AN incredible weekend of WAFL action saw Perth, South Fremantle and Subiaco all storm home to beat finals hopefuls with a host of individuals putting in standout performances.Claremont further strengthened its hold on the minor premiership with a 20.12 (132) to 7.9 (51) victory over Peel Thunder at Claremont Oval, but the other three games on Saturday saw the three lower placed teams all come from behind to record exciting victories.
South Fremantle beat East Fremantle 16.13 (109) to 15.15 (105) at East Fremantle Oval, Perth downed East Perth 19.12 (126) to 17.7 (109) at Leederville's Medibank Stadium and Subiaco won against West Perth 15.10 (100) to 14.14 (98) at Arena Joondalup.
Click here for the summary of Round 21 of the WAFL
THE BIG WINNERS
Perth, South Fremantle and Subiaco all came from behind to win against teams battling for top-four positions on Saturday in impressive fashion.
The victories for the trio also ensured that Peel will win the wooden spoon again for 2012 with the Thunder sitting two games and percentage behind the eighth-placed Perth following their 81-point loss to Claremont.
Subiaco came back from 31 points down to beat West Perth by two points and by doing so won for the first time since Round 15 to improve to a 7-10 record with games against East Perth, Peel and Claremont to go.
South Fremantle has now won three straight games on the back of an eight-game losing streak and the four-point derby win sees the Bulldogs improve to a 6-12 record with games against Swan Districts and West Perth to go before the final round bye.
Perth had to come from 33 points down against East Perth and did so thanks to a scintillating final quarter to improve to a 6-12 record, but still remains percentage behind the Bulldogs with games against Claremont and Swan Districts to go either side of a bye.
THE BIG LOSERS
The three upset victories on Saturday saw East Fremantle, East Perth and West Perth all miss out on a crucial four points heading towards September.
The Sharks led all day against South Fremantle before coughing up six goals to three in the last quarter to lose by four points. That leaves them in third position a game behind second-placed East Perth with games against West Perth, East Perth and Peel to go.
East Perth led Perth by 20 points at three quarter-time but lost by 17 points in the end to now remain half a game back from East Fremantle with games to finish against Subiaco, East Fremantle and West Perth.
The Falcons kicked six of the first seven goals against Subiaco before losing a thriller by two points. It was costly as a win would have taken the Falcons to within a game of East Perth, but they now remain two games and percentage back with games against East Fremantle, South Fremantle and East Perth to go.THE SHINING LIGHTS
South Fremantle stormed home to beat East Fremantle thanks to six goals to three in the last quarter. Ben Saunders extended his lead in the Bernie Naylor Medal race by kicking another four goals including the Bulldogs' go-ahead major in the dying stages.
Jarrad Winter booted a career-best five goals for South Fremantle with Jayden Woods (pictured) racking up a career-high 27 possessions to go with seven marks, seven inside-50 entries and a goal.
Captain Ryan Cook picked up 25 possessions as well for the Bulldogs and took 10 marks. Haiden Schloithe had 23 touches, Shaun Bewick 23, Shannon Burnett 22, Kris Miller 21, Adam McIntosh 20 and Alex Grima 20.
Callum Leslie, Brock O'Brien and Jack Perham kicked three goals apiece for East Fremantle with Rory O'Brien and Brad Dick both adding two.
Rob Young was outstanding in the ruck finishing with 24 possessions and 25 hit outs. Rory O'Brien had 29 disposals, captain Mark McGough 28, Bradd Dalziell 26, Jayden Schofield 25, Sam Menegola 23 and Sean Henson 19.
Perth had a tremendous last quarter with nine goals to East Perth's three at Medibank Stadium with Leon Davis (pictured) coming up big in the final quarter to finish the game with four goals from just 12 possessions.
Simon Donovan also kicked four goals with Ross Young adding two as did Joel Leeson and Simon Tunbridge. Fremantle's Nick Lower was outstanding with 34 possessions, six marks, six inside 50s, four tackles and a goal.
Alistair Smith picked up 27 possessions, Ross Young 26, Paul Bevan 20 and Michael Edwards 17.
Adam Prior kicked four goals for East Perth to go with two each for Mat Seal, Aaron Sweet, Rowan Brookes and Daniel Macaulay.
Co-captain Craig Wulff racked up 26 possessions with Garry Moss collecting 24, Macaulay 22, Steven Payne 20 and Nick Kommer 18. Paul Johnson finished with 19 possessions, 28 hit outs and a goal in the ruck with 16 touches, 15 hit outs and a goal from Zac Clarke.
Subiaco kicked six goals in nine minutes in a patch in the third quarter to get back in the contest against West Perth, and then in a thrilling finish 17-year-old Chris Deluca snapped the winning goal for the two-point victory. Deluca finished with 12 possessions and that goal.
The Lions' forward-line worked well also with Blake Broadhurst booting five goals and Jack Anthony four while James Garcia did well to sneak in two goals.
Callum Sinclair (pictured) was outstanding in the ruck for Subiaco to finish with 28 possessions, 27 hit outs and six entries inside-50.Also for Subiaco, Jason Bristow gathered 25 disposals, Justin Joyce 23, Clancy Wheeler 22, Aidan Parker 19 and Rhett Kerr 17. Kerr also did a good job defensively on Fremantle's Josh Mellington keeping him to just five touches before he went off injured.
Darcy Barden kicked two crucial last quarter goals for West Perth on his way to three for the day with Marc Crisp, Anthony Tsalikis, Shane Nelson and Jay van Berlo all adding two apiece.
Brent LeCras spent time both forward and back for the Falcons, and finished with 28 possessions, 10 marks and four inside-50 entries. Mark Hutchings also picked up 26 disposals, Aaron Black 21, Steven Browne 20, Ray Bartholomew 19, Luke Tedesco 18, van Berlo 18, Andrew Strijk 18 and Jason Salecic 18.
Claremont now sits one game and a massive percentage on top of the ladder with just three games remaining of the 2012 season following Saturday's 81-point thumping of Peel at Claremont Oval.
Tom Lee continued his tremendous run of form to kick another four goals to now have kicked 38 goals from his last nine games. Jack Bradshaw also booted three majors, Alroy Gilligan three, Ian Richardson two and David Crawford two.
Kane Mitchell racked up 25 possessions to go with 10 tackles and seven inside 50s. Jess Laurie also had 22 disposals, Rory Walton 22, Andrew Foster 22, Lewis Stevenson 20, Crawford 20 and Bradshaw 18.
Captain Andrew Browne (pictured) was outstanding on return for his first WAFL game of the season with 22 possessions, 10 marks and two goals.
It was another tough day for Peel with Kristin Thornton, Brad Holmes and Matt Orzel booting two goals apiece. Captain Brendon Jones picked up 27 possessions, Drew Robinson 23, Kamdyn McIntosh 23, Toby Gianatti 20, Kristin Thornton 19 and Jesse Crichton 19.
Pat Travers celebrated his 150th WAFL appearance with 19 disposals and Brendan Hancock had just six touches in his 150th game in the competition as well.
PUSHING FOR A SPOT
East Fremantle's reserves thumped South Fremantle by a massive 144 points with 161-game veteran Leith Teakle outstanding with 20 possessions, nine marks and five goals.
Adrian Ricciardello also kicked four goals for the Sharks with Justin Monaco adding three and Corey Yeo, Tyler Chalwell, Scott Hancock and Godfrey Curley all two apiece.
Kaiden Matera kicked three of South Fremantle's four goals with Matthew Olivieri racking up 34 possessions and Joel Palumbo 32. Remarkably Olivieri and Palumbo combined for 66 of South Fremantle's 219 disposals – over 30 per cent.Claremont's reserves also had a big 89-point victory over Peel with Keegan Knott booting four goals, and Jordan Aitken, Keifer Yu and Alistair Gillespie all three apiece. Tom Willett racked up 23 possessions, George Cunningham 22 and Matthew Davies 22.
Callum Black kicked four of Peel's seven goals with Ryan Herring a tireless worker with 28 possessions, 16 marks and a goal. Liam McKenna also had 25 touches and Brayden Sutton 23.
Subiaco's reserves scored an impressive 77-point win over West Perth with Scott Worthington and Dylan Clarke kicking four goals, and Reece Blechynden and Nick Hay three. Simon Moore gathered 28 disposals, Ryan Wade 25, Blechynden 25, Worthington 22 and Michael Genovese 21.
Matthew Johnson and James Batterham kicked two goals each for West Perth with Jordan Jones picking up 19 possessions and Joe Morrow 17.
Perth's reserves beat East Perth by 53 points at Medibank Stadium with Dylan Murray booting four goals, Ben Fraser two and Kerwin Stuart two. Ben Noakes racked up 24 possessions and Brad Fry 22, but he kicked 1.4 from 13 marks.
Ashley Boyes had 22 possessions and six tackles for East Perth with Mitchell Howlett picking up 20 disposals, Boston Williamson 18 and Jackson Slater 17.
