Swans Fight Hard But Fall Short Of Bulldogs

SWAN Districts continued to fight hard but ended up coming up 13 points of South Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday.

South Fremantle and Swan Districts both played finals in 2017 and aside from a loss to Subiaco apiece in the opening five rounds, had largely been quite impressive to start 2018 heading into Saturday's clash at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

South Fremantle started strongly to lead by 21 points early in the second quarter, still by 24 at half-time and then by as much as 32 during the third term. But Swans kept coming and had closed to within 14 points by three quarter-time after three goals late in the quarter to Corey Gault.

But the Bulldogs responded with a run of four straight goals during the fourth quarter to end up claiming the 16.11 (107) to 14.10 (94) victory.

Swan Districts will now head into the bye for the State game this Saturday against the SANFL in Adelaide in fifth position and a 3-3 record on the season.

Swan Districts' three main forward options all had good afternoons led by Matthew Rogers with the burly half-forward delivering 24 possessions, 10 inside-50 entries, seven marks and three goals.

Corey Gault stood tall both up forward and in the ruck to have 19 touches, seven marks, 22 hit outs and four goals with Brayden Noble also booting four goals from seven kicks and six marks.

Tony Notte did well defensively on Ben Saunders, who admittedly was far from 100 per cent fit, but the Swans' veteran of 207 matches was a strong contributor again with 13 possessions and eight marks.

Young defender Tobe Watson also finished with 21 possessions and 12 marks.

Rhys Palmer worked hard through the middle for the black-and-whites with 25 possessions, six marks and a goal while David Ellard added 24 touches and eight marks. Jackson Slater also had 20 disposals and six marks, and Brayden Hackett 17 possessions, nine marks and five tackles.

Despite the host of key players missing, South Fremantle got off to a strong start including the first goal of the game to Matthew Parker at the eight-minute mark.

Parker then added his second to continue his stunning opening term before Swan Districts got on the board courtesy of Todd Banfield.

But Blaine Johnson and then Parker again responded with goals for the Bulldogs to put the home team 21 points in front before Swans got one back on the siren thanks to Brayden Noble.

Mason Shaw restored South Fremantle's 21-point lead to open the second quarter before Swan Districts gathered some momentum for the first time in the game with goals to Rhys Palmer, Noble and Matthew Rogers inside six minutes to trail by just two points.

South Fremantle responded, though, to finish the first half with goals to Brandon Donaldson, Cory Dell'Olio, Johnson and then Johnson with his third of the opening half to see the Bulldogs on top to the tune of 24 points at the main break.

The signs were then ominous when the Bulldogs opened the second half with a goal to Jake Florenca inside 30 seconds to make the margin five goals.

South Fremantle was then still 30 points in front with Dell'Olio's second goal in response to Noble's third for Swan Districts. But the black-and-whites weren’t going away and finished the third term strongly thanks to a purple patch from Corey Gault.

He stood tall and took strong contested marks deep in attack to kick three goals leading into three quarter-time to bring Swans back within 14 points at the last change.

It was a goal fest in an open and attacking last term, but in the end it was five goals apiece and Swans' never got closer than the final margin of 13 points with South Fremantle recording its fourth straight victory.

South Fremantle's reserves did well to fight back from a slow start to come away with a 11.4 (70) to 9.9 (63) against Swan Districts at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday.

Swans kicked four goals to one in the first quarter and still led by 14 points at half-time and nine points at three quarter-time. But the Bulldogs finished strongly with four goals to one in the last quarter to win by seven points.

Taryce Stewart kicked three goals for Swan Districts from seven kicks with Tom O'Brien also booting two majors.

Adam Faulkner racked up 24 possessions and 12 tackles for Swans with Freddie Clutterbuck finishing with 19 disposals, Laurence Grescos 16, Ethan Maguire 16 and Lockie Huntley 16. Troy Yukich had 41 hit outs.

Swan Districts opened the day at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday with an impressive performance in the colts, defeating South Fremantle 12.15 (87) to 3.8 (26).

Swans started strongly with three goals to one in the first quarter and then held the Bulldogs goalless over the next two quarters to lead by 24 points at half-time and 62 points at three quarter-time.

South Fremantle did manage to kick two goals to one in the final term but Swan Districts still won by 61 points.

The 61-point victory improves Swan Districts to a 4-2 record and third position on the colts table after six rounds of the 2018 season.

Atem Deng kicked four goals from 17 possessions for Swan Districts with Patrick Farrant also booting four majors.

Graydon Wilson gathered 29 possessions and took nine marks for Swans while Brenton Hilton gathered 27 disposals, Riley Garcia 25, Jackson Beck 19, Mitch Bain 17 and Sebastian Bright 15.

Swan Districts has the extended break for the State game and then the Round 7 bye before playing East Perth in Round 8 on Saturday May 26 at Leederville Oval in a Channel 7 televised game.

SWAN DISTRICTS                             2.3          5.6          9.8          14.10     (94)

SOUTH FREMANTLE                        4.6          9.6          11.10     16.11     (107)

SWAN DISTRICTS – Goals: Gault, Noble 4; Rogers 3; Palmer, Banfield, Wilson.

Best: Rogers, Gault, Palmer, Ellard, Notte, Watson, Slater.

SOUTH FREMANTLE – Goals: Dell'Olio, Johnson, Parker 3; Donaldson, Shaw 2; Main, Pickett, Florenca.

Best: Pickett, Suban, Donaldson, Higgins, Hockey, Shaw, Pearson, Main.