Round 1 WAFLW Match Report

It was a mixed start to the WAFLW season for Swan Districts in Mandurah on Saturday with the Rogers Cup team opening up with a strong win before the league team did everything right except put a winning score on the board.

Peel and Swan Districts have built a significant rivalry in the formative years of the WAFLW competition including the Thunder winning the 2021 Grand Final and then Swans knocking them out in last year's first semi-final.

It was only fitting that the two teams opened the new season at Lane Group Stadium in Mandurah on Saturday night and it proved yet another tight contest.

In the end, Swan Districts had the better of almost every area bar the scoreboard. Swans had 12 scoring shots to seven along with eight extra possessions, and 16 more inside-50 entries.

However, Peel was more efficient including holding Swans goalless in the first half on the way to the 4.3 (27) to 2.10 (22) victory.

Swan Districts' goals in the second half came courtesy of Kayley King and Courtney Zappara.

Second-year Swans captain Jess Cox was outstanding to start the new season finishing with 28 possessions, eight tackles, six inside-50 entries and five marks.

Carys D'Addario made a terrific WAFLW debut for Swans as well with 17 possessions and seven tackles with Kayley King gathering 15 disposals, Tyla Fitzgerald 14 (seven tackles) and Lily Paterson 14.

Lauren Quaife put in a solid performance in the ruck on the evening for Swan Districts too with 20 hit outs.

These two teams have been no strangers to playing one another on big occasions in recent seasons and even though Swan Districts had four of the five scoring shots in the first quarter, the only goal went the way of the Thunder.

That was kicked by Holly Britton at the six-minute mark and helped Peel to a narrow two-point edge by quarter-time.

Peel was then able to kick the second goal of the game midway through the second quarter and this time it was courtesy of Ebonee Hardie.

That would prove the only goal of the second quarter and while the Thunder had just the three scoring shots in the first half to eight from Swans, the black-and-whites didn’t manage a goal and Peel went into half-time leading by five points.

Kira Phillips kicked the third goal of the game to start the second half and the third for the Thunder to stretch the lead for the home team out to 12 points, but then Swans had their best patch of the game to close the third quarter.

Quick goals before three quarter-time to Courtney Zappara and Kayley King not only shut down the deficit but put Swan Districts in front by a point heading into the fourth quarter.

Peel reclaimed the lead with a goal to Hardie 13 minutes into the fourth quarter and that proved enough to seal the five-point victory to open the season for the Thunder on home turf.

Meanwhile, the action in Mandurah on Saturday got underway with the Rogers Cup contest and that saw Swan Districts claim a 19-point victory against Peel.

Swans started the game on fire with three goals to nil in the first quarter to set the tone. The black-and-whites were still leading by 11 points at half-time before three goals to nil in the third term set up the eventual win.

Swan Districts went on to claim the 7.11 (53) to 5.4 (34) Round 1 Rogers Cup victory.

Jasmyn Ihanimo kicked three goals for Swan Districts in the win with Brooke Edwards, Sienna Pollard, Sarah Burke and Jaime Henry the other goal scorers.