Colts secure spot in the 2015 Finals Series

Colts

Whilst senior football has been a struggle for the Sharks in season 2015, fans will get a further look at the bright future of the Club as the East Fremantle Colts secured their first finals series since 2012, with a convincing 77 point win over the Subiaco Lions on Saturday.

Needing a win to secure the finals spot, but to also still give themselves a chance of a top three finish and a double chance, the young colts controlled every aspect of the game from go to whoa.

The boys jumped out of the blocks, but poor kicking cost them the chance to open up a substantial lead at the first break.  The midfield, with Parish and Perry, were winning plenty of the ball.  Parish in particular was damaging and with key targets in Bonomelli and Zurhaar looking dangerous, the coaching staff would have been a little disappointed not to have scored more than the 3.6 from 14 inside 50’s to Subiaco’s 3.  However, given that starts in recent times has been the Colts’ Achilles heel, and 18 point lead was a good start.

The second was almost a mirror image of the first in that the Shark’s midfield again got their hands on the ball.  Bennett really came in to his own this quarter, picking up possessions and kicking two excellent goals.  The East Fremantle defence was at its miserly best and although Subiaco only went inside on four occasions they did not score for the quarter. With Eardley and Zurhaar kicking the other two majors of the quarter the Sharks went in to the main break with a match winning lead of 44 points.

The second half was again one way traffic and was a great chance for the boys to get some touch leading in to next week’s game and the pending finals series ahead.  Perry and Parish (2 goals also)continued to rack up big numbers, finishing with 43 and 37 respectively and with Harrold using his creative run off half back he was also able to get his hands on the ball 31 times.  In another good sign for the coming weeks a few of the PSA boys, who had returned from school duties over the past couple of months, also got some touch, with young Quill leading the way with 25 possessions.

The boys head in to the final round against Perth sitting in fourth place and need a win to give themselves a chance of finishing in third, whilst we hope that South can do us a favour and upset Peel.

To Mark Foster and his coaching team, congratulations on securing your first finals series.

East Fremantle                  13.13 = 91            Def.                       Subiaco                2.2 = 14

Development League

The Development League came in to their match very much underdone with personnel, with the Club having 20 players on the season ending injury list, and playing the second placed Subiaco team.  The Sharks were under the pump early conceding five goals to one, as our boys just couldn’t get their hands on the ball.  D.Anthony and Baseden continued their recent good form however and with the likes of J.Perham, Holmes and Trusso also finding a bit of the ball in the second the Sharks were able to stop the bleeding, only being outscored by two points for the quarter.  However at the main break Subiaco led by 29 points.

East Fremantle really came out hard in the third and with Anthony again leading from the front (11 possessions and 5 clearances) the Sharks were able to outscore their more fancied opponents by 5 points to reduce the margin to a reasonable even 4 goals heading in to the last.  However with injuries to T.Bristow (calf), H.Perham (shoulder) and with Solomon stretchered off with a dislocated kneecap, the boys were going to have to dig really deep with limited rotations in the last.

Unfortunately those injuries and a tiring side did take their toll and Subiaco kicked right away in the last (6.3 to 0.2) to record a very comfortable 61 point win.  The score certainly did not reflect the effort shown by the boys, but Subiaco were just too good on the day.

East Fremantle                 6.8 = 44                 Def. by                 Subiaco                15.15 = 105

League

The last game of the day saw the Sharks taking on the all-conquering ladder leading Lions team.

The Sharks came out with an aggressive approach to make a statement, however all was in vain as Subiaco withstood the challenge and had they kicked with greater accuracy would have been more than the 14 points they led by at the first break.   

With East Fremantle having almost 60 possessions less than their opponents in the first quarter it was important that the Sharks began to win more of the ball.  That they did in the second quarter, leading the possession count, but a combination of poor ball movement, excellent Subiaco defence and then easy ball movement themselves the Lions were able to enter their 50m zone 19 times to 5, outscoring our boys 5.4 to 1.1 and opening up a very handy 43 point lead at the main break.

The second half was very much the same as the first as the Lions proved far too strong, kicking a further 8.7 to the Sharks 3.3, to record a massive 77 points win. 

A pleasing sign for the future was a strong second up performance by Jack Cripps, who with a strong pre-season, should be a very handy player for the Sharks in 2016.  Jayden Schofield responded well to his recent spell in the Development League, quelling the competition’s best recent performer in Sam Menegola, holding him to a season low 16 possessions.  Rob Young battled tirelessly in the ruck and Sam Read backed up again from his game against Claremont with a very good game in defence, whilst Ryan Lester-Smith’s recent form in the back line continues, where he had 10 rebound 50’s.

East Fremantle                  5.6 = 36                 Def. by                 Subiaco                16.17 = 113