomey controlled the game for the most part for Subiaco across half-back against West Perth with the Swan Districts premiership player of 2010 and the 2013 Simpson Medallist finishing with 28 possessions, eight marks and seven rebounds from the defensive 50.

Captain Kyal Horsley was also outstanding for the Lions with 28 touches, nine tackles and six inside-50 entries.

Chris Phelan gathered 27 possessions, Shaun Hildebrandt 25, Simon Moore 24 (six clearances), Brett Mahoney (22), Jason Bristow 21 (seven inside 50s) and Clancy Wheeler 20 (eight marks).

With no Matt Boland and Lachlan Delahunty as key forward targets, Andrew McDougall stood up for the Lions with two goals from 16 touches, five marks and 17 hit outs.

Kyle Halligan and George Hampson also kicked two goals each for Subiaco. 

Matt Guadagnin worked tirelessly in the midfield for West Perth finishing with 22 possessions, 10 clearances, six tackles and four inside-50 entries.

Rohan Ker also racked up 31 possessions for the Falcons to go with nine marks, six rebounds from defensive 50, five clearances, four inside-50 entries and a goal.

Shane Nelson gathered another 30 disposals to go with seven clearances and Aaron Black 29 touches and eight clearances while Jay van Berlo had 25 possessions and Ray Bartholomew 17.

Jordan Jones did well limiting Shane Yarran to one goal for Subiaco while Jones had 19 possessions and seven rebounds from defensive 50 himself. Andrew Strijk also had 19 touches and Dan Hunt 18 to go with 10 marks while Laine Rasmussen did well limiting the influence of George Hampson.

Chris Keunen worked hard in the ruck with 15 possessions, 34 hit outs and a goal in a fascinating duel with former Falcon Frank Stockley.

Marc Crisp worked hard as a small forward finishing with 17 touches and two goals while young big man booted two goals as well.

Haiden Schloithe led the way for South Fremantle with 30 possessions while Shaun Bewick racked up 29 to go with 10 marks and a goal on return after being dropped to the reserves the previous week against Claremont.

Tim Kelly continued his good form for the Bulldogs through the middle with 25 touches, seven tackles, six marks and five inside-50 entries while James Sellar again worked hard for 22 possessions, 11 marks and four inside 50s.

Ben Sokol played the best of his six league matches with South Fremantle picking up 21 possessions, taking seven marks, laying four tackles, driving the ball inside-50 on four occasions and kicking a goal.

Jarrod Parry also picked up 20 disposals for the Bulldogs, Anthony Collica 19, Jacob Martinez 18 and 101-game midfielder Toby Bairstow 17.

Ben Saunders was the star up forward for South Fremantle kicking six goals from six kicks while veterans White and Mugambwa stepped up by booting two goals apiece.

Perth captain Paul Bevan had the opportunity to have the same sort of influence on the contest as Saunders did for South Fremantle, but the Sydney Swans premiership player only managed five behinds from his 18 possessions for the Demons.

It was another AFL premiership player with the Swans Mitch Morton who did make the most of his chances with Perth, though, kicking five goals from his 19 disposals.

Former Shark as of only a month ago Aidan Tropiano played his second league game for Perth and was terrific in the midfield with 28 possessions, six tackles, five marks and five inside-50 entries.

Dene White collected 22 disposals for the Demons with Matt Moody finishing with 22 as well to go with nine marks and kicking two goals.

Gerald Ugle finished with 21 possessions, Michael Sinclair 20, Jarryd Morton 20, Nick Kane 20, Michael Florio 19, Clem Smith 19, Matthew Boyle 19, Matthew Hunt 18 and Chance Bateman 18.

Peel went goalless in the opening quarter with Claremont kicking just 2.8 to miss the chance to put the game away, but the Thunder then managed to lead by a point by half-time, lead by 19 points at three quarter-time and hold on to win by two points in the finish.

The Thunder also managed to come away with their third win of the season despite virtually no contribution from tall Fremantle trio Craig Moller, Jack Hannath and Matt Taberner, and with veteran Kepler Bradley injuring a hamstring after having 11 touches, seven marks and a goal.

Despite all of that, Jacob Ballard was once again terrific for Peel with 33 possessions while Matt de Boer put his name back up for inclusion with the Dockers with 31 disposals, 10 tackles and five marks.

Former skipper and likely fairest and best winner for this year Brendon Jones worked tirelessly once more for the Thunder with 24 possessions while Eddie Dann picked up 22 disposals, Tom Sheridan 21, Hayden Crozier 20, Sam Menegola 17 and Jonathon Griffin 17 to go with 38 hit outs.

Michael Wood played his best game of the season with Peel booting four goals with Max Duffy adding two.

Claremont had been playing some terrific football over the past six games coming into the contest with wins over Subiaco, Swan Districts and South Fremantle with competitive losses to Swan Districts, West Perth and East Perth thrown in there.

However, the Tigers only had themselves to blame by only kicking 3.13 in the first half having dominated general play and then coming up two points short in the finish.

Ruckman Mitch Andrews was the worst offender in front of goal with three behinds while Matt Orzel, Jack Bradshaw and Mitch McGovern all kicked two points apiece as well.

Ryan Neates did all he could in the midfield for the Tigers in the absence of Luke Blackwell and Jake Murphy by racking up 37 possessions.

Tom Ledger picked up 25 disposals while kicking two goals as Ben Daniher compiled 24 touches, Tom Taylor 22, Orzel 21 and Mark Seaby 20 to with 24 hit outs, eight marks and seven tackles.

Trinity Handley kicked three goals from 14 possessions and five marks for Claremont.

PUSHING FOR A SPOT
East Fremantle's reserves beat East Perth by 17 points with James Depane and Dion Anthony kicking two goals each with Jake Schleicher collecting 28 possessions, Michael Edwards 26, Tyler Chalwell 22, Depane 22, James Bayliss 21, Richard Bourne 20 and Mitch Boyle 19.

Daniel Allsop kicked three goals for East Perth but it was Julian Locantro who was the star for the Royals with 34 possessions and two goals.

Tom Shanahan also compiled 30 disposals for East Perth, Dylan Main 29 and Jackson Slater 21.

West Perth's reserves looked dead and buried during the last quarter against Subiaco, but refused to give up and suddenly kicked five goals late in the contest to suddenly get to within four points when Joe Morrow took a mark just before the siren sounded.

It was in a difficult position near the boundary and not much inside the 50-metre arc, and he didn’t miss by much, but he couldn’t quite find the major opening and West Perth fell narrowly short by just three points.

Max Alexander kicked two goals for the Falcons while James Embley racked up 20 possessions, Ben O'Regan 17, Kris Shannon 15 and Aidan Lynch 15 to go with 10 tackles. Tim Sutherland also amassed 64 hit outs.

Dylan Clarke booted three goals for Subiaco with Ray Daniels and Joe Scafidi kicking two each with Ryan Wade gathering 21 possessions while also laying 11 tackles.

South Fremantle's reserves recorded a 12.11 (83) to 12.4 (76) victory over Perth at Lathlain Park on Saturday.
Some new blood from the colts was given an opportunity as well with Jacob Dragovich racking up 25 possessions,

Braden Fimmano 24, Jakeb Tartaglia 18, Jarrod Pickett 18 (and two goals) and then the pick of the bunch was Bailey Matera with 26 disposals and two goals.

Kaiden Matera also kicked three goals for the Bulldogs while Mitch Carter racked up 26 possessions, Tim Stewart 23, Traye Bennell 22 and Josh Pullman 20 to go with 11 marks and a goal.

Mark Deaves was on fire up forward for Perth with eight goals from 17 possessions and six marks.

Kieran Hug finished with 27 possessions for the Demons, Cameron Manuel 25, Blake Borrett 22, Rowan Brookes 21 and Bradley Fry 21.

Claremont's reserves had the opposite day than its league side kicking a supremely accurate 11.2 to beat Peel by three points.

Keegan Knott booted four of those goals for the Tigers with Jackson Starcevich, Josh Tilley and Ashley Fitzgerald adding two apiece.

Jared Hardisty picked up 26 possessions for Claremont, Tom Willett 24, Keifer Yu 22, Ryan Lim 21, Henry Roberts 20 and Aaron Holt 20.

Kristin Thornton finished with 20 possessions and three goals for Peel with Jesse Hockings and Jarrod Bowman booting two goals apiece. Josh Mathers finished with 23 disposals but it was Kyle Westwood who was best afield with 22 possessions, five marks, 42 hit outs and five inside-50 entries.