Royals too good for Bulldogs at Leederville

SOUTH Fremantle battled hard but in the end came up short against an East Perth team with a strong blend of WAFL and AFL talent at Leederville’s Medibank Stadium on Saturday.

The Bulldogs came into the game following yet another bye last weekend following a loss to East Fremantle in the WA Day derby. That was also following a week off due to the State game and before that South Fremantle had lost to Peel Thunder which was after yet another bye.

Before those interruptions, South Fremantle was in terrific form having recorded impressive victories over East Fremantle, West Perth and Claremont to suddenly storm back into finals calculations after losing the opening four games of the season.

However, the Bulldogs have now slipped well behind the fourth-placed East Fremantle with a 3-7 record after 12 rounds of the 2014 season with a clash at Fremantle Oval to come this Saturday against the second-placed Swan Districts.

South Fremantle tried hard on Saturday against East Perth, but in the end the Royals extended their advantage at every break to end up winning by 61 points, 21.17 (143) to 12.10 (82).

With WAFL stars like Brendan Lee, Josh Smith, Paul Johnson, Craig Wulff, Steven Payne, Kyle Anderson, Nathan Blee and Garry Moss and West Coast-listed players Will Maginness, Callum Sinclair, Ash Smith, Fraser McInnes, Simon Tunbridge, Josh Hill, Dom Sheed, Brant Colledge and South Fremantle product Adam Carter, the Royals proved too strong for the Bulldogs.

South Fremantle did have some good contributors throughout the afternoon, though, and none were better again than captain Ryan Cook who finished with 28 possessions, six marks and four inside-50 entries.

Haiden Schloithe also continued his strong season with another 25 disposals and two goals.

Tim Kelly keeps emerging as well through the midfield finishing the game with 26 possessions, six marks, six inside-50 entries and five tackles.

Ashton Hams tried hard to set up play collecting 25 disposals with Toby Bairstow finishing with 23 possessions, Anthony  Collica 22, Adam Guglielmana 20 and Jacob Martinez 18.

Dylan Ross worked hard in an under-siege back-line build up off strong East Perth forwards and finished the day with 19 possessions for South Fremantle.

Craig White again provided a good leading forward option with two goals from 11 possessions and six marks with Josh Pullman and Ben Saunders kicking two goals apiece.

James Sellar returned to the South Fremantle for just his second game since injuring his knee in Round 2, and he was solid with 12 touches, six marks, seven hit outs and a goal.

It was also a big day for Mitch Banks who made his league debut with the Bulldogs and showed some good signs in his nine possessions against the WAFL ladder-leaders.

Meanwhile, South Fremantle’s reserves drew with East Perth with the Bulldogs finishing on 15.11 (101) to the Royals’ 16.5 (101).

Jarrod Parry worked hard in the midfield for South Fremantle picking up 27 possessions while laying seven tackles with Ben Sokol finishing with 26 disposals and Josh Branchi 35 hit outs to go with nine possessions.

And in the colts, South Fremantle beat East Perth 11.8 (74) to 9.5 (59) with Cameron Loersch again outstanding up forward with five goals from 13 possessions and nine marks.

Matthew Ah Siu racked up 29 possessions for the Bulldogs with Jacob Dragovich finishing with 23 touches, Jake Florenca 21 and Joel McComb 20.

SOUTH FREMANTLE        3.5    6.5    8.9    12.10    (82)
EAST PERTH            5.3    10.11    14.13    21.17    (143)

SOUTH FREMANTLE – Goals: Saunders, Pullman, White, Schloithe 2; Collica, Sellar, Carter, Martinez.
Best: Cook, Kelly, Schloithe, Bairstow, Hams, Collica, Ross.
EAST PERTH – Goals: Smith, Tunbridge 4; Moss 3; Wulff, Sinclair, Hill 2; Payne, Smith, McInnes, Colledge.
Best: Lee, Clutterbuck, Wulff, Payne, Moss, Sinclair, Colledge, Sheed.