WAFL – BULLDOGS SECURE MINOR PREMIERSHIP

South Fremantle held East Perth goalless in the first half on Saturday on the way to the eventual 47-point win to lock away the WAFL minor premiership with two rounds remaining.

The Bulldogs took on the third placed Royals on Saturday at Leederville’s Sullivan Logistics Stadium and dominated the game with the only six goals of the first half.

South Fremantle then turned that into the first seven goals of the game on the way to the eventual 11.9 (75) to 4.4 (28) victory to improve to a 15-1 record to be guaranteed of claiming the minor premiership with two rounds of the season remaining.

Trey Ruscoe, Zac Strom and Aaron Drage all kicked two goals apiece in the win for South Fremantle while Tom Blechynden celebrated his 100th game with a best on ground performance with 29 possessions, seven tackles, five marks and four inside-50 entries.

Jake Florenca also collected 25 disposals to go with 10 tackles while Matthew Parker had 23 touches, Matthew Ward 19, Lewis Rayson 18, Chase Bourne 16, debutant Nick Stuhldreier 16, Drage 15, Ethan Hughes 15 and Hamish Free 14 to go with 37 hit outs in the ruck.

The conditions were tough to start the game at Leederville and it did take almost 18 minutes for either team to manage a goal and that went the way of South Fremantle thanks to Haiden Schloithe.

Aaron Drage then added another and from there the Bulldogs were leading by 14 points at quarter-time having held East Perth to just the one behind.

The Royals then didn’t manage to score in the second quarter with Drage kicking a second goal for South Fremantle while Jaxon Artemis, Trey Ruscoe and Kyle Russell all added goals before half-time for the Bulldogs to be in control leading by 40 points.

South Fremantle managed just one goal in the third quarter from Zac Strom with East Perth kicking their first two goals, but the Bulldogs were still in control leading by 33 points at three quarter-time.

Goals to Ethan Hughes, Zac Strom, Roan O’Hehir and Ruscoe then gave South Fremantle the 58-point lead and the eventual 47-point victory.

The day started at Sullivan Logistics Stadium with the colts contest that saw South Fremantle claim the 11.14 (80) to 5.7 (37) victory against East Perth.

As a result of the win, South Fremantle are now on top of the colts ladder with an 11-4 record and with just one match remaining now over the last two weeks of the home and away season.

South Fremantle started strongly at Leederville with four goals to one in the first quarter and then kicked the only goal of the second term to go into the half-time break leading by 29 points.

The Bulldogs added another three goals to one in the third quarter before it was three goals apiece in the final term and South Fremantle scored the 43-point win to grab top spot in the colts.

Toby Whan put in a stunning best on ground display for South Fremantle with 41 possessions and four goals while Alex MacDonald added two goals.

Jacob Donald also collected 28 disposals for the Bulldogs, Millar Rank 23, Tom Stewart 19, Noah Roberts 17, Chace Vanderhoek 16 and Lucas Cattalini 15.

That led into the reserves contest at Leederville with South Fremantle starting the game on fire with the only four goals of the first quarter to be leading by 24 points at quarter-time.

East Perth did respond by kicking three goals to one in the second term but South Fremantle were still leading by 12 points at half-time before the Royals kicked the only two goals of the third stanza.

It took until the 23-minute mark of the fourth quarter, but South Fremantle did manage the winning goal thanks to Connor McDonald to secure the eventual four-point victory.

The win improves South Fremantle to a 12-3 record in the reserves to be guaranteed of a top two finish but with just one game to play this weekend against West Perth it does appear where they will most likely stay.

Dylan Main and Jordan Boullineau both kicked two goals apiece in the win for the Bulldogs as the pair try to make a case for returns to the league team.

Ashton Ferreira racked up 20 possessions for South Fremantle, Robbie Turnbull 20, Jacob Whan 17, Zane Triscari 16 and Jack Green 15 to go with 12 tackles while Josh Branchi had 17 touches, 30 hit outs and eight tackles in the ruck.

SULLIVAN LOGISTICS WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 18

SOUTH FREMANTLE                        2.3          6.5          7.7          11.9        (75)

EAST PERTH                                       0.1          0.1          2.4          4.4          (28)

SOUTH FREMANTLE – Goals: Ruscoe, Z Strom, Drage 2; Schloithe, Hughes, Russell, O’Hehir, Artemis.

Best: Blechynden, Florenca, Ward, Parker, Free, Drage, Rayson.

EAST PERTH – Goals: Van Diemen, Schofield, Tedesco, Lindberg.

Best: Wright, Willcocks, Tedesco, Scott, Jones, Van Diemen, North.