Round 8 Match Report vs West Perth

The Sharks couldn’t quite get across the line on Thrifty Match Day, going down by 34 points to West Perth, a score not quite reflective of the match.  Despite continued improvement and great effort by the 22 who ran out, the Falcons proved too strong for the Sharks.

Matthew Watson got East Fremantle off to a good start, kicking the first major of the game. But West Perth were quick to respond, adding two goals on to the scoreboard. George Hampson snapped a beauty before the Falcons came through with another two goals. A 50m penalty in favour of Jayden Schofield, allowed him to kick his first goal of the season and narrow the margin to 10 points at the quarter time break.

Cam Eardley kicked the opening goal of the second term but the celebration was cut short as West Perth answered with one of their own. Brock O’Brien kicked the first of his many for the day, but it was again spoiled by the visitors who responded with one. The Falcons dominated much of the second term until Watson managed to kick his second. With just a few minutes left on the clock, Hampson helped set up Watson who nailed the set shot. West Perth still found enough time to kick another goal which took their lead out to 30 points on the final siren.

The Sharks again landed the first goal of the quarter through O’Brien and Hampson followed suit to keep them in the contest. The Falcons were held to just two goals while another O’Brien goal helped the boys close the margin to 22 points going into the final break.

A desperate Sharks side came out early in the last term and consecutive goals from Dion Anthony and Tom Marshall got them within 10 points. West Perth added to their tally before O’Brien sparked another possible come back. Unfortunately, the Sharks conceded two majors, which meant Eardley’s second and O’Brien’s fifth goal weren’t enough to get the win.

George Hampson was strong for the Sharks throughout the day, finishing with a game high 36 disposals as was Brock O’Brien up forward.  Cam Eardley and Jonathon Marsh again worked tirelessly in the midfield racking up 30 and 34 possessions respectively.  

Up forward Matthew Watson also booted three goals to go with 18 touches and nine marks, while down back Matthew Jupp did all he could in defence with 26 possessions and eight marks.  Jesse Crichton returned to form showing the run and dash he needs to bring each week.  Tom Bennett was good in his second league game with 21 disposals and two tackles, whilst another youngster in Tom Marshall did a fantastic job in quelling the influence of ball magnet Nelson, who was restricted to just 18 possessions on the day.

The Sharks suffered with the loss of Liam Anthony in the second quarter (hamstring) and Alex Moreno (finger), also early in the match, making the effort by the players more meritorious by only having two on the bench for the entire second half.

In better results for the Old Easts were the two earlier games with both the Development League and Colts recording impressive wins.

West Perth took an early lead in the development league, but a strong second quarter from the Sharks levelled the scores. A 5 goal third quarter gave the boys a good advantage going into the final term and once they found their rhythm, were unstoppable kicking 5 goals to West Perth’s one.

Sean Henson was fantastic, finishing with 29 disposals, 18 kicks and three goals.

Ben Harding was a major ball winner with 35 disposals, 3 tackles and 2 goals.

Alex Howson, Nathan Fahey and Jye Clements kicked three majors each.

The Colts were fantastic from the first bounce on Saturday, booting 6 goals and holding the Falcons scoreless in the opening term.

They dropped off in the second, kicking only two goals but returned to form in the third where they kicked another four. Our boys finished with an 82-point win, which saw them move to the top of the Redimed Colts ladder.