Sharks Suffer Bulldog Bite in Derby 3

League

Replay available at http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/football-wafl/SP1347W019S00#playing

After an outstanding week off-field, in particular with signing of ATOM as the Oval Naming Rights Sponsor, our senior boys couldn’t get the job done on the field against a very determined South Fremantle outfit, going down by 43 points on Saturday.  In conditions in stark contrast to those played in the previous week against Claremont, ATOM Stadium was bathed in glorious sunshine and was the perfect back drop to Derby 3, the winner also claiming the Uittenbroek-Ciccotosto Cup for 2014.

The Sharks had the first opportunity to hit the scoreboard, with a Sean Henson mark inside 50 after just 2 minutes of play but his set shot missed and for the next ten minutes it was South who capitalised having the next 6 scoring shots to open up a very handy lead.  The first quarter may have looked very different had our boys converted three relatively simple set shots and not gifting South with a couple of easy goals from free kicks.  By the end of the first quarter the Bulldogs held a 4 goal lead.

When Jack Perham kicked the first goal of the second term it looked as though the Sharks boys would make that come back that has been a characteristic of their 2014 season, however South kicked three successive goals in the middle of the quarter to open up a very commanding 5 goal lead, one they were able to hold on to until half time.

After some half time soul searching by the players it was expected there would be a real strong showing at the start of the third, but South again were the ones who hit the scoreboard, kicking the first three goals of the quarter to all of a sudden hold a match winning 51 point lead.  East Fremantle had the opportunity late in the third to peg back three goals and at least provide a sniff for a come from behind win, however all shots resulted in points and an eight goal lead looked far too great for our boys to come back from.

That was very much the case and although the boys tried hard to restore some pride they were only able to reduce that ¾ time deficit by 5 points, in the process suffering a third loss in four games.

The boys will no doubt be working very hard on the track to get back in to the winners’ circle this week against the Falcons at Joondalup and secure that final position in the top four.

East Fremantle                                 9.11 = 65                              def by                   South Fremantle                              16.12 = 108

GOALS: 3 J.Perham, 2 R.Lester-Smith, R.Young, 1 S.Henson, A.Stephen

BEST: B.O'Brien, R.Young, J.Perham, T.Howlett

Development

The Development League boys were ultra-impressive in their clash leading into the League game on the weekend, defeating South Fremantle by 62 points and in the process holding onto that coveted second position on the ladder.

The Sharks came out of the blocks quickly, kicking 1.1 within the first minute of the game and it looked as though the boys were in for a good day.  That certainly looked even more the case by the end of the first stanza after kicking 6 goals to nil to lead by 37 points at the first break, with small forwards in Depane, Bourne, Green and Cronan all impacting the scoreboard.

It was more of the same early in the second and when Brandon Ellis had kicked his second goal of the term at the 13 minute mark, East Fremantle had kicked the first ten goals of the match and the game as good as over.  There was a brief period in the second quarter where South kicked three successive majors, but our boys still managed to head in to the main break with a commanding 48 point lead.

The third quarter was one that ebbed and flowed with both sides having momentum for brief periods however the Sharks won the quarter by 3 points to lead by 51 going into the final quarter.  The highlight of the third was a strong mark and goal by Colts listed player Jack Cripps, playing in his first Reserves game.

The final quarter belonged to Dion Anthony and Michael Edwards in front of goal with both kicking 2 goals for the quarter, with excellent supply coming in from the likes of Schleicher and Williamson from the midfield and excellent drive from a well performed defensive unit.  Another 5 goal quarter and excellent efficiency in front of the “big sticks” saw the Sharks boys finishing the day with 19.6 to South 8.10.

East Fremantle                                 19.6 = 120                            def                         South Fremantle                              8.10 = 58

GOALS: 5 D.Anthony, 3 L.Cronan, M.Edwards, 2 B.Ellis, J.Cripps, 1 J.Green, T.Chalwell, R.Bourne, J.Depane

BEST: B.Williamson, M.Edwards, D.Anthony, J.Cuneo, J.Depane

Colts

In the first game of the day the Colts came up against a very strong South Fremantle side that was very much gearing up for a strong run in at the finals early next month.  The effort from our young group could never be questioned in the first half, with their tackling and pressure a feature keeping the clean and slick South boys to just 6 goals for those first two quarters.  The only problem was that we could make any in roads on the scoreboard at our end and we went in to the main break with only a solitary point to our name.

The pressure and numbers around the ball from South Fremantle finally broke the back of our boys in the third with the South boys piling on seven goals to one.  The final quarter saw our boys kicked a further two goals but we did concede a further four to go down by a hefty 85 point margin.

On a day when the ball was in our back half of the ground it no wonder better players were some of the defenders who toiled manfully against their opponents.

East Fremantle                  3.5 = 23                 def by                   South Fremantle                              17.6 = 108

GOALS: 1 N.Menegola, J.Gittos, T.Bennett

BEST: C.Ellis, F.Perham, T.Bennett

Women’s

Our two Women’s teams rounded off the day with 2 big wins against South Fremantle. Despite a slow start, the East Fremantle League girls showed their class to record a 39 point win over the Bulldogs, making it a 3-0 whitewash for the season.

The Reserves needed the win to keep their finals hopes alive and came out firing, holding South Fremantle goal-less to half time. Although they took the foot off the pedal in the third quarter, the Sharks finished strongly to record a 29 point win, and now must endure a nervous wait, needing results to go their way this weekend to gain a spot in the finals.

League

East Fremantle             8.6 = 54                        def               South Fremantle              2.3 = 15

Goals: 3 C. Bambury, 2 G. Simmonds , S. Wills , 1 T. Avery

Reserves

East Fremantle             8.11 = 59                       def              South Fremantle              4.6 = 30

Goals: 5 C. Bambury, 2 J. Edwards, 1 K Eckhardt