Swans Knock Off Reigning Premiers at Bassendean

SWAN Districts continued its impressive start to the 2018 WAFL season kicking the last two goals of the game to beat Peel Thunder by 14 points at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday.

It was a seesawing contest all afternoon at Steel Blue Oval with both Swan Districts and Peel coming off impressive Round 1 victories.

Scores were all tied up entering time-on of the final quarter following a Darcy Tucker goal for the Thunder.

But Peel was down on manpower on the bench with a string of injuries and Swan Districts found something late with goals to Brayden Noble and debutant William Reidy to come away with the 15.12 (102) to 13.10 (88) victory.

The win backs up the Round 1 win for Swan Districts over Perth by 45 points while Peel slips to 1-1 on the new season after beating East Fremantle at home on Good Friday.

Swans made a strong start to 2018 with that win over the Demons but a significant reason for that was the dominant showing by boom recruit Rhys Palmer. He produced 31 possessions, 19 clearances and three goals in a best on ground display.

He had overcome an injured ankle to play but it didn’t pull up for him to take on Peel seven days later. With co-captain David Ellard also still missing, it means the black-and-whites had to dig deep against the premiers of the past two years.

Swans had plenty of players stand tall too with Jarrad Blight stepping into the midfield to deliver 24 possessions, eight marks, six tackles, six inside-50 entries and two goals.

Adam Faulkner had another 23 touches and five marks for Swan Districts with Matt Riggio contributing 21 touches, six marks and four tackles.

The combination of Nathan Blakely and Corey Gault sharing ruck and key forward duties worked well again too. Blakely ended up with 15 possessions, five tackles and 21 hit outs, and Gault 10 disposals, 11 hit outs and three goals.

Up forward, 19-year-old debut William Reidy had a debut to remember kicking four goals from five kicks including the game's sealer near the 30-minute mark of the last quarter.

Brayden Noble also kicked two goals for Swans with Matthew Rogers continuing his strong start to the 2018 season with 20 disposals, five marks and a goal.

Tobe Watson also continued his emergence as one of the best young defenders in the WAFL ending the afternoon with 20 possessions and 11 marks.

Alex Howard also had 20 touches and eight marks down back with Brayden Hackett impressive at ground level with 19 disposals, five marks and five tackles.

Peel Thunder's reserves started strongly at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday with five goals to one in the first quarter and kept that going to end up beating Swan Districts 14.9 (93) to 7.12 (54).

Levi Ridley was superb for Swan Districts with 30 possessions, six marks, six inside 50s, three tackles and two goals for Swan Districts' reserves.

Lockie Huntley also picked up 26 disposals for the black-and-whites, Albert Dean 23, Taryce Stewart 18 and Jacob Ness 16.

And earlier in the day at Steel Blue Oval in the colts contest, Swan Districts held on to beat Peel Thunder despite kicking just the one second half goal, ending up winning 5.12 (42) to 5.10 (40).

Swans' colts kicked the only two goals of the opening quarter and then added two more to one in the second term to head into half-time leading by 22 points at half-time.

Swans didn’t manage a score in the third quarter with the Thunder working back into the contest kicking 3.5 to trail by head into the final term with a one-point advantage.

Then in the last quarter, it was one goal apiece with the black-and-whites ending up taking out the victory by two points.

Atem Deng kicked three goals for Swan Districts while Mitchell Bain amassed 28 possessions, Jackson Beeck 25, Graydon Wilson 22, Riley Garcia 21, Brenton Hilton 18, Joel Curtis 18, Joseph Hinder 16 (seven inside 50s) and Harry Edwards 16 (17 hit outs, 11 tackles).

Jarrad Fazioli, Michael Randall, Ben Middleton, Kilian Rawson and Andrew Butler were the goal kickers for Peel.

James Sturrock collected 22 possessions for the Thunder, Jarvis Pina 21 and Lachlan Riley 18.

Having now beaten the reigning premiers of the past two seasons, Swan Districts will look to remain undefeated in 2018 up against the Grand Finalists of the last four years Subiaco on Saturday at Leederville Oval.

SWAN DISTRICTS              4.1          7.5          9.8          15.12     (102)

PEEL THUNDER                  2.4          6.5          10.9        13.10     (88)

SWAN DISTRICTS – Goals: Reidy 4; Gault 3; Blight, Noble 2; Rogers, Banfield, Maguire, Wilson.

Best: Blight, Watson, Blakely, Reidy, Faulkner, Hackett, Rogers, Gault.

PEEL THUNDER – Goals: Jetta, Tucker, Bell 2; Ugle, Lawler, Grey, Hughes, North, Meek, Cox.

Best: Pearce, Tucker, Bell, Meek, Howlett, North, Hughes.