Spirited Bulldogs fall short of Tigers at Showground

SOUTH Fremantle played at the Claremont Showground for the first time since 1926 on Saturday to celebrate NAIDOC Round in the WAFL, but ended up being overrun in the final quarter with Claremont recording a 22-point victory.

Claremont is calling the Showground venue its temporary home while Claremont Oval is being redeveloped with South Fremantle heading there for the first time since 1926.

The Bulldogs had lost their opening three matches in 1926 at the Showground to East Perth, Perth and West Perth but then recorded a 41-point win over Claremont in Round 13 meaning they headed into Saturday's clash having never lost to the Tigers at the venue.

It took 18 minutes for the first goal of the game to come and South Fremantle got the first through Haiden Schloithe but that would be the Bulldogs' only lead of the afternoon.

South Fremantle did claw back to trail by the solitary point at three quarter-time but with some injury concerns and lack of numbers and rotations on the bench for the Bulldogs, Claremont kicked four goals to one in the final quarter to win 12.13 (85) to 9.9 (63).

South Fremantle's cause wasn’t helped when Adam Guglielmana injured a hamstring in the second quarter, Ryan Cook hurt an ankle in the third and Ashton Hams never fully recovered from a heavy fall attempting a mark leaving the Bulldogs' rotations limited in the second half despite a spirited fight back in the third term.

Following the announcement on Thursday night that Paul Hasleby won't be continuing as coach beyond the end of the 2014 season, it was a different looking South Fremantle side on Saturday as well with some fresh faces putting in encouraging performances.

Alistair Gillespie played his first league game of the season after he took part in all 20 matches of 2013 and worked hard for 17 possessions, six inside-50 entries and four marks.

Lewis Harvey played his first league game since Round 23, 2012 and just his second with the Bulldogs and provided some bite with two goals from 12 touches and six marks.

Jacob Martinez returned after being dropped the previous week and celebrated NAIDOC Round with a strong showing with 23 possessions, 10 marks and seven inside-50 entries.

Fellow Indigenous younger Tim Kelly was outstanding as well for the Bulldogs with 26 touches, seven marks and seven inside 50s.

Steven Verrier had a good game for South Fremantle with 26 possessions with Brendan Verrier ending up with 24 disposals, Haiden Schloithe 21, Jarrod Parry 19 and Anthony Collica 18. Collica and Schloithe kicked two goals apiece as well.

Toby Bairstow collected 14 possessions in his 100th WAFL match for South Fremantle as he booked his name on to the No. 4 locker at Fremantle Oval.

South Fremantle's reserves fought back hard in the second half against Claremont but ended up going down to the Tigers by two points in the finish.

Josh Pullman, Kaiden Matera and Emmanuel Collard all kicked two goals apiece for the Bulldogs with Shaun Bewick gathering 25 possessions, Braden Fimmano 23, Ben Sokol 23, Mitch Carter 22, Jayden D'Vauz 20 and Matthew Gundry 20.

South Fremantle's colts got off to a slow start at the Showground not managing a single score in the opening quarter and then trailed by 39 points at half-time.

The Bulldogs did fight back in the second half outscoring the Tigers 6.6 to 6.3 but that only cut the final margin to 36 points to open the day at the Showground.

Cameron Loersch kicked another three goals for South Fremantle from 15 possessions, eight marks and to go with 14 hit outs.

Jake Florenca and Matthew Ah Siu also booted two goals each for the Bulldogs with Ah Siu racking up 25 possessions, six marks and five tackles as well.

Jye Depane picked up 24 possessions for South Fremantle, Joel McComb 20 and Jacob Dragovich 18.

SOUTH FREMANTLE        1.1    4.4    8.9    9.9    (63)
CLAREMONT            4.5    6.7    8.10    12.13    (85)

SOUTH FREMANTLE – Goals: Harvey, Collica, Schloithe 2; Higgins, Saunders, Hams.
Best: S Verrier, Kelly, Higgins, Martinez, B Verrier, Sellar, Schloithe, Collica.
CLAREMONT – Goals: Bradshaw 5; McGovern 2; Neates, Blackwell, Foster, Yeo, Abbott.
Best: Blackwell, Bradshaw, Neates, Seaby, Foster, Daniher, Orzel.