WAFLW ROUND 12 V PEEL THUNDER

SOUTH FREMANTLE 12.10 (82) defeated PEEL THUNDER 2.2 (14)

Words Courtesy of Chris Pike

South Fremantle bounced back impressively from just their second loss of the WAFLW season with a dominant performance over two-time premiers Peel Thunder, winning at home by 68 points.

The Bulldogs were coming off their second loss of the season with both coming at the hands of the league-leading Claremont, but they were on a mission to make a statement at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Sunday.

South Fremantle kicked seven goals to one in the first half and another five to one in the second on the way to the 12.10 (82) to 2.2 (14) victory against Peel.

The win improves the Bulldogs to an 8-2 record on the season with a draw to remain a game and-a-half clear in second position by the end of Round 12. Peel is now struggling at 2-9 in second last position.

Noa McNaughton, Trinity Brown, Pia Durk and Casey Byrne all kicked two goals apiece in the win for South Fremantle.

Bulldogs captain Lauren Vecchio put together a dominant performance in the midfield finishing with 29 possessions, seven tackles, three marks and three inside-50 entries.

Renee Morgan also collected 23 touches for South Fremantle, Molly O’Hehir 23, Kahra Sprlyan 22, McNaughton 19, Charli Wicksteed 19 and Bethany Bond 18.

It was another dominant showing in the ruck too from Ariana Hetherington who delivered 19 disposals, 19 hit outs, six marks, four tackles and three inside-50 entries.

Both Peel’s goals were kicked by Kira Phillips from her four kicks and two marks for the day.

Evie Cowcher had an impressive outing for Peel in defence finishing with 30 possessions, 12 marks and four tackles.

Kaitlyn Srhoj also had 20 touches for the Thunder, Holly Britton 16, Dakota Sexton 13 and Abby Barnden 13 while Greta McKinley added 10 possessions and eight tackles.

South Fremantle was in unfamiliar territory trying to bounce back from a loss on Sunday and started in dominant fashion with the only four scores of the first quarter including goals to Pia Durk, Casey Byrne and Noa McNaughton.

South Fremantle also kicked the first two goals of the second quarter thanks to Trinity Brown and Byrne to open up a 32-point advantage before Peel got on the board with a goal to Kira Phillips.

The Bulldogs hit back to close the opening half with the last two goals as well from Leila Fotu and Zoe Huggett to be in control at half-time leading by 38 points.

The Thunder started the second half kicking their second goal of the game through Phillips once more, but the Thunder wouldn’t manage another the rest of the way.

South Fremantle kicked the last goal of the third quarter through Durk and then four more in the last term to ram home their dominance to end up winning by 68 points and further consolidate second spot on the WAFLW ladder.