Falcons clear away

WAFL round 16

The top of the table clash at Arena Joondalup ended with a comfortable winning margin for the Falcons but it was still a worthy encounter. The Sharks led at half time and were down by just seven points at the last change. The worry was that they scored just one goal in the second half.

West Perth’s pressure unsettled East Fremantle from the start – kicks were smothered, chances muffed and confidence waned for the visitors as the home team held up in defence and created enough chances in attack. Defenders Mark Hamilton, Noah Pegoraro and Tyson Moulton were impressive; Mitchell Peirce, Luke Meadows and Aidan Lynch led the midfield and Rudy Riddoch kicked four goals.

The Sharks were without their most dangerous forward Jon Marsh and lost their best player Blaine Boekhorst – fingers will be crossed about his injury. Jarrad Jansen competed and marked well, Kyle Baskerville was the best of the blue and white midfield and Matthew Jupp won the important battle with Tyler Keitel.

I’d vote for Fremantle Oval as the grand final venue because I can walk there but Joondalup would work too – just don’t tell anyone. 

According to The Sunday Times there were “About 700 people…” at East Fremantle Oval to see Subiaco and West Coast. By contrast there were “About 2000…” at Joondalup. Now that’s very a very clever distinction because dogs are welcome at East Fremantle – last week I had a pleasant encounter with one of those sausage dog things.

Anyway the Lions wrapped it up with a six-goal second quarter and won by 23 points despite being outscored in the second half. Stefan Giro was the midfield star for Subiaco while Ben Sokol and Brandon Matera each kicked three goals. Isiah Winder was the best Eagle.

The big game next week will be at Rushton Park between Peel and South Fremantle with big finals ramifications for both teams.

West Perth 11.10 (76) East Fremantle 5.10 (40) 

Subiaco 14.6 (90) West Coast 9.13 (67)

Ladder: West Perth 46; East Fremantle 40; Claremont 40; South Fremantle 38; Peel 32; Swan Districts 32; East Perth 24; Subiaco 20; Perth 8; West Coast 4.

Round 17: Perth vs Claremont; Subiaco vs East Perth; Peel vs South Fremantle; Swan Districts vs West Coast.