Sharks Celebrate NAIDOC Round with Victory Over Demons

East Fremantle consolidated its position within the top four with a hard fought win against a desperate Perth at East Fremantle Oval.  In a week that celebrated the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through NAIDOC Week, the Sharks and Demons wore specially designed jumpers for the League match.

Perth was playing under a new coach for the first time, with Trevor Williams having replaced Damien McMahon, and with some handy players returning including Chance Bateman, Chris Billings, Mitch Morton and Michael Sinclair, their senior side looked as though it could pose a threat and would come out very competitive. Our boys were minus former skipper Mark McGough (wedding interstate) and Brock O’Brien (hamstring) but welcomed the return of Steven Dodd, who missed the past four weeks after having appendix surgery and Boston Williamson returned to the League side after a couple of weeks out.

Perth got off to a fast start and led by nine points at quarter-time, but by half-time East Fremantle had assumed the advantage, kicking 6 goals in the second quarter.  The third quarter saw the Sharks boys have control of the match, but inaccuracy in front of goal allowed the Demons to stay in touch. Despite the Demons finishing strongly with six goals to four in the final quarter, we were able to hold onto a tight 10 point win to now leave our boys three games clear in fourth position, but equal on wins with Subiaco who currently sit in third.

In his 50^th game, Sean Henson kicked three goals for East Fremantle with Boston Williamson, Brett Peake and Rory O'Brien all adding two apiece.

Bradd Dalziell racked up 35 possessions for the Sharks, Rory O'Brien 32, Cameron Eardley 29, Andrew Stephen 28, Scott Hancock 26, Tim Bristow 21 and Ryan Lester-Smith 21.

The win is the 6^th in a row for the Sharks, our longest winning streak since an 8 game streak over the end of the 2008 and the start of the 2009 seasons.

This Saturday we take on top of the table East Perth at Medibank Stadium, who have won their last 8 matches.  

East Fremantle 14.18 = 102                          defeated                             Perth                     14.8 = 92

GOALS: 3 S.Henson, 2 B.Williamson, R.O'Brien, B.Peake, 1 J.Schofield, M.Jupp, T.Bristow, B.Dalziell, J.McNamara

BEST: B.Dalziell, R.O'Brien, A.Stephen, S.Henson, C.Eardley, S.Hancock, S.Read

Development League

The Development League boys were very keen to make amends for a very disappointing past couple of weeks and also had the opportunity to entrench themselves in the top four with a victory over the Demons.  Our boys didn’t get the start they were hoping for, with Perth kicking the first two goals of the game, but we steadied to kick three for the term and led by two points at the first change.

Perth dominated the second quarter, and had they kicked straight could almost have had a match winning lead at the main break.  Perth kicked 2.7 for the term and held our boys goalless, but had it not been for the some excellent defence it would have been far worse.

The third quarter was an arm wrestle  with both sides kicking 3.2 apiece.  This left our boys with the tough task of trying to peg back a 14 point deficit into the breeze in the final quarter.  Our boys certainly came out all guns blazing, playing with more freedom, kicking 5 straight, and when Louis Cronan kicked a goal from the square with a minute to go to bring back the margin to a single point there was a glimmer of hope of a great victory.  However Perth hung on well, forcing a couple of stoppages and that 1 point margin remained when the final siren sounded.  The loss now has our boys in fourth spot, only a game and percentage clear of Claremont.

Major ball winners on the day were Michael Edwards (23 possessions), Jake Schleicher (21) and Mitch Boyle, Louis Cronan and Tyler Chalwell who all had 20.  Brandon Ellis, Richie Bourne and Dion Anthony all kicked two goals on the day.

East Fremantle 11.8 = 74                              defeated by                       Perth                     10.15 = 75

GOALS: 2 B.Ellis, R.Bourne, D.Anthony, 1 J.Schleicher, A.Kirk, L.Cronan, M.Boyle, A.Ricciardello

BEST: C.Crisafio, J.Cuneo, A.Kirk, M.Boyle

Colts

The Colts started Saturday’s fixture in seventh position, but interestingly enough still only 1 game outside the top four, in the tightest Colt’s competition seen in years.  A win against a Perth team (also on the same number of wins) would see the East Fremantle boys draw level on points with the team sitting in fourth spot. 

However it was much the same as the past few weeks that saw us in the game and competitive for periods of time, but critical errors allowed their opponents some easy ball movement and subsequent scoring opportunities.  The loss was the fourth in succession and now leaves the Colts in eight position, remarkably still 1 game, but plenty of percentage, behind fourth place Subiaco.

East Fremantle 6.10 = 46                              defeated by                       Perth                     9.16 = 70

GOALS: 3 J.Drennan, 1 N.Bonomelli, J.Gittos, C.Strnadica

BEST: T.Marshall, O.Parish, J.Drennan, J.Gittos, N.Morton-Smith