Swans Fall To Lions But Can Take Heart From Second Half

SWAN Districts might have missed the chance to move into third position on the WAFL ladder with Saturday's 29-point loss to Subiaco at Leederville Oval but Swans can take heart from an improved second half.

Subiaco might have been down a little on manpower, but the depth at the Lions mean that it's hardly a concern. They dominated the first half against Swans and then led by 37 points early in the third term before going on to win 11.17 (83) to 8.6 (54).

Subiaco ended up with 61 inside-50 entries to just 34 from Swan Districts even though Swans actually had nine more possessions and nine more marks for the game. But the Lions had 28 scoring shots to 14 on the way to the 29-point victory.

The win is a 17th straight for Subiaco with the Lions locked in for a third successive minor premiership attempting to play in a fourth straight grand final and trying to win a third premiership in that four-year stretch.

Swan Districts missed the chance to replace Peel Thunder in third position on the WAFL ladder but will take heart from the fight it showed in the second half and with some of what they tried that worked reasonably well against the league-leaders.

Ruckman Corey Gault had a superb game for Swan Districts doing everything he could to keep his team in the contest. He finished the afternoon with 27 possessions, nine marks, 30 hit outs and three goals.

Adam Faulkner worked tirelessly in the midfield for Swans up against the likes of Leigh Kitchin, Adam Cockie and Justin Joyce from Subiaco. He more than held his own with 28 possessions, eight marks and six tackles.

Jesse Turner kicked Swans' first goal of the contest and also gathered 24 possessions while Warrick Wilson compiled 20 disposals (six marks, six tackles), Matt Riggio 19 and the returning Jarrad Blight 16.

Second-gamer Samuel Taylor showed he's more than capable of holding up to league level with 14 possessions, six marks and four tackles against the league-leaders.

Kirk Ugle ended the day with 25 possessions and seven marks down back for Swan Districts while Tony Notte also had 17 touches and six marks, and Alex Howard 16 disposals and eight marks.

It took seven minutes for the first goal of the game and that came courtesy of Turner to give Swans a confidence-boosting start in the challenge against the league-leaders.

It was another eight minutes until the next goal and this time it was Subiaco on the board after three behinds. Liam Ryan was the scorer as he began what was to be another big afternoon for the Bernie Naylor Medal leader.

Subiaco then kicked its second goal of the opening term through Scott Hancock but Swans responded through Taryce Stewart just before quarter-time to only trail by four points at the first change.

It quickly turned into the Ryan show to start the second term. The dynamic small forward had four shots on goal in the opening 13 minutes of the quarter, kicking two more goals, and seeing the Lions lead grow to 18 points.

That soon became 24 points when Joyce kicked truly at the 14-minute mark.

Following another string of behinds for the Lions, Ryan again bobbed up for his fourth goal of the half and having kept Swans goalless in the second term the Lions had a match-winning 32-point lead at the long break.

Subiaco's lead grew to 37 points to start the second half when Ben Sokol kicked his only goal of the afternoon, but Swan Districts did well from that point on to stop the momentum of the Lions and show some impressive fight.

The black-and-whites did kick the next two goals through Ryan Crowley and Gault. While Subiaco did respond with majors to Lachlan Delahunty and Max Walters before three quarter-time, Swans added their third of the term thanks to Gault and the margin at the last break was 35 points.

Swans outscored the Lions in the last quarter with three goals to two but in the end all that did was cut Subiaco's final winning margin to 29 points.

Swan Districts colts began the day at Leederville Oval with a 10.8 (68) to 7.12 (54) victory against Subiaco.

Patrick Farrant kicked three goals for Swans, Darryl Dawson two and Stephen Hay two.

Lochie Huntley racked up 31 possessions, Greg Humphries 21, Callum Garcia 20, William Reidy 19 and Jack O'Sullivan 18.

Swan Districts reserves also had a good day at Leederville Oval beating Subiaco 17.6 (108) to 10.8 (68).

Steven Wityk kicked five goals for Swans from 15 possessions and 11 marks with Jake Nuich, Tom Smirk and Ben McGillivray all booting two goals apiece.

Ethan Maguire amassed 31 disposals for the black-and-whites, Chad Daniels 25, Tobe Watson 25, Freddie Clutterbuck 23, Levi Ridley 20, Brandon Erceg 20 and Roderick Manton 17. Ruckman Troy Yukich had 50 hit outs.

Swan Districts might have missed the chance to move into third position on Saturday but remains two games clear in fourth position and can lock away at least a top four finish with a win against East Perth at Leederville Oval on Saturday.

SWAN DISTRICTS  2.0 2.2 5.4 8.6 (54)
SUBIACO   2.4 6.10 9.15 11.17 (83)

SWAN DISTRICTS– Goals: Gault 3; Banfield, Stewart, Crowley, Turner, Noble.
Best: Gault, Ugle, Faulkner, Turner, Wilson, Taylor.
SUBIACO – Goals: Ryan 5; Delahunty 2; Joyce, Walters, Hancock, Sokol.
Best: Cockie, Delahunty, Ryan, Kitchin, Jackson, Heal, Joyce.

By Chris Pike.