Round 5 Men’s Match Report v East Fremantle

Swan Districts weren’t quite able to get on the board in Saturday’s WAFL Men’s fixture with East Fremantle but the reserves did stay undefeated and the colts almost pulled off a stunning fightback.

Round 5 of the WAFL season saw Swan Districts back on home turf at Steel Blue Oval playing host to the Sharks attempting to claim a first win of 2025.

Swans were able to kick the only four goals of the second quarter to cut the Sharks lead to just two points at half-time, but East Fremantle kicked 11 goals to four in the second half to end up securing the 15.12 (102) to 8.9 (57) victory.

Leigh Kohlmann provided Swan Districts with a terrific target in attack and the spearhead kicked five goals for the afternoon from eight kicks and six marks.

Captain Jesse Turner continued his strong form in the midfield too with another 32 possessions and a goal while Aidan Clarke gathered 28 disposals and Nathan Blakely 26 to go with 13 hit outs and a goal.

Zane Trew also picked up 24 possessions, Jye Chalcraft 20, Jarvis Pina 18, Jehb O’Donohue 15, Jake Pasini 15 and Bryce Watson 15.

The breeze on Saturday at Steel Blue Oval was always going to play its part in the game and it was East Fremantle having it behind them in the first quarter and the Sharks were able to kick four goals as a result.

Swan Districts went into quarter-time scoreless, but it only took two minutes of the second term for them to get on the board with a goal to Jye Chalcraft.

Leigh Kohlmann was then proving a great target in attack and kicked the only other three goals of the second quarter and that meant by half-time the East Fremantle lead was back to just two points.

Things turned again in the favour of the Sharks with the breeze behind them in the third term and the visitors kicked eight goals.

Swans did manage two themselves with one to Nathan Blakley and another to Jesse Turner, but East Fremantle was leading by 38 points at three quarter-time.

Swan Districts did manage two fourth quarter goals to Kohlmann to give him five for the day but it wasn’t enough to stop the Sharks scoring the 45-point win.

The day got underway at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday morning with the Colts which saw East Fremantle end up winning a thriller 9.6 (60) to 9.4 (58).

Swans started with four goals to one in the first quarter and then kicked the only goal of the second term to go into half-time with an 11-point lead.

East Fremantle hit back in the third quarter with four goals to one before the Sharks kicked the first two goals of the last term to be leading by 20 points.

Swans weren’t done with, though, and kicked the next three goals through Ezekiel Hewett, Cooper Dudfield and Carlos Partington, but the Sharks just held on for the two-point victory.

Dudfield ended up kicking three goals for Swan Districts from his four kicks while Soren Feast collected 21 possessions, Jai Debono 18, Tom Oliver 15, Leon Kickett 15, Cooper Rullo and Hewett 14.

Next up at Steel Blue Oval was the Reserves match up and Swan Districts maintained their perfect record to start the 2025 season with the 13.15 (93) to 7.6 (48) victory against East Fremantle.

On the back of winning their first four games of the season, Swans kicked three goals to one in the first quarter with the breeze and then limited the damage going into it to still be leading by 11 points at half-time.

Swan Districts then took charge with six goals to just one behind from the Sharks in the third quarter which locked away the eventual 45-point victory to see the black-and-whites reserves improve to 5-0 on the season.

Otis Harvey kicked three goals from his eight kicks in the win while also having 18 handpasses with Henrick Alforque and Tom Cathcart both kicking two goals apiece.

Luke Cotellessa collected 33 possessions as well to go with 10 tackles and a goal with Ayden Cartwright finishing with 29 disposals, Max Chipper 25, Ethyn Kane 22 and Jacob Coniglio who is back at his original WAFL club having played 75 matches at Perth in between.