ENCOURAGING SIGNS FOR BULLDOGS IN MANDURAH

SOUTH Fremantle’s three women’s teams all went down to Mandurah on Sunday and delivered some strong showings in the WAFLW competitions against Peel Thunder.

The day got underway at Mandurah’s David Grays Arena with South Fremantle’s reigning premier Youth Girls team doing battle with Peel Thunder in Rogers Cup match up. And it was the Bulldogs victorious 5.2 (32) to 4.3 (27).

The Reserves clash was up next and that ended up seeing Peel Thunder defeat South Fremantle 10.8 (68) to 5.5 (35).

The WAFLW League contest then saw South Fremantle put in a spirited and encouraging showing against the reigning premiers before going down to Peel Thunder 13.6 (84) to 7.1 (43).

It all begin with the Youth Girls contest with South Fremantle looking to bounce back from a rare loss the week before at the hands of Claremont.

And the Bulldogs were able to do that beating the Thunder by five points in the finish.

Peel started well with the only goal of the opening quarter before South Fremantle got on the board in the second term. But the Thunder remained on top and kicked another two goals to head into the half-time break with a 12-point advantage.

It was then a goal apiece in the third quarter meaning South Fremantle was still 11 points down at three quarter-time, but the Bulldogs then kicked three goals to two behinds in the last term to end up winning by five points.

Noa McNaughton and Elenora Pinna kicked two goals each for South Fremantle with Jess Howley the other goal scorer.

Emily Boothman, Shanay Del Borrello, Holly Denholm, Noa McNaughton and Chloe Boothman were all among the best performers for the Bulldogs.

It was then time for the Reserves clash and South Fremantle wasn’t quite able to record its second win of the 2021 season, falling to Peel by 33 points.

The Bulldogs finished the game impressively, though, kicking four goals in the last quarter while holding the Thunder scoreless.

Jaymi Karapetkov, Hannah Felton, Clair Edwards, Chante Kickett and Chelsea Parnell were the South Fremantle goal scorers.

Mel Silcock, Tahlia Dawson-Gibbs, Jaymi Karapetkov, Emma Allison and Lara Rodin-Zimdahl were among the best for the Bulldogs.

It was the reigning premiers and wooden spooners of last year doing battle at Mandurah’s David Grays Arena on Sunday, and it ended up being an entertaining affair despite the 41-point final margin.

Peel is coming off winning the premiership last year on the back of being wooden spooners back in 2019, and then the Thunder opened up 2021 with impressive wins against East Fremantle and Subiaco before their first loss at the hands of Swan Districts.

South Fremantle has been significantly more competitive already in 2021 than they were after being granted admission late into the competition in 2020. The Bulldogs only fell three points short of Subiaco in Round 1 before going down to Swan Districts and Claremont the past two weeks.

But Peel was hungry to bounce back from last week’s loss to Swan Districts with them back on home turf to host South Fremantle on Sunday, and while they did that in the end, it was an attractive game of football featuring the 20 goals between the two teams.

The first quarter set the tone for the tremendous contest that was to come with seven goals kicked between the two teams.

Peel did start well with four goals but South Fremantle kept pace with their best ever first quarter in the WAFLW competition by kicking three goals to limit the Thunder’s lead to just six points at the opening break.

Peel did manage to kick away a little more in the second term with three goals to one from South Fremantle and that saw the home team head into the half-time interval leading by 20 points.

The Thunder put the game pretty much out of reach of the Bulldogs in the third quarter by kicking four more goals to one and that saw their advantage grow to 39 points by three quarter-time.

Peel did add another two goals in the final quarter but so did South Fremantle as they continued to fight the game out before the Thunder recorded the 13.6 (84) to 7.1 (43) victory.

Ashleigh Reidy finished up kicking two goals for South Fremantle while Lauren Wafker, Aaliyah Ugle, Kiara Templeman, Zoe Huggett and Georgia Kowald added one each.

Kiara Templeman, Zoe Huggett, Pia Durk, Lauren Wafker and Makaela Tuhakaraina were among South Fremantle’s best performers on the afternoon.

Next up in the WAFLW competition for South Fremantle is the first derby of 2021 on Friday night against East Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval. The WAFLW League fixture bounces down at 6.30pm.

Meanwhile, the Rogers Cup game between the Bulldogs and Sharks is on Saturday morning at 9.20am before the Reserves clash begins at 11.05am.

OPTUS WAFL WOMEN’S PREMIERSHIP – ROUND 4

SOUTH FREMANTLE        3.1    4.1    5.1    7.1    (43)
PEEL THUNDER            4.1    7.3    11.4    13.6    (84)

SOUTH FREMANTLE – Goals: Reidy 2; Wafker, Ugle, Templeman, Huggett, Kowald.
Best: Templeman, Huggett, Durk, Wafker, Tuhakaraina.
CLAREMONT – Goals: Bartlett, Molloy 3; Roberts 2; Wrigley, Hayes, Rowley, McKinley, Briggs.
Best: Bilcich, Rowley, Molloy, Bartlett, Van Peer.