Round 14 McDonald’s WAFL Wrap Up

SOUTH Fremantle and Subiaco shot further clear on top of the WAFL with strong wins on Saturday with the other three top five teams losing as Perth and Swan Districts scored confidence-boosting victories.

South Fremantle returned to the top of the ladder just on percentage with a 16.6 (102) to 9.13 (67) victory over West Perth at HBF Arena. That ended the Falcons’ seven-game winning run with the Bulldogs setting up the victory with the first seven goals of the second half.

Subiaco might have dropped to second spot but it was a strong win over Claremont all the same with the Lions beating the Tigers 15.11 (101) to 11.9 (75) at Medibank Stadium on the back of an eight-goal to two second quarter.

Perth then got its fourth win of the season to continue its improvement beating East Fremantle 15.14 (104) to 14.9 (93) at Lathlain Park.

Peel Thunder was down to two Fremantle-listed players from Fremantle for most of Saturday, both of whom haven’t played an AFL game, and the bottom placed Swan Districts took full advantage winning 18.10 (118) to 12.7 (79) at Bendigo Bank Stadium.

Click here for the summary of Round 14 of the WAFL

TEAM OF THE WEEK (club, times named)
BACK: Justin Simpson (SD, 2), Josh Pullman (SF, 3), Adam Guglielmana (SF, 1)
HALF-BACK: Warrick Wilson (SD, 1), Tyler Keitel (WP, 6), Wayde Twomey (S, 2)
CENTRE: Kyal Horsley (S, 4), Adam Faulkner (SD, 3), Shaun Bewick (SF, 1)
HALF-FORWARD: Jacob Dragovich (SF, 1), Cody Leggett (P, 1), Andrew Strijk (WP, 4)
FORWARD: Liam Ryan (S, 3), Ricky Cary (SD, 1), Ben Saunders (SF, 2)
RUCK: Sam Garstone (P, 2), Shane Nelson (WP, 7), Aidan Tropiano (P, 1)
INTERCHANGE: Dean Munns (WP, 3), Mitch Andrews (C, 2), Andrew Haydon (PT, 1), Liam McKenna (P, 3)

PLAYER OF THE WEEK – ADAM FAULKNER
It is hard to ignore the fact that Swan Districts’ season couldn’t have gone any worse to this point but one player who has been there fighting hard each and every week is midfielder Adam Faulkner.

Despite Swans winning just one game before Saturday, Faulkner had still been averaging 25.9 possessions a game and would likely be leading the Swan Medal count at this stage.

The 82-game, 24-year-old then enjoyed his day on Saturday with Swan Districts delivering its best performance of the season beating Peel Thunder by 39 points.

Faulkner was best afield as well with 30 possessions and three goals as not only did he rack up winning the ball in the middle, but proved himself dangerous in front of goal.

THE SHINING LIGHTS
South Fremantle needed some different players to stand up particularly in the midfield against West Perth at HBF Arena with Ashton Hams and Haiden Schloithe absent, and Tim Kelly tagged out of the game by West Perth’s Dean Munns.

It was Jacob Dragovich and Tim Stewart who stepped up the most. Dragovich played his best game of the season with 27 possessions, 10 marks and five tackles while Stewart continues to thrive at league level with another 22 disposals and seven marks.

Shaun Bewick enjoyed his day against his former club as well with 24 possessions, 13 marks, five inside 50s and a goal while Shane Hockey led from the front in the middle with 23 disposals and captain Ryan Cook contributed 22 touches, nine marks and seven inside-50 entries.

Brock Higgins continued his strong form in the ruck with 16 possessions, seven marks and 41 hit outs.

South Fremantle’s forward-line was again on fire led by Ben Saunders who kicked six goals including five with his first five kicks of the afternoon opposed to state defender Luke Meadows.

Mason Shaw booted four goals for the Bulldogs with three of those coming in the last quarter while Blaine Johnson returned from a hamstring injury to kick two and second-gamer Brandon Donaldson kicked two as well.

South Fremantle’s defence was also strong led by Adam Guglielmana limiting the influence of Max Duffy and Josh Pullman returning to shut down Michael Lourey.

Shane Nelson and Dean Munns both continued their outstanding form in the midfield for West Perth with Nelson ending up with 40 possessions, six inside 50s and four tackles.

Munns was given the tagging job on South Fremantle state defender Tim Kelly and he had another win holding him to 10 possessions while winning 15 himself to go with seven tackles.

Aaron Black also worked hard for West Perth for 30 possessions while Jay van Berlo picked up 21 disposals, Steve Potente 21, Aidan Lynch 20 and Blake Wilhelm 18.

Tyler Keitel continued his good form in the back-line with 25 possessions and five marks in a good battle with Mason Shaw but the Falcons sorely missed Nick Rodda.

Andrew Strijk was West Perth’s most effective forward proving too crafty for Tom Vandeleur kicking for goals from 18 possessions and 10 marks.

Claremont started strongly against Subiaco with five goals to one in the first quarter even without Darcy Cameron, Ryan Neates, Jake Murphy and Matthew Davies, but Subiaco worked its way on top from there to win by 26 points.

The Lions found plenty of goal kicking options with Liam Ryan kicking four majors, Ben Sokol three, Dylan Clarke two and Hamish Shepheard two to go with 18 possessions, six tackles, five marks and 14 hit outs.

Subiaco captain Kyal Horsley was outstanding with 32 possessions, nine inside 50s and a goal

Leigh Kitchin also had 21 possessions for the Lions, Craig Hoskins 21 (10 tackles), Wayde Twomey 18, Brett Mahoney 18 and Simon Moore 21.

Sean Bradley worked hard in the ruck for Subiaco with 10 disposals and 34 hit outs.

Beau Maister kicked three goals for Claremont stepping up without Cameron in the line-up while Jack Bradshaw booted three majors and Harrison McCracken two.

Simpson Medallist Jye Bolton was given more of a free run than the previous week against West Perth and made the most of it with 33 possessions while Ryan Lim racked up 28 disposals, Jared Hardisty 24, Tom Ledger 21, Ian Richardson 20 and Haydn Busher 20.

Ruckman Mitch Andrews was terrific in the ruck for the Tigers with 22 possessions, seven marks and 39 hit outs.

Perth claimed its biggest scalp of the season on Saturday defeating East Fremantle by 11 points at Lathlain Park to get its fourth win already of 2016.

The Demons also had to overcome the loss of ruckman Angus Graham early in the game as well which caused a whole reshuffle from coach Earl Spalding, but the moves ended up working a treat.

Key forward Sam Garstone had to go into the ruck and he was clearly the best big man on the ground finishing with 20 possessions, seven marks and 28 hit outs.

Without Garstone up forward, someone else needed to step up in attack and it was Cody Leggett who did so with a career-best seven goals from 18 possessions and seven marks. Six of his goals came in the first half and that’s despite the fact he had been playing run-with roles in recent weeks further up the ground following a stint in the reserves.

Brennan Stack also showed he has something still to offer in the Perth forward-line with three goals.

Perth’s midfield was dominant again led by Sandover Medallist Aidan Tropiano against his former team with 33 possessions and 14 tackles.

Clint Jones also racked up 30 disposals (nine tackles) for the Demons, Liam McKenna 27 (eight marks, seven tackles, one goal), Julian Jacobs 27, Michael Sinclair 21, Laine Wilkins 21 and Lennon Marlin 20 in defence.

East Fremantle struggled in the middle without George Hampson, Liam Anthony and Cameron Eardley but captain Jamie McNamara battled hard for 25 possessions with Jayden Schofield also gathering 25 disposals.

Dion Anthony finished with 21 touches for the Sharks with Brock O’Brien kicking four goals, Brett Peake three, Fraser Perry two and Lewis Krakouer two.

Swan Districts got the best performances of the season from a host of its players on Saturday and the result was a 39-point victory over Peel.

Adam Faulkner was outstanding in the midfield with 30 possessions, 12 marks and three goals while Ricky Cary had a day out in attack booting six goals from 20 disposals and 12 marks.

Todd Banfield played his best game of the last two seasons since returning from time with Brisbane and Richmond in the AFL with 20 touches, six marks and two goals.

Warrick Wilson also played his best game of 2016 with 23 possessions, 10 inside-50 entries and five tackles. Jacob Burnham also had a strong game off half-back for the black-and-whites with 22 disposals, 10 marks and two goals.