BULLDOGS RETAIN CICCOTOSTO-UITTENBROEK CUP

SOUTH Fremantle delivered a dominant finish to Saturday’s derby at Fremantle Community Bank Oval to consolidate second position, retain the Ciccotosto-Uittenbroek Cup and make it 12 wins straight against East Fremantle.

East Fremantle threatened to make a game of it for a half at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday but in the end South Fremantle cruised to a 12th consecutive derby victory.

The build up to the game was enough to suggest South Fremantle’s run of dominance in derbies was under genuine threat with the Sharks coming off a win against Swan Districts that kept their slender finals hopes alive.

The Bulldogs were fresh off a 116-point hammering of Peel as well and needed to keep winning to keep their hold on a top two spot, and for the first half it was a good contest with South Fremantle only holding a 13-point lead by half-time.

However, South Fremantle would go on to kick eight of the last nine goals of the game to make it 12 consecutive derby victories over East Fremantle with the 19.9 (123) to 9.8 (62) win.

The win improves South Fremantle to an 11-4 record on the season to be a game and percentage in second spot behind Subiaco but in front of Claremont.

South Fremantle’s forward-line was once again on fire even if Blake Schlensog was well held by East Fremantle captain Matthew Jupp.

Brandon Donaldson had a career-best afternoon kicking five goals for the first time in his 76-game career to go with 19 possessions and six marks. Mason Shaw also kicked four goals, Cody Ninyette three, Haiden Schloithe two and Aiden Hall two.

Tom Blechynden led the way in the midfield for South Fremantle with 25 possessions and nine tackles while George Wessels returned to the side with 24 disposals and five inside-50 entries.

Nick Suban also finished with 19 touches, Zac Strom 18 and Manfred Kelly 17 to go with seven tackles with his defensive pressure in the forward-line outstanding.

Hamish Free held down the ruck too with 13 touches and 42 hit outs to nullify the influence of Luke Strnadica.

Given South Fremantle’s dominance in recent derbies, when Jacob Dragovich kicked a goal less than five minutes into the game, the signs were ominous. But East Fremantle did work into the contest and got the next goal through Michael Tassone.

Aiden Hall and Jimmy Miller both kicked truly soon after to put South Fremantle back up by 14 points but Tim Bockman and Jonathon Marsh kept the Sharks close and just down by nine points at quarter-time.

The Sharks were then right back in the contest only three points down to start the second quarter with a quick goal from Tom Bennett.

There was the chance of a tight derby for the first time in a long time even with South Fremantle kicking the next four goals over the space of 24 minutes to open up a 24-point edge.

Corey Holmes kicked a couple late into the half, though, for the Sharks and the contest was well and truly alive at half-time with the Bulldogs only up by 13 points.

Despite three goals in the first 11 minutes of the third quarter for South Fremantle, East Fremantle stayed in touch with a couple of their own through Jarrad Jansen and Dillon O’Reilly.

However, from that point on South Fremantle dominated and it felt just like many of the previous 11 meetings between the two teams have with the Bulldogs asserting their dominance.

South Fremantle kicked the game’s next eight goals either side of three quarter-time to go from being 20 points in front at the 13-minute mark of the third quarter to 66 points up by the 19-minute mark of the fourth term when Brandon Donaldson kicked his fifth goal.

East Fremantle kicked the last goal of the derby through Marsh but South Fremantle still won by 61 points to make it 12 straight derby wins on the back of kicking eight of the last nine goals of the game to move a game clear in second position.

Derby day at Fremantle Community Bank Oval began with East Fremantle’s colts beating South Fremantle 14.9 (93) to 6.7 (43).

Jacob Plunkett kicked two goals for the Bulldogs with Chase Bourne gathering 22 possessions, Caleb Stephens 20 and Haki Harcourt 16.

Then in the reserves, it was a thrilling finish with East Fremantle holding on to beat South Fremantle 6.6 (42) to 5.9 (39).

South Fremantle’s goal scorers were Josh Collard, Jack Blechynden, Toby Dodds, Ira Jetta and Baxter Jones while Matthew Ward had 20 possessions, Glenn Byron 19 and Jake Florenca 19 in his first game since rupturing his Achilles tendon to devastating miss out on last year’s premiership.

OPTUS WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 18

SOUTH FREMANTLE        4.4    8.6    14.7    19.9 (123)
EAST FREMANTLE        3.1    6.5    8.7    9.8 (62)

SOUTH FREMANTLE: Goals – Donaldson 5; Shaw 4; Ninyette 3; Schloithe, Hall 2; Dragovich, Miller, Schlensog.
Best – Donaldson, Blechynden, Wessels, Z Strom, Shaw, Suban, Ninyette, Kelly.
EAST FREMANTLE: Goals – Marsh, Holmes 2; Bennett, Jansen, Bockman, O’Reilly, Tassone.
Best – English, Eardley, Baskerville, Jupp, Lester-Smith.