BULLDOGS SHOW IMPROVEMENT IN THE WAFLW AGAINST SWANS

SOUTH Fremantle’s team in the Optus WAFL Women’s Premiership Season continues to show signs of improvement despite a loss to Swan Districts on Sunday afternoon.

South Fremantle’s female football teams were back on home turf at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Sunday to host Swan Districts, and in the WAFLW encounter, it was the most competitive performance yet that the Bulldogs have delivered.

After going scoreless in their opening two matches against East Fremantle and Peel Thunder, South Fremantle broke through for its first ever WAFLW goal in Round 3 against Claremont before then backing up last Saturday against Subiaco by kicking multiple goals for the first time in a match.

Now the Bulldogs kept their improved form rolling on Sunday by kicking a goal in each half against Swan Districts, and also having a player make history by kicking multiple goals in a WAFLW match for the first ever time.

While there were better signs from South Fremantle on Sunday, it was still a strong win in the end for Swan Districts as the Grand Finalists from last year maintained a position inside the top four as the race for the finals heats up with just the two rounds of the home and away season remaining.

Swan Districts kicked two goals to one in the opening quarter to lead by eight points at quarter-time before the visitors added another two goals to one behind in the second quarter to head into the half-time interval leading by 20 points.

South Fremantle managed its second goal of the game during the third quarter and with Swan Districts only managing one goal as well, their lead only narrowly grew to 22 points by three quarter-time.

Swans then kicked three goals and held the Bulldogs scoreless in the final quarter to come away from Fremantle Community Bank Oval with the 8.8 (56) to 2.2 (14) victory.

Poppy Stockwell was brought into the South Fremantle team after an impressive six-goal performance last Friday night in the Youth Girls Rogers Cup contest against Subiaco at Leederville Oval.

She brought that form with her into a WAFLW debut too on Sunday afternoon by kicking South Fremantle’s two goals for the game and becoming the first Bulldogs player in the competition to kick multiple goals in a game.

Mim Strom has been a significant inclusion for South Fremantle the last two weeks and she got her first chance to play against the team she helped to the WAFLW Grand Final last year before the Bulldogs entered the competition.

She had a strong game in the ruck on Sunday for South Fremantle with Tara Garlett, Breanne Spencer, Lauren Vecchio and Stockwell among the other best performers on the day for the Bulldogs.

Defender-turned-forward Fiona Boucher continues to enjoy her move into attack for Swan Districts in 2020 by kicking three goals in Sunday’s win.

Tara Stribley, Courtney Lindgren, Stephanie Graskoski, Mikayla Morrison and Chanel Jetta were the other goal scorers for Swans.

Stribley, Sarah Wielstra, Mikayla Hyde, Graskoski and Emma Nanut were all among the strongest performers in the win for Swans.

The Reserves contest started the day at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with South Fremantle doing well to defeat Swan Districts 8.4 (52) to 5.5 (35).

Tahlia McRoberts was tremendous for South Fremantle kicking four goals while Georgia Kowald kicked two, Sarah Wright one and Casey Byrne one.

The day then concluded at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Sunday afternoon with a dominant Youth Girls Rogers Cup victory for the Bulldogs as South Fremantle defeated Swan Districts 12.5 (77) to 0.2 (2).

Shakira Pickett was outstanding for the Bulldogs kicking five goals with Alex Brooker booting two, Lilly Watts, Jessica Sparkman one, Holly Denholm and Shanay Del Borrello.

This Sunday in Round 6 of the WAFLW competition, South Fremantle travels to Claremont’s Revo Fitness Stadium to take on Claremont at 2pm.

Meanwhile, South Fremantle will be playing Pele Thunder in the Youth Girls Rogers Cup match also on Sunday at 10.15am at Fremantle Community Bank Oval while the Reserves are taking on Subiaco from midday.

OPTUS WAFL WOMEN’S PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 5

SOUTH FREMANTLE        1.0    1.1    2.2    2.2    (14)
SWAN DISTRICTS        2.2    4.3    5.6    8.8    (56)

SOUTH FREMANTLE – Goals: Stockwell 2.
Best: Strom, Garlett, Spencer, Vecchio, Stockwell.
SWAN DISTRICTS – Goals: Boucher 3; Stribley, Lindgren, Graskowski, Morrison, Jetta.
Best: Stribley, Wielstra, M Hyde, Graskoski, Nanut.