Kelly, Schloithe and Bulldogs hammer Sharks by 145 points

TIM Kelly and Haiden Schloithe were scintillating put all 22 South Fremantle players combined to produce a remarkably dominant WA Day Foundation Derby performance resulting in a 145-point victory at East Fremantle Oval.

South Fremantle had lost its previous two matches prior to last week's history-making state game victory for the WAFL over the VFL in Melbourne, but the Bulldogs took all that frustration out on the Sharks in a remarkable WA Day performance.

A good crowd of 4276 fans turned out for the most traditional of WAFL contests, but it soon became evident that it was to be South Fremantle's day and one for East Fremantle to need to quickly move on from.

It was eerily reminiscent in a lot of ways of the corresponding fixture in 2006 when South Fremantle won by a record derby margin of 157 points over East Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The Bulldogs were coming off the 2005 premiership that year and heading for another grand final, and any similar form to what they showed on Monday should see them be around the mark in 2017.

While South Fremantle's 28.17 (185) to 6.4 (40) win was just short of the record derby margin, it does come in second best and the 10.1 (61) to nil lead at quarter-time is the biggest ever.

It was a remarkably dominant performance with South Fremantle ending up with 152 more possessions, 38 extra marks, 16 more hit outs, 46 more inside-50 entries and 45 scoring shots to 10.

There wasn’t a player in South Fremantle's 22 who didn’t make a good contribution, even defenders Josh Pullman, Chris Luff and Jason Maskos who were rarely called upon. But Blayne Wilson still managed 20 possessions and eight marks, Marlion Pickett 22 disposals and six marks, and Adam McIntosh 19 touches and six marks.

It's hard to argue that it was a day where both Tim Kelly and Haiden Schloithe showed that they are now among the elite in the WAFL and deserve to be looked at by AFL clubs come the end of the season.

The state representatives spent the majority of three quarters each in the midfield where they dominated, but also spent a quarter in the forward-line to great effect.

Kelly kicked five goals in his stint forward in the third quarter to add to his two first half goals. He finished the afternoon with remarkable numbers made up of 35 possessions, nine marks and seven goals. It's the first time he's ever kicked more than three goals in a game.

Schloithe spent the last quarter forward and kicked three of his four goals for the game to go with 38 possessions, six marks and six entries inside the forward 50.

It was far from just a two-man show from South Fremantle though.

Blaine Johnson was brilliant with five goals from 25 possessions and eight marks with Cory Dell'Olio and Ben Saunders kicking three goals apiece, and Ashton Hams two to go with his 25 possessions.

Brock Higgins was clearly the best ruckman in the game with 16 possessions and 34 hit outs opposed to both Cameron Symonds and Matthew Watson.

Jake Florenca also racked up 24 disposals for the Bulldogs, Zac Strom 22, Shane Hockey 21, Ryan Cook 21, Jacob Dragovich 20, Dylan Main 20 and the returning Steve Verrier 18.

South Fremantle came into the Foundation Derby determined to bounce back from two losses, but underdogs have a history of performing well in derbies and after a spirited showing two weeks ago against Subiaco, the Sharks had hopes of competing with the Bulldogs.

Nine minutes into the game and that appeared unlikely, though, with South Fremantle starting the game in remarkable fashion. The Bulldogs broke the ball out of the middle with ease and then their forward half pressure stopped East Fremantle escaping until the Bulldogs kicked a goal.

It took just over a minute for Hams to kick the first goal of the game with a clever snap after roving the pack. A couple of minutes later he nailed a second after a free-kick and the signs weren’t great for the home team.

Johnson and Saunders added two more for the Bulldogs in the opening nine minutes. There was a seven-minute reprieve for the Sharks before Dell'Olio far too easily got around his defender in the pocket and snapped truly.

Hockey, Johnson, Dell'Olio, Kelly and then Schloithe all added goals as well in a remarkable first quarter from the Bulldogs that saw them pile on 10 goals with the Sharks not managing a score, and only going inside-50 twice.

East Fremantle finally did score early in the second quarter with a behind. But the Bulldogs still scored the first goal when Johnson nailed his third to make the margin 69 points.

The Sharks eventually got a goal on the board thanks to Alex Howson at the 13-minute mark of the second term. But the Bulldogs responded firstly through Kelly after some tremendous set up work from Johnson.

East Fremantle did manage to kick two more goals before half-time thanks to Cameron Eardley and Joel Kalajzic, but South Fremantle was far from done and finished the half with goals to Johnson, Dragovich and Shaw to take a 77-point lead into the long break.

Any hopes the Sharks had of the Bulldogs taking their foot off the pedal in the second didn’t eventuate and that was obviously once Kelly spent the quarter playing deep in attack and kicked a goal after just 45 seconds.

Dell'Olio booted his third two minutes later and then only a minute after that Kelly booted his second of the quarter and fourth of the day.

Saunders soon added his second and less than seven minutes into the third quarter, the Bulldogs had four goals on the board and the lead was out beyond 100 points with no signs of stopping.

Florenca marked his first league game of the season with a good goal from just inside 50 before Kelly's unbelievable run playing forward for the quarter saw him kicking his fifth, sixth and seventh goals of the day as South Fremantle led by 124 points at three quarter-time.

Once again it took less than a minute for South Fremantle to kick a goal to start the last quarter, this time it was Schloithe's turn to spend the quarter deep in attack. He soon added his third and when Johnson kicked his fifth at the 11-minute mark the margin was 144 points.

That soon became 150 points with Saunders' third and 156 with Schloithe's fourth. But East Fremantle avoided the biggest ever derby defeat thanks to late goals to Andrew Stephen and Ryan Lester-Smith to make the final margin 145 points.

The WA Day Foundation Derby action began at East Fremantle Oval with a thrilling colts contest that saw South Fremantle manage to break the deadlock with a late behind to prevail 5.10 (40) to 5.9 (39) over East Fremantle.

Kyle Hamersley finished with 20 possessions and two goals for the Bulldogs.

Regan Spooner also picked up 25 disposals for South Fremantle, Matthew Ward 23, Jack Musika 21 (11 tackles), Eddy Pezet 18, Kayne Ferraro 18, Alex Cabassi 17, Glenn Byron 17 and Bruno Faulkner 16 to go with five tackles, four inside-50 entries and a goal.

Then in the reserves contest at East Fremantle Oval, South Fremantle beat East Fremantle 17.9 (111) to 10.7 (67).

Steven Edwards made his return from injury with four goals and 20 possessions while Mitch Dzelebdzic kicked three goals, Tom Vandeleur two and Zac De San Miguel two.

Shaun Bewick responded well to his demotion to amass 46 possessions and 12 marks for the Bulldogs with Brendan Verrier gathering 322 disposals, Jarrod Parry 29 and Kyle Russell 18.

South Fremantle now plays Peel Thunder at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

SOUTH FREMANTLE        10.1    15.7    23.14    28.17    (185)
EAST FREMANTLE        0.0    3.2    4.4    6.4    (40)

SOUTH FREMANTLE – Goals: Kelly 7; Johnson 5; Schloithe 4; Dell'Olio, Saunders 3; Hams 2; Dragovich, Hockey, Shaw, Florenca.
Best: Kelly, Schloithe, Johnson, Higgins, Florenca, Hams, Pickett, Dell'Olio.
EAST FREMANTLE – Goals: Lester-Smith 2; Eardley, Stephen, Kalajzic, Howson.
Best: Eardley, Jupp, Schofield, Lester-Smith, Winton.