WAFLW ROUND 13- V EAST FREMANTLE

Words Courtesy of Chris Pike

EAST FREMANTLE 3.1 (19) defeated SOUTH FREMANTLE 0.1 (1)

East Fremantle heated up the race for second place in the WAFLW now for the last three weeks of the home and away season with a 16-point win in the WA Day Derby at the WACA Ground.

The Sharks and Bulldogs did battle on Monday evening following the WAFL fixture at the WACA Ground to celebrate WA Day, and the conditions were always going to make for a fascinating contest.

The rain, the wind and a muddy centre square allowed for plenty of intrigue and it was East Fremantle who kicked the only three goals of the game to end up winning 3.1 (19) to 0.1 (1).

What it does is set up a fascinating finish to the season with South Fremantle remaining in second position with eight wins, three losses and a draw. East Fremantle stayed in touch, though, to now have seven wins, four losses and a draw.

The Bulldogs finish their season against Subiaco and Swan Districts after this weekend’s bye while the Sharks finish with matches with Swan Districts and Peel Thunder. 

East Fremantle’s goals were kicked by Georgie Cleaver, Larissa Versaci and Georgia Bett.

Zipporah Fish racked up 23 possessions for the Sharks, Ashleigh Gomes 17, Versaci 15, Caylen Crook 14, Beth Beckett 12, Natasha Entwistle 12 and Nadya Browne 12 to go with 10 tackles.

The ruck-forward combination provided by Laura Catherine and Cleaver worked tremendously too. Catherine finished with 16 possessions and 16 hit outs, and Cleaver 13 touches, 14 hit outs and 12 tackles.

While South Fremantle didn’t kick a goal in the game, there were plenty of impressive individual performances including Ariana Hetherington delivering another 17 possessions, 29 hit outs and nine tackles.

Kloe Bassett racked up 24 possessions for the Bulldogs, Renee Morgan 17, Lauren Vecchio 17, Luci Gilchrist 16, Molly O’Hehir 16 and Kahra Sprlyan 15 along with five tackles.

The tough conditions both overhead and at ground level were always going to make it a challenge for both teams to get much going on Monday evening at the WACA Ground.

But from the outset it was East Fremantle who adjusted to the conditions the better and the Sharks kicked the first goal of the game through Larissa Versaci at the 12-minute mark of the opening term.

East Fremantle had another just two minutes later thanks to Georgie Cleaver and ultimately that would prove enough to set up the win with that two minutes of play from the Sharks.

East Fremantle would go on to still lead by 13 points at quarter-time and by the same margin at half-time with neither team able to score in the second term at the WACA Ground.

The only score of the third quarter was a goal for East Fremantle to Georgia Betti.

That would prove the last goal of the contest too and the only score of the final term was a behind to South Fremantle from Jasmine Bazeley. That would be the Bulldogs’ only score of the night with the Sharks going on to score the 18-point victory.