Derby Disappointment

East Fremantle were unable to continue the winning run for the away team between derby rivals, as second place South Fremantle overran the Sharks to come away with a 30-point win at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday.

The Sharks had a strong start in the opening quarter, kicking the first two majors, but South were quick to respond, leading by a point at the first break.  

Coach Rob Wiley said the boys were unlucky with the breeze.

“The first quarter we played some good footy but with a slight breeze we probably didn’t get the advantage we should have,” Wiley said.

“The second quarter we showed the energy and effort that’s required to be able to play four quarters.”

A surge from the Sharks in the third quarter showed the quality of football between the two rivals. A late goal from the captain Jamie McNamara put East Fremantle within three points and a lucky miss from South Fremantle’s Mason Shaw meant Bulldogs only extended their lead to four for the final term.

“The fourth was a credit to them [South], they really knuckled down and gave it their best shot and unfortunately our effort just wasn’t good enough,” Wiley said.

Jacob Green was particularly strong for the Sharks kicking four goals, while Jamie McNamara and Jayden Schofield finished with 24 possessions, Cameron Eardley 22, Dion Anthony 22, George Hampson 21 and Liam Anthony 21.

“Green has been a really consistent performer in the Development League and I think today he showed that he’s a real opportunist and can kick a good goal,” Wiley said.

Peel’s loss to Claremont over the weekend has helped keep East Fremantle’s finals hopes alive, sitting just one game out of the top 5.

With a bye this week, The Sharks have the opportunity to freshen up before facing Perth, Claremont and East Perth to finish the home and away season.  

“The good thing is we can still control our own destiny and I think with the competition, winning the next three games will give us a real shot at playing finals, and that’s what we set out to do at the start of the year and our thinking hasn’t changed,” Wiley said.  

14.16 (100)

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10.10 (70)

Unfortunately for the Sharks games either side of the League game went very similar, in the sense that East Fremantle started well, then South took control, before a third quarter fightback saw the game up for grabs in the last, but then fade out in the last to be beaten at the final siren.

The Colts took on the second placed Bulldogs, who had a number of big names return after playing up the previous week.  The first quarter was a real arm-wrestle with South Fremantle having the first three shots on goal for 1.2 before the Sharks replied with a late goal to trial by just 2 points at the first change.

The second quarter saw South take a real grip on the game having 12 more inside 50’s but fortunately for our boys the defence, led by Bailey and Campbell, was holding up strong and allowed South just the two goals for the quarter. 

The third saw our boys dominate, but like South the quarter before we couldn’t apply the scoreboard pressure needed, missing some easy shots and kicking 1.5 for that period.  However despite that the boys headed in to the final quarter confident, only trailing by a couple of kicks.

The final quarter though did not go to plan, with South kicking the entire score of 5.3 for that quarter to the Sharks no score to record what was a comfortable victory in the end by 45 points.

Best for East Fremantle was the consistent Corey Holmes, who had 22 disposals and 6 marks, Ben Harding who had the ball 24 times and Gabriel Parfitt, who was hard around the contest all day.  Up forward Rodgers kicked 2 goals, while as mentioned previously Bailey and Campbell were solid in defence and were ably assisted by Senna Grljusich.

10.10 (70)

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3.7 (25)

The Development League played at the unfamiliar time of 2:40pm, after the televised League match and it seemed as though it took our boys a little while to warm in to it as the hosts were three goals up by the 11 minute mark of the first quarter.  The first quarter was a fantastic exhibition of goal kicking, with neither side missing a shot on goal and at quarter time the score was 6.0 to 3.0 in South’s favour.

After the first break the Sharks came out firing.  Led by Bristow, Harrold, Hooker and Bannister, who have all tasted League footy in season 2016, East Fremantle had the first five shots on goal, takin the lead by 2 points by the mid-point of the quarter.  Carter and Krakouer were looking dangerous up forward, but to Souths credit they steadied with the next seven shots and at half time led by 13 points.

The third quarter was where the Sharks made a strong move and dominated the play.  Slick ball movement across ground enabled East Fremantle to take full momentum in to the final term, kicking 5.4 in to the breeze for the third quarter to lead by 11 points at the final change.

Unfortunately, after two early misses and a couple of costly 50m penalties, the Bulldogs took back all the momentum and the Sharks couldn’t regain it, with South kicking 4.1 to 1.2 in the final quarter to run out 6 point victors.

Conor Regan continues to make progress back to League form with 26 disposals and a goal, while James Harrold also put his hand up for League selection next match with 24 disposals of his own off half back.  Carl Green had 19 (15 contested), to go with 9 tackles, 8 clearances and 2 goals.  Carter (2), Coulthard (2)  and Krakouer (2) were the other multiple goal kickers.  Tim Bristow responded well to his League omission  by collecting 23 disposals and using the ball at 91% efficiency.

13.10 (88)

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12.10 (82)