West Australian Football

The WA State 18s started their defence of the NAB National Championships in fine style, with a 70-point victory over NSW/ACT at Subiaco Oval on Sunday.

Played as the curtain-raiser to the Fremantle and Port Adelaide match, the game was played in fine conditions following torrential rain the previous day. While the surface was slippery underfoot, the relatively dry conditions suited the WA team who relished the opportunity to play on the wide expanses of Subiaco Oval, winning 15.7 (97) to 4.3 (27).

The NSW/ACT team was appearing in the Division 1 section of the championships for the first time and showed they would be no pushovers with a sustained focus on applying physical pressure to the West Australians.

The NSW/ACT’s application to the task was commendable but in the end the more highly skilled WA team took advantage of their weight of possession to continually pump the ball into their forward 50m, where forwards Lance Daly, Michael Walters and Johnny Bennell finished off the good work of their midfield.

While WA was content with getting its defence off to a winning start, the performance was littered with repeated skill errors which will be punished by sides such as South Australia, Victoria Metro and Victoria Country. The WA side has plenty of work to do in order to fine-tune their game style for their next round of games.

Better players for WA were midfielders Steven Hill and Kane Lucas who ran hard all day, along with defenders Blake Warner, Michael Mather and Clancee Pearce. Leading goal kickers were Daly with five, Bennell with four and Walters with three.

WA’s next game is against South Australia at AAMI Stadium on Sunday, June 8.