WA Football

ROUND 16 WAFL action was highlighted by Claremont taking over top spot on the ladder with a thumping victory over Swan Districts while Perth moved clear of the bottom and East Perth consolidated its spot inside the top-four.

The results saw Perth beat South Fremantle 18.12 (120) to 12.14 (86) at Lathlain's Brownes Stadium, Claremont thrash Swan Districts 19.17 (131) to 5.4 (34) at Claremont Oval and East Perth down Peel Thunder 17.19 (121) to 14.8 (92).

Claremont (10-4) now sits ahead of Swan Districts (10-4) by percentage on top of the ladder just ahead of East Perth (9-1-4) and East Fremantle (9-4). Outside the four are West Perth (6-1-6) and Subiaco (6-7) followed by Perth (4-10), South Fremantle (3-11) and Peel Thunder (3-10).
Click here for the summary of Round 16 of the WAFL

THE BIG WINNERS
Not only did Claremont beat Swan Districts on Saturday to return to the top of the WAFL ladder, but did so in emphatic fashion with the 97-point victory seeing the Tigers' percentage jump 27 points ahead of that of Swans despite the two sitting on the same records.

Claremont dominated the game from the outset with Tom Lee kicking the first four goals and end up winning by the massive 97 points with 36 scoring shots to nine and 106 more disposals, 28 more marks and 38 more entries inside-50.

Claremont also recorded the massive win without Paul Medhurst, Andrew Foster and Andrew Browne with 100-gamer Chad Jones also going goalless but a host of players stepped up to continue to apply enormous pressure on for spots in the league side.

THE BIG LOSERS
Just two weeks ago after beating East Perth, Swan Districts was sitting pretty well clear on top of the ladder, but now losses to West Perth and Claremont have the black-and-whites with some work to do to now still finish with a top-two spot.

Swans fell to second spot with the 97-point loss to Claremont and took a big hit in percentage to now only sit half a game ahead of East Perth and a game ahead of East Fremantle, but having played one less game than the Sharks.

Swan Districts was without full-forward Ash Hansen, full-back Tallan Ames, running defender Wayde Twomey, small forward Murray Newman and the hard running Jarrhan Jacky on Saturday, and will hope to welcome them all back after this weekend's bye against East Fremantle in Round 18.

THE SHINING LIGHTS
Perth dominated after half-time with 11 goals to five to beat South Fremantle by 34 points with Brennan Stack (pictured) playing his best game with the Demons since returning from the Western Bulldogs to finish with 18 possessions, six marks and five goals.

Tim Noakes also booted four goals from 22 disposals and nine marks and Simon Donovan added three majors and Joel Leeson two.

Aaron Elari was terrific with 30 possessions with Ross Young picking up 28, Matt Tedesco 26, Ashley Smith 24, Reese Richardson 21, Julian Jacobs 20, Daniel O'Sullivan 20 and Matt Moody 20. Llane Spaanderman had 29 hit outs in the ruck.

Ben Saunders kicked three goals for South Fremantle with Jayden Woods and Paul Mugambwa adding two apiece. Ryan Cook gathered 33 possessions, Shaun Bewick 30, Alex Grima 25, Haiden Schloithe 22, John Sgherza 22 and Jordan Wilson-King 20.

Sean Tighe worked hard in the ruck to finish with 23 possessions, six marks and 21 hit outs.

Claremont put in a tremendous team performance to beat Swan Districts by 97 points led by seven goals from Tom Lee, five from Kane Mitchell (pictured together) and three from Ian Richardson.

Luke Blackwell gathered 30 possessions as well, Trinity Handley 28, Jake Murphy 27, Jarryd Morton 25, Nick Suban 22, Tom Swift 21 and Rory Walton 21 to go with two goals. Byron Schammer not only kept Matt Riggio to a remarkable five disposals, but gathered 23 himself and had seven inside 50s.

Claremont's defence of Aaron Holt, David Crawford, Jess Laurie, James Thomson, Lewis Stevenson and Gerrick Weedon was also outstanding.

Wes Lammie (pictured) worked tirelessly in the ruck for Swan Districts to finish with 23 possessions, seven marks and 25 hit outs. Marlon Motlop picked up 22 possessions as did Kyle Hams with Shaun Hildebrandt gathering 21 and Justin Simpson 18 to go with a strong 11 marks in defence.

Michael Walters and Ryan Davis kicked two goals apiece in a forward-line that saw precious little of the ball with only 28 inside-50 entries for the day.

East Perth copped a scare from Peel when the Thunder booted eight third quarter goals, but in the end the Royals recorded a crucial 29-point victory.

Josh Smith kicked four goals for East Perth with Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls, Jayden Pitt and Michael Swan all booting two apiece. Co-captain Swan also had 25 possessions and eight marks.

West Coast's Adam Selwood returned for East Perth and was tremendous with 34 possessions and a goal.

Freddie Clutterbuck also picked up 29 disposals, Daniel Macaulay (pictured) 27, Aaron Sweet 24, Garry Moss 21, Craig Wulff 21 and Ryan Maldenis 21. Paul Johnson had 43 hit outs in the ruck and Zac Clarke 30.

Matt Orzel, Brendan Hancock, Kristin Thornton, Brad Holmes and Jesse Crichton all kicked two goals each for Peel with Peter Faulks picking up 22 possessions, Lee Spurr 21, Pat Travers 20, Thornton 20 and Brendon Jones 17.

PUSHING FOR A SPOT
East Perth beat Peel in a reserves thriller by four points with Rowan Brookes, Steven Wityk and Josh Mellington kicking two goals apiece with Don Stirling racking up 31 possessions, Brock Higgins 24, Joe Boys 24, Boston Williamson 24 and Kym Monteath 20.

Joel O'Driscoll kicked two goals for Peel with Liam McKenna racking up 26 possessions, Bradd Dalziell 24, Ryan Mulgrave 24, Liam Hansen 16, Travis Obal 16 and Alex Devitt 16.

Claremont's reserves beat Swan Districts by 33 points with Keegan Knott, Jordan Aitken, Anton Hamp, Mitch Andrews and Alistair Gillespie all kicking two goals for the Tigers.

Andrews also had 18 touches and 27 hit outs while Thomas Taylor gathered 28 possessions, Tom Willett 22, Sam Fong 21, Jacob Johnson 20 and Brad Nisbett 18.

Daniel Cripps kicked two goals for Swan Districts with Simon Parry racking up 27 disposals, Jacob Burnham 21, James Embley 19 and Roderick Manton 19.

Perth hammered an undermanned South Fremantle by a massive 144 points with Simon Tunbridge kicking four goals, Joel Houghton three, Michael Edwards three, Chris Billings three, Matthew Rogers two and Michael Florio two. Fremantle's Sam Menegola had 18 touches and a goal.

South Fremantle kicked just one goal for the day and that came from Jesse Joachim while Joel Palumbo picked up 28 possessions, Mitch Thompson 22, Jesse Maiorana 21, Shannon Burnett 21 and Casey Sibosado 21.