Bulldogs dominate Falcons for first win of 2014

SOUTH Fremantle is on the board for 2014 following a superb four-quarter performance to beat West Perth by 23 points at Arena Joondalup on Saturday with the Bulldogs playing a committed and desperate brand of physical football while taking their chances in attack.

South Fremantle began the 2014 season with losses to Subiaco, Perth, East Perth and Swan Districts, but in three of those four games the Bulldogs had chances to win had they kicked straight, and not made quite as many mistakes both with their skills and ill-discipline.

However, everything clicked on Saturday at Arena Joondalup with South Fremantle leading the entire afternoon aside from a couple of minutes in the opening quarter, and by as much as 34 points at one stage before ending up winning 15.8 (98) to 10.15 (75).

Even more impressive was the fact that not only was West Perth coming off winning last year's premiership, but also having thumped the previously unbeaten East Perth last week by 100 points.

With a combination of some South Fremantle players shutting down some of West Perth's prime movers and then other Bulldogs players having big days offensively, it was a terrific performance that led to the first win of 2014.

South Fremantle has now won 15 of 23 matches against West Perth overall at Arena Joondalup since 1994 including the last four straight, and nine of the last 12.

Ben Saunders starred up forward for South Fremantle booting seven goals after having just seven in the opening four games of the season.

His seven-goal haul came from 17 possessions and just the one mark. It's the first time the 2012 Bernie Naylor Medallist has managed seven in a match since doing it in Round 18, 2012 against Subiaco.

Veteran Craig White was also outstanding for South Fremantle in his second week as a forward after spending the majority of his 162-game career in defence even though his initial time in the league side was as a forward.

White finished with four goals from 19 possessions and seven marks.

South Fremantle's midfield was also outstanding led by ruckman Brock Higgins who finished with 21 possessions and 31 hit outs.

Haiden Schloithe backed up his 38 possessions last week against Swan Districts with another 37 disposals to go with six tackles and five inside-50 entries.

Tim Kelly was also terrific with 29 touches through the middle with captain Ryan Cook finishing with 24 possessions, Steven Verrier 24, Brendan Verrier 24 and Shaun Bewick 22.

Toby Bairstow has been given a new role since returning to the league side for South Fremantle and he did a superb job restricting West Perth's prolific ball-winner Shane Nelson to just 12 possessions for the day.

The Bulldogs' defence was also terrific with Dylan Ross and Nick Borovac doing good jobs respectively on Marcus Adams and Anthony Tsalikis who combined for 11 goals last week against East Perth. They combined for just three on Saturday.

Ashton Hams roamed across half-back and finished with 31 possessions while Adam Guglielmana had 20 touches and nine marks while doing well defensively on both Marc Crisp and Andrew Krakouer.

Jarrod Parry also came in for his first league game since Round 23, 2010 and provided good support to the starting midfielders finishing with 15 possessions and five marks after a horror run with knee injuries.

South Fremantle kicked the first goal of the game through Kelly and then a clever left foot snap off a turnover from Saunders, and then one on his right boot shortly after had the Bulldogs out to a 10-point advantage.

The Bulldogs led by 12 points at quarter-time and was back out to 17 again to start the second quarter thanks to a goal to White.

A good goal on the run from 50 to Brendan Verrier and the Bulldogs were out to a 24-point lead and it was then 28 when White delivered a clever snap for his third of the afternoon.

Saunders also then added his third and suddenly South Fremantle led by 34 points, and still by 27 at the main break.

Saunders added his fourth to open the second half to put the lead back out to 33 points. West Perth tried to mount a comeback, but it was Saunders there to quell that on each occasion.

His fifth rolled home from long range and then his sixth came from a clever mark and the Bulldogs still led by 28 points at that stage, and 22 at three quarter-time.

West Perth again threatened a fight back in the final quarter, but Saunders' seventh goal, possibly the sealer from Cook and then the absolute sealer from White made sure the Bulldogs ended up winning by 23 points.

South Fremantle's colts opened the day with a 14.12 (96) to 4.7 (31) win over West Perth with Cameron Loersch kicking three goals, and Jacob Dragovich and Jye Depane two each.

Dragovich also racked up 34 possessions with Billy Collier finishing with 30 disposals, Bailey Matera 31, Braden Fimmano 26, Brad McPhail 21, Anthony Nodari 21 and Depane 20.

Meanwhile, the reserves went down to West Perth by eight points despite a host of impressive performances.

Kris Miller had a strong game in the midfield finishing with 34 possessions and two goals with Anthony Collica making just his second appearance of the year and impressing with 25 disposals and a goal before taking a heavy knock to his just on the final siren.

Joe Pantano also gathered 26 possessions with Ben Sokol gathering 24 to go with his three goals. Lewis Harvey had 22 touches, Steve Mills 21, Tim Stewart 20 and Alistair Gillespie added two goals.

SOUTH FREMANTLE 4.2 8.3 11.7 15.8 (98)

WEST PERTH 2.2 3.6 7.9 10.15 (75)

SOUTH FREMANTLE – Goals: Saunders 7; White 4; Bewick, Kelly, B Verrier, Cook.

Best: Saunders, Schloithe, Higgins, Ross, Hams, Bairstow, Guglielmana, White, Kelly.

WEST PERTH – Goals: Tsalikis 2; Strijk, Jones, Crisp, Browne, Krakouer, Fowler, van Berlo, Adams.

Best: Hunt, Kerr, Black, Jones, van Berlo, Manning, Browne.

By Chris Pike