Bulldogs prevail in finals tune up over desperate Royals

SOUTH Fremantle prevailed in an ideal finals tune up on Saturday overcome a desperate and hardened East Perth line-up by four points at Medibank Stadium with just one game now to go until a first finals appearance since 2011.

South Fremantle might have been locked in second position on the WAFL ladder no matter the result against East Perth on Saturday with the Royals potentially falling out of the finals hunt with a loss depending on other results, but the Bulldogs still threw everything into the contest.

The Bulldogs kicked away in the third quarter and early in the last to lead by as much as 32 points but the Royals didn’t give up and kicked four straight goals to set up a thrilling finish.

But a settling goal for South Fremantle through Shaun Bewick ended up being enough to secure the eventual 13.8 (86) to 12.10 (82) victory.

The win improves South Fremantle to a 14-5 record on the season to be locked into second spot no matter what happens against the second last Perth this Saturday against Perth. The Bulldogs are set to take on West Perth in a qualifying final the following Saturday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

There were plenty of players to stand up to deliver strong performances for South Fremantle and the pleasing thing for coach Todd Curley was that it wasn’t all of the usual faces doing the brunt of the work.

Jacob Dragovich had a slow start to 2016 due to injury and had to bide his time for several weeks in the reserves, but his form has been building since firstly in the forward-line and now more and more in the midfield. He was tremendous on Saturday finishing with 36 possessions and six marks.

Shane Hockey was also prolific in the midfield for the Bulldogs and ended up with 34 disposals, eight tackles and five inside-50 entries.

Steven Verrier was given the job on Jack Redden and not only did well restricting him to 18 touches, nine tackles and a goal while picking up 23 possessions, six tackles, five marks and a goal himself.

Brendan Verrier also gathered 25 possessions and nine marks for South Fremantle while Jacob Martinez finished with 24 disposals and eight marks, Shaun Bewick 20, Dylan Main 20 and Ashton Hams 18.

South Fremantle's back-line also stood up strongly and several of the backmen had big afternoons with Marlion Pickett ending up with 24 possessions and 14 marks, Chris Luff 23 touches and eight marks, and Blayne Wilson 22 disposals and 10 marks.

While Ben Saunders was held to just one goal and three kicks in the Bulldogs forward-line, Haiden Schloithe stood up to kick four goals and Mason Shaw booted three in the second half.

It was a crucial game for East Perth in terms of its finals hopes and there is nobody who bleeds black and blue more than Craig Wulff, and he kicked the opening goal after just two minutes.

The Bulldogs responded well, though, kicking to the scoring end and delivering goals to Schloithe, Saunders and Johnson to lead by 16 points before the Royals managed the next two through Shayne Hille and Sam Powell-Pepper.

Hams got loose to kick a goal just before quarter-time to give South Fremantle a 10-point lead with a good start.

But East Perth had the breeze in the second quarter and took advantage holding South Fremantle to just the two behinds while kicking three goals itself to go into half-time leading by eight points.

South Fremantle might have been going to the scoring end in the third term, but that wasn’t going to do all the work. The Bulldogs still had to play some good football and they delivered regaining the lead after goals to Shaw and Schloithe in the opening five minutes of the third quarter.

Steve Verrier continued his strong game on Redden by getting forward to goal at the eight-minute mark with Shaw then adding a second, Schloithe a third and Zac Strom his first before three quarter-time with the Bulldogs in control by 20 points.

It then took only 17 seconds for Schloithe to start the fourth quarter by kicking his fourth goal and then just before the five-minute mark Shaw booted a third and the Bulldogs looked home leading by 32 points.

But East Perth knew the importance of the game in terms of its finals hopes and refused to give up and goals to Liam Duggan, Brant Colledge, Paul Johnson and Jamie Bennell within nine minutes suddenly made the margin just seven points.

South Fremantle got a crucial consolidating goal from Shaun Bewick and that proved to be a match-winner with East Perth still kicking the last goal of the game but falling four points short of the win.

The colts action began the day at Medibank Stadium with South Fremantle beating East Perth 13.6 (84) to 3.9 (27).

Shai Bolton had a day out for the Bulldogs kicking seven goals from 20 possessions and seven entries inside the forward 50.

Ned Brennan also kicked two goals for South Fremantle and Andre Coutinho two.

Dylan Brown racked up 28 possessions for the Bulldogs to go with 12 tackles and seven marks while Brodee Knight finished with 25 disposals, Daniel Burke 23, Bruno Faulkner 20 (10 tackles) and Riley Burke 20 (11 tackles).

Then in the reserves match at Medibank Stadium, East Perth proved too good for South Fremantle winning 20.9 (129) to 8.2 (50).

Brandon Donaldson kicked three goals for South Fremantle and Jesse Mirco two.

Tim Stewart gathered 23 possessions for the Bulldogs, Tom Vandeleur 17, Bailey Matera 17, Billy Collier 14 and young ruckman Tim English 13 to go with 19 hit outs and a goal.

SOUTH FREMANTLE        4.5    4.7    10.8    13.8    (86)
EAST PERTH            3.1    6.3    7.6    12.10    (82)

SOUTH FREMANTLE – Goals: Schloithe 4; Shaw 3; S Verrier, Strom, Johnson, Saunders, Hams, Bewick.
Best: Dragovich, Schloithe, Hockey, S Verrier, M Pickett, Martinez, Luff.
EAST PERTH – Goals: Bennell 3; Powell-Pepper 2; Redden, Colledge, Johnson, Maginness, Wulff, Duggan, Hille.
Best: Partington, Maginness, Johnson, Bennell, Mackenzie, Brown, Snadden.