Bulldogs fight hard but can’t finish job against Lions

SOUTH Fremantle never stopped trying and did bounce back from a slow start against the league-leading reigning premiers Subiaco at Medibank Stadium on Saturday, but in the finish just wasn’t clean enough in an eventual 22-point defeat.

Subiaco now sits three games clear on top of the WAFL ladder and has won seven straight matches after beating South Fremantle 9.12 (66) to 6.8 (44).

The Lions kicked the last three goals of the first quarter to open up a handy lead that the Bulldogs made up with the first three goals of the second quarter. But when Subiaco kicked the first two goals of a low-scoring second half, it was enough to sew up the victory.

South Fremantle certainly never gave up on the contest, but just couldn’t hit its targets around the ground or in front of goal well enough to seriously threaten Subiaco in the second half.

The Bulldogs slip to a 6-5 record now with the defeat ahead of a clash with West Perth next Saturday at HBF Arena for the Garlic Munchers Cup.

Adam Guglielmana continued his outstanding form as a small defender for South Fremantle and in his 99th WAFL game, did a terrific job keeping Shane Yarran to just two goals and one of those came courtesy of a defensive error from a teammate in the final stages.

Marlion Pickett had a good battle at centre half-back on Clancy Wheeler and provided some good attack for the Bulldogs with his 21 disposals.

Ashton Hams worked tirelessly for the Bulldogs and racked up a game-high 32 possessions while captain Ryan Cook finished with 21 disposals, Steven Verrier 19 and Jarrod Parry 18.

James Sellar worked hard up for South Fremantle and in helping out at times in the ruck finishing with two goals from 16 possessions and nine marks with Haiden Schloithe kicking two goals in his first league game since the Good Friday win over Claremont thanks to an ankle injury.

Brock Higgins did well in the ruck and carried the majority of the load on his own again with Josh Branchi dropped back to the reserves, and he finished with 15 touches, nine marks and 31 hit outs.

It was an even opening 20 minutes of the contest with Subiaco getting the game’s first goal trough Kyle Halligan and South Fremantle replying courtesy of Sellar, but then the Lions opened up what proved to be a match-winning advantage before quarter-time.

A second to Halligan and then goals to Lachlan Delahunty and ruckman David Madut saw Subiaco hold a 23-point advantage at quarter-time.

South Fremantle started the second quarter strongly with the opening three quarters with the first coming courtesy of Sellar before Schloithe kicked truly in his first game back and then Jacob Dragovich nailed a good set shot goal as well to bring the Bulldogs to within two points of the Lions.

That would be as close as South Fremantle would get for the rest of the game, though, with Subiaco kicking the last goal of the first half through Yarran, and then the only goal of the third term courtesy of Halligan and his third for the day helped the Lions to a 16-point lead at the last change.

Subiaco then kicked the first goal of the last quarter thanks to Delahunty with his second and that gave the home team a game-high 24-point advantage.

South Fremantle twice got back to within 16 points with last quarter goals to Schloithe and Tim Kelly, but Subiaco responded each time through Chris Phelan and Yarran to end up winning by a comfortable 22 points.

South Fremantle’s reserves, meanwhile, maintained its place on top of the ladder with an 11.9 (75) to 7.12 (54) win over Subiaco.

The Bulldogs kicked three goals to one in each of the first two quarters, and the only two goals of the third term to have held the Lions to two goals for three quarters. Subiaco did kick five goals to three in the last quarter, but that only cut South Fremantle’s eventual victory to 21 points.

Stephen Mills, Ben Sokol and Josh Branchi kicked two goals apiece for South Fremantle’s reserves while Brendan Verrier racked up 37 possessions, Jacob Martinez 28, Zac Strom 25, James Laurino 24, Matthew Ah Siu 23, Sokol 23, Dylan Ross 22, Traye Bennell 21, Nick Borovac 20 and Billy Collier 20.

South Fremantle’s colts also held on in a thriller over Subiaco to win 10.8 (68) to 9.9 (63) despite the Bulldogs not kicking a goal in the final quarter.

South Fremantle’s colts got off to a flying start with five goals to nil in the first quarter to lead by 29 points at quarter-time, 25 points at half-time and 40 points at three quarter-time, but Subiaco came roaring home with the only six goals in the last quarter falling just five points short of the Bulldogs.

Mitch Dzelebdzic was the star of the game for South Fremantle kicking six goals from 14 possessions and seven marks while Brandon Donaldson kicked two goals to go with 16 disposals and six entries inside the forward 50.

Daniel Burke racked up 27 touches for the Bulldogs, Jamie Foster 24, Jesse Musika 21, Jesse Mudge 20, Miles Barritt 19 and Zac De San Miguel 17.

SOUTH FREMANTLE        1.0    4.4    4.5    6.8    (44)
SUBIACO            4.5    5.7    6.9    9.12    (66)

SOUTH FREMANTLE – Goals: Sellar, Schloithe 2; Dragovich, Kelly.
Best: Guglielmana, A Hams, Higgins, Pickett, Verrier, Dragovich, Parry.
SUBIACO – Goals: Halligan 3; Delahunty, Yarran 2; Phelan, Madut.
Best: Twomey, Menegola, Halligan, Lockyer, Delahunty, Hancock, Le Fanu.